Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.
Internet Brands, the company behind ModelMayhem.com (a sort of Craigslist for models, photographers, and bookers) is being sued for failing to warn site users that rapists were actively finding victims through the website. According to Forbes, one of the victims opened a lawsuit against Internet Brands after surviving an attack that originated on ModelMayhem.com.
Porn star Emerson Callum and former Department of Homeland Security employee Lavont Flanders were found guilty of date raping multiple girls over the course of five years, from 2006 to 2011. They lured their victims off of ModelMayhem.com, posing as booking agents and photographers, then would set up fake shoots where they would drug their victims and film the rapes to sell the tapes online.
Callum and Flanders are currently serving life sentences in prison, but the anonymous victim who reported her attack and helped put the men in jail believes that the site owners are also to blame for knowing that the men were actively using ModelMayhem.com and doing nothing to warn site users. According to Forbes, law experts who are following the case are doubtful that the victim will win her case, but she isn't backing down. "I couldn't believe they knew these guys were there. There should have been a warning on the site," she told Forbes. "They need to educate naïve people. This is every Internet company. It's not just one website, it's everyone."
· Modeling Website Didn't Warn Users Rapists Were Preying On Them [Forbes]
· People Mag Sued For Racial Discrimination By Former Editor [Racked]
· Gap, Banana Republic Sued for Selling Crappy Outlet Merch [Racked]