good luck to max

Number of obscenity prosecutions under Clinton.... ZERO.

That doesn't mean it could not have happened under a Gore or Kerry presidency. Particularly a Gore presidency, with that harpy bitch wife of his.

Guh. :Oh crap

...ditto to what he said...

seriously :pimp

Thats BULLSHIT

The only way this will happen is in the case of political grandstanding, with the full expectation by such legislators that their new "law" would immediately get shut down and then killed by the judicial process.

I do agree that Max is going to be really rolling the dice for a jury trial. He has to know that the vast majority of any jurisdiction will find his work extremely disturbing. Once a jury doesn't like you, and in Max's case, they might quickly learn to hate him, it becomes very difficult to get an full acquittal at trial. IMO, Max Hardcore should seek to settle with the gov't and then move his business to another country. With all the heat he has had on him throughout the years, I'm honestly surprised he has not already moved offshore. Too late now I guess.

EU - approval of kidney show
USA - prohibition of porn
...It is bad dream...

Hoppin' catfish!

I just heard the morning news mention this story! I wonder if it's on the Drudge Report.

No it's not.

Here's what's really got me curious. The gov't isn't asking for any jail time? Only surrender of property and cash?

Or will the jail time come later?

The government doesnt ask for jail time in an indictment. jail time will be a part of the sentencing after the verdict is in. But they have to file for seizure from the start otherwise they will not get it during sentencing.

The government doesnt ask for jail time in an indictment. jail time will be a part of the sentencing after the verdict is in. But they have to file for seizure from the start otherwise they will not get it during sentencing.

Name them I will wait.Janet Reno herself said I didnt go after obscenity because if it is consenting adults, there were more pressing priorities to deal with.

i can't believe he's 50 - i thought he was 50 twenty years ago when i first saw Max Hardcore.

well i think it sucks - what consenting adults do sexually, be it in private or intended for private viewing should not be any business of anybody else, most definitely not the governments.

BUT that's not the way it is, in a country where you know there is an obscenity law on the books and the measuring stick is 'community standards' - you are insane/arrogant to think the material he shoots will be tolerated by a large segment of any community. so I can't feel too sorry for him - he gambled and he probably will lose.

I've been bitching about obscenity laws and debates for years. The reason I started my toon site.

Mind you, look at the insanity of the world's entertainment industry. India, Muslim Countries, U.S... You can show all the mayhem, murder, death, genocide you like and then some on the evening news no less BUT show ONE naked person and people literally go out of their minds!

That's psychotic with a capital PSYCHOTIC. At least Europe has a different take on things. They've lightened up alot and don't have anywhere near the sex crime rate of the U.S..

It's very dangerous to start tossing around obscenity charges and you can turn on YouTube and watch people being beheaded.

for all the grandstanding about "free expression" etc;

BUSINESS 101:
if you design a business model that to be successful must contantly push the limits of societal sensibilities don't plan for longevity.

because even if you "win" after being pinched you ultimately lose.

in this world you can pay "consenting adults" to do anything and the curious and depraved will certainly pay to view.

you can degrade them, get them drunk and have them beat the shit out of each other (bumfights, et al) shove things up their ass, get them to drink piss and eat shit.

but is this even "erotica". does it in any stretch of the imagination make the world a better place?

me thinks not.

this is not really about obscenity. civilized folks all over the planet will generally put thumbs down on exploitation way before they will put thumbs down on sexuality.

convictions and investigations take a while, here's one initiated during the Clinton years:


U.S. Department of Justice

United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

1100 Commerce St., 3rd Fl.
Dallas, Texas 75242-1699






Telephone (214) 659-8600
Fax (214) 767-0978


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DALLAS, TEXAS

CONTACT: 214/659-8600
www.usdoj.gov/usao/txn
MARCH 13, 2006




FEDERAL JURY CONVICTS TWO MEN IN OBSCENITY TRIAL

Defendants Sold Rape/Torture Videos on Internet

Two defendants, Clarence Thomas ?Tom? Gartman and former Houston Police Officer Brent Alan McDowell, were convicted today by a federal jury in Dallas for their part in the operation of a business that sold obscene videos on the Internet, announced Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Justice Department?s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper of the Northern District of Texas.

U.S. Attorney Roper said, ?With these convictions, six defendants in three different cases have been convicted in the Northern District of Texas in recent months of distributing obscene material. We will continue to work closely with the Criminal Division?s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Obscenity Prosecution Task Force to ensure that those who traffic in obscenity are brought to justice.?

Gartman, 35, was convicted on one count of conspiracy to distribute obscene materials and one count of mailing obscene materials and aiding and abetting. McDowell, 37, was convicted of one count of mailing obscene matter and aiding and abetting. The third defendant on trial, Lou Anthony Santilena, 32, was acquitted of all charges. All three defendants had been charged in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Dallas in May 2004.

Gartman faces a maximum statutory sentence of 10 years imprisonment and a $500,000 fine and McDowell faces a maximum statutory sentence of five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. Gartman and McDowell are U.S. citizens who were living in Canada at the time of the indictment. They both currently reside in the Las Vegas, Nevada area. Both Gartman and McDowell remain on bond. They are scheduled to be sentenced by the Honorable Barefoot Sanders, United States Senior District Judge, on June 15, 2006.

The government provided evidence at trial that beginning in 1998, Gartman, McDowell and others maintained a website on the Internet, "forbiddenvideos.com." The "forbiddenvideos website was used to advertise and distribute obscene videos by VHS cassettes, CD-Roms and streaming video, including videos depicting rape scenes, sexual torture and excretory functions in conjunction with sex acts. The government presented evidence at trial that the defendants posted graphic descriptions of the obscene materials on the "forbiddenvideos.com" website. The obscene videos ordered from the website were initially sent by U.S. mail and United Postal Service from locations within the Northern District of Texas. Later, the defendants also distributed the obscene videos through a collection of websites managed from the Northern District of Texas and elsewhere, which enabled customers in the United States and throughout the world, to download obscene digital video images or to view digital streaming video. Customers of the "forbiddenvideos.com" website, or related websites, would place orders and pay for the obscene videos by check, credit card, or through a PayPal account.

The defendants? website operation was identified during an investigation into similar activities of Garry Layne Ragsdale and his wife, Tamara Michelle Ragsdale. Gartman and the Ragsdales were partners in a business distributing obscene videos until a dispute arose between them in early 1998 which dissolved the partnership. The Ragsdales were convicted in federal court in Dallas on October 23, 2003 on obscenity charges related to the obscene video business they conducted after their partnership with Gartman ended. On March 5, 2004, the Honorable Sidney A. Fitzwater, United States District Judge, sentenced Garry Ragsdale to 33 months in prison and Tamara Ragsdale to 30 months in prison. Their convictions were upheld by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals last year. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the Ragsdales? case in February 2006.

In order to prove a matter is ?obscene,? the jury was required to satisfy a three-part test: (1) that the work appeals predominantly to prurient interest; (2) that it depicts or describes sexual conduct in a patently offensive way; and (3) that the material, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. An appeal to ?prurient? interest is an appeal to a morbid, degrading, and unhealthy interest in sex, as distinguished from a mere candid interest in sex. This three-part test is a result of rulings by the United States Supreme Court in 1973 and 1976.

U. S. Attorney Roper praised the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Dallas Police Department Vice Squad, along with the Canadian Border Services Agency and the Lethbridge, Canada Police Services. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Linda C. Groves and DOJ Obscenity Prosecution Task Force Trial Attorney Richard D. Green. The task force was established last year by the Justice Department Criminal Division to focus on the prosecution of adult obscenity nationwide.

The government doesnt ask for jail time in an indictment. jail time will be a part of the sentencing after the verdict is in. But they have to file for seizure from the start otherwise they will not get it during sentencing.

Thanks Steve... nice of you. I'll remember to show similar respect to whatever things you're promoting or pushing.

whom of us is next?

Max ... looks like tough times ahead. I hate this guy's porn... but obscenity laws are complete bullshit.

What he said.

Good point.

Same for the internet.

I wonder if he kept track on how many butts he peed in.

What Max's indictment means to the adult internet as a whole
 

If you want to understand the impact of Max's indictment and what it means to the rest of the adult internet, you'd profit by thinking of the likely answers to these questions:

1. Why Max Hardcore?

2. Why Tampa (rather than Mississippi, Alabama, rural Georgia, or the Western District of Pennsylvania)?

3. Why now?

This thread contains an above-average amount of misinformation about this situation and the history of Max's dealings with the law. Dangerously misleading misinformation.

Some have said about Max that he served as a tripwire to protect the less aggressive content produced by others. That tripwire has now been crossed by the USDOJ.

JD

Well said, JD.

hmm.... "1) why max hardcore".......

http://www.gofuckyourself.com/showpo...19&postcount=1

"I spoke to Max today and he wanted to make it clear that "Max World Entertainment is going to fight this tooth and nail and will not back down without a fight." Max's greeting from Barcelona to the FBI is "Fuck You". It should have been "Go Fuck Yourself" but thats the quote he gave me."

============

All I have to say is I live in the Tampa Bay area and its not half bad, lots of upscale new younger neighborhoods and not at all like Alabama. :mad:

Ding....Ding

Anyone heard of Joe Francis?

No doubt, sorry Max, but I thought you were older than me.

I am down with that...

What do you smoke ????

2006 & 2004 legal proceedings...

Your big BOLD type just shows that they started their site in 1998 .....

Geez, how far will you go to prove a non-fac t ... hummm...WMD ...

Child Protection and Obscenity are 1 division....theres no red flag there:2 cents:

I hope the people who shoot locally in Tampa are untouched by this situation.

Okay, there's the rub. I see a big loophole there. There's more to this case than meets the eye.

Best to just sit it out and watch what happens.

It is bullshit, but obscenity indictments under Clinton were 80% lower than they were under Republican regimes.

will definitely be interesting to see how this one unravels

This industry needs a hard slap in the face.

The rise in sites which really push the envelope is staggering the last couple of years. Simulated rape (sleep assault .. especially before they toned down the text), implied beast, incest, and getting a legal model to look like she's 12 and doing hardcore.

I mean wake the hell up. Forget all this free speech and freedom to express yourself bullshit ... when the hell did common sense fly out the window ?

you play with fire expect to get burnt. I can't believe people are actually surprised by this. I am surprised more haven't gotten well deserved jail time for their sites which border on illegal in the most liberal of countries.

fdfffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff