They made millions off publishing mugshots online, demanding exorbitant removal fees from their subjects.
Now the mugs of Sahar Sarid and Thomas Keesee, two of the four alleged owners of Mugshots.com, are circulating the internet after they were arrested on charges of extortion, money laundering and identity theft.
The website owners believed to be Sarid, Keesee, Kishore Vidya Bhavnanie, and Davis Usdan were charged on Wednesday for their notorious website that posts booking photographs and arrest details mined from police websites and removes them only if a fee is paid, according to Arstechnica.
The foursome made more than $64,000 in removal fees over a three-year period from 175 individuals in California, according to a press release.
Across the nation they raked in more than $2million in removal fees from 5,703 individuals.
'This pay-for-removal scheme attempts to profit off of someone else's humiliation,' Attorney General Becerra said in a statement.
'Those who can't afford to pay into this scheme to have their information removed pay the price when they look for a job, housing, or try to build relationships with others. This is exploitation, plain and simple,' he added.
However they were tracked down by the Northern California Computer Crimes Task Force, a group focused on tackling cyber crime.
The defendants all currently reside in other states and the California Attorney General's Office is seeking their extradition to prosecute the case.
Bhavnanie was arraigned by a Pennsylvania state judge on Wednesday with bail reportedly set at $1.86million.
The California Attorney General's office spokeswoman Tania Mercado said Usdan is also in custody.
All four were charged on Wednesday with extortion, money laundering and identity theft.
In the 29-page affidavit, prosecutors call the website a 'business permeated with fraud'.
Cc:dailymail
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