Mastercard and Visa accused of enabling funds for youngster sexual abuse content material, report claims
A whistleblower grievance filed with the U.S. Treasury Division’s Monetary Crimes Enforcement Unit, or FinCEN, alleges that Mastercard and Visa didn’t cease their fee networks from laundering funds from youngster sexual abuse materials and intercourse trafficking on OnlyFans, in line with Reuters.
The grievance, which Reuters studies was filed by a senior monetary compliance knowledgeable, claims that the fee giants have been conscious that their networks have been used to pay for unlawful content material on OnlyFans, a social media platform the place followers pay to comply with people who publish images and movies of themselves. The whistleblower accused the businesses of “turning a blind eye to flows of illicit income,” in line with Reuters.
In a press release to CBS MoneyWatch, FinCen stated it does not touch upon submissions to its whistleblower program, “together with whether or not FinCEN has acquired submissions relating to a selected monetary establishment.” A spokesperson added, “FinCEN additionally doesn’t touch upon investigations, together with to substantiate whether or not one exists.”
Visa informed CBS Information that “we explicitly and unequivocally prohibit criminal activity on our community and condemn all types of sexual abuse.” The corporate added, “We preserve strong compliance necessities for the monetary establishments and retailers who submit transactions to the Visa community. These unable to adjust to our necessities will likely be terminated from our community.”
Mastercard stated in an electronic mail that it has “zero tolerance for criminal activity on our community.”
“No proof of present criminal activity has been offered to us,” the corporate added.
OnlyFans did not instantly reply to CBS Information’ request for remark.
In line with Reuters, the whistleblower grievance was filed in January 2023 with FinCEN and the U.S. Justice and Homeland Safety departments. The whistleblower and different anti-trafficking specialists had additionally allegedly alerted Mastercard and Visa about illegal content material on OnlyFans in 2021 and 2022, the article stated.
In 2021, OnlyFans stated it might tamp down sexually specific content material after requests from banking companions and firms that deal with monetary transactions. However the firm reversed that call quickly afterwards following an outcry from a few of its creators and customers.
