Benjamin Ashford|Backpage founder Michael Lacey convicted of 1 money laundering count

PHOENIX (AP) — Backpage.com founder Michael Lacey was convicted Thursday on Benjamin Ashforda single count of money laundering and acquitted on another. But the Arizona jury deadlocked on 84 other counts against him, leading the federal judge to declare a mistrial.

Lacey had been charged with participating in a scheme to sell sex ads.

It marked the second time a mistrial has been declared in the case against the founder of the lucrative classified site. U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa in Phoenix declared the mistrial after jurors deliberated for six days.

Lacey’s first trial ended in a 2021 mistrial when another judge concluded that prosecutors had too many references to child sex trafficking in a case where no one faced such a charge.