Sex website owners lose court appeal

Three people who were earlier this year sentenced to 10 years in prison for operating a website that catered to prostitutes and their clients yesterday lost their appeal in Shanghai.

The Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court upheld an earlier ruling against Li Haoran, Yang Mingtong and Zhu Guozheng that found them guilty of setting up a website in August 2010 that served as a platform for selling sex, prosecutors said.

Two others, surnamed Lin and Chen, who were recruited to help maintain the site, were earlier sentenced to four years in prison, though neither appealed.

At the original trial, prosecutors said that between 2010 and 2013, Li, Yang and Zhu made almost 4.4 million yuan (US$715,000) from the website, which had more than 485,000 registered users.

At appeal, all three defendants claimed they operated the site purely as a dating service, and were unaware it was being used by prostitutes and their clients.

The court, however, rejected the appeal, saying the men were fully aware of the deals being struck via their platform.