The owner of CityXGuide.com – a leading source of online ads for sex trafficking victims – was sentenced today to more than eight years in federal prison and ordered to forfeit more than $15 million in assets, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad E. Meacham.

Wilhan Martono, 48, was arrested on June 19, 2020, the same day CityXGuide and its sister websites were seized by Homeland Security Investigations.

He pleaded guilty on Aug. 24, 2021 to one count of promotion of prostitution and reckless disregard of sex trafficking and one count of conspiracy to engage in interstate transportation in aid of racketeering enterprises - facilitating prostitution. The plea was the first ever entered under the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), the 2018 law that allows the federal government to prosecute websites that facilitate sex trafficking.

He was sentenced Monday to 97 months in federal prison by Chief U.S. District Judge David Godbey, who also ordered him to forfeit more than $15 million in assets, including more than $2 million in silver bullion and almost $1 million in cryptocurrency.

“The owner of CityXGuide intentionally disregarded the blatant sexual abuse occurring on his platform. He profited off of the exploitation of vulnerable women and children, just like the traffickers advertising them on his website did,” said U.S. Attorney Chad Meacham. “Human trafficking is one of the most despicable crimes we prosecute....

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