NEW YORK, NY — After seven days of deliberation, a jury in New York City found Glenn Marcus, webmaster of the currently defunct site Slavespace.com, guilty of sex trafficking and forced labor charges, and acquitted him on obscenity charges related to the operation of his website.Marcus’ defense attorney Maurice Sercarz said he would appeal the conviction, according to the Associated Press (AP).
Sercarz had argued in the case that Marcus was not guilty of the sex trafficking and forced labor charges because his accuser, one of Marcus’ former “slaves,” identified only as “Jodi,” had consented to the treatment she received at Marcus’ hands.
“Cases like this test the very capacity of this society we live in for tolerance,” Sercarz said in his closing argument, according to the AP.
Citing statutes more commonly used in the prosecution of human traffickers, federal prosecutors in the case argued that Marcus had forced Jodi and other slaves to work on his website, and that while Jodi might have been free to leave in the physical sense, Jodi had been “made captive by the fear” of Marcus, in the words of prosecutor Pam Chen.
“Glenn Marcus made his own rules,” Chen said. “He thought he was God.”
A witness for the defense identified only as “Rona” disputed Jodi’s claims, and asserted that Jodi, like Marcus’ other slaves, consented to everything that took place.
Rona testified that while she was living with Jodi and Marcus, Jodi participated in various acts of bondage and sex willingly and consensually. Rona also described Marcus as “harmless,” according to the AP.
“I love being around Glenn,” Rona testified. “He’s a lot of fun.”
For now, Marcus remains free on $1 million bail; prosecutors said Monday that he could be sentenced to as many as 30 years in prison for his convictions. No date has been set for his sentencing.
Marcus declined to speak to reporters following the announcement of the verdict on Monday.
