AHF: Foreign Porn Cartel Bankrolls No on B Campaign

In News by AHF

With a $75K contribution, Manwin, an elusive Luxembourg-based adult entertainment company, appears to be the largest single donor to the ‘No on B’ campaign to defeat Los Angles County Ballot Measure B.

The measure, appearing on the November 6 ballot, is known as the County of Los Angeles Safer Sex in the Adult Film Industry Act and will require producers of adult films to obtain a public health permit from the County, follow all health and safety laws, including condom use, and pay a permit fee to cover enforcement of the law.

LOS ANGELES (October 12, 2012) – After closely examining the ‘Recipient Committee Campaign Statement,’ a legally required campaign finance report filed last week with the Office of the Los Angeles County Registrar Recorder/County Clerk by opponents of Ballot Measure B, the so-called ‘condoms in porn’ measure in Los Angeles County, backers of the measure believe that the bulk of the funding behind opposition to the measure may come from Manwin, an elusive Luxembourg-based adult entertainment conglomerate. The murky origin of the funds for the donation raises serious questions about money from a foreign porn cartel possibly being directed to an election campaign in the United States—an illegal act that constitutes a felony.

The ballot measure, which will appear on the November 6th ballot, is formally known as the County of Los Angeles Safer Sex in the Adult Film Industry Act and will require producers of adult films to obtain a public health permit from the County, follow all health and safety laws, including condom use, and pay a permit fee to cover enforcement of the law. Major funding in support of the measure is being provided by AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), which drafted the ballot language and introduced the measure, and has been securing support and endorsements for the ‘Yes on B’ campaign from medical and health groups like the L.A. County Medical Association and the California STD Controllers Association. Opposition to the measure comes primarily from pornographers.

The donation in question, $75,000 out of the total of $111,375.00 contributed through September 30th to the ‘No on Government Waste, No on Measure B-Major Funding by Manwin USA’ committee—came from a single donor, ‘Manwin USA,’ an arm of Manwin. According to its website, Manwin is an international information technology firm, specializing in highly trafficked websites. The company creates, develops and manages some of the most recognized mainstream and adult entertainment brands in the world…Headquartered in Luxembourg with management offices in Hamburg, London, Los Angeles, Nicosia, and Montreal, the company employs over 900 people.”

“It appears from our reading of the campaign finance filing and our own research that this money may have come from a company headquartered in Luxembourg that was then contributed to a U.S. political campaign, something that appears to be illegal,” said Michael Weinstein, president of AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and one of the five named proponents of the ballot initiative. “It’s also noteworthy to point out that the multi-billion dollar porn industry—which claims that its very livelihood is threatened by this ballot measure—was only able to raise a little more than $100,000 for the opposition campaign. And of that amount, $75,000 may very well have come illegally from a foreign porn cartel.”

In addition to the questionable donation from Manwin, the No on B committee received $10,000 donations from Larry Flynt’s Flynt Management Group LLC and Steve Hirsch’s Vivid Entertainment LLC as well as a $10,000 and $5,000 donation from two North Carolina-headquartered companies.

Interestingly, the committee also paid out $2,500 to ‘Mr. Marcus,’ a longtime adult film performer who was also at the center of a syphilis outbreak that roiled the adult film industry and shut down the industry for several weeks earlier this summer.

“In August, the adult film industry was publicly demonizing Mr. Marcus for his role in the syphilis outbreak, yet by September they saw fit to pay him a $2,500 consulting fee,” added AHF’s Weinstein.

Ballot Measure B is being spearheaded by AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and members of the advocacy group, FAIR (‘For Adult Industry Responsibility’), after as many as 22 HIV infections believed to be industry-related were reported in several outbreaks in Los Angeles since 2004, and amidst thousands of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) occurring annually among adult performers. The ballot measure also comes at a time when an outbreak of syphilis, a highly contagious but curable STD, is roiling L.A.’s adult film industry and shut down the entire industry for several weeks earlier this summer.

 

Health Associations Supporting Condom Use in Adult Films

The Los Angeles County Medical Association (LACMA) and The California STD Controllers Association (CSTDCA) are two major health groups that specifically endorsed Los Angeles County Ballot Measure B. However, the Executive Board of CSTDCA, and several other groups and associations previously expressed support for condom use in adult films. These include the American Medical Association, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, American Public Health Association, American Association of STD Controllers, American Public Health Association, the Los Angeles County Commission on HIV and UCLA. These groups called for improved adult film worker safety and enforcement of condom use requirements in adult films. Backers of Measure B are also now seeking formal endorsements of Measure B from many of these other health organizations.

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About AIDS Healthcare Foundation

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to more than 183,000 individuals in 27 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare.

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