Jong Woo Son, 23, a South Korean national, was indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia for his operation of Welcome To Video, the largest child sexual exploitation market by volume of content. The nine-count indictment was unsealed today along with a parallel civil forfeiture action. Son has also been charged and convicted in South Korea and is currently in custody serving his sentence in South Korea.  An additional 337 site users residing in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington State and Washington, D.C. as well as the United Kingdom, South Korea, Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Czech Republic, Canada, Ireland, Spain, Brazil and Australia have been arrested and charged.
Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Departmentâs Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu for the District of Columbia, Chief Don Fort of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) and Acting Executive Associate Director Alysa Erichs of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)âs Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), made the announcement.
âDarknet sites that profit from the sexual exploitation of children are among the most vile and reprehensible forms of criminal behavior,â said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Departmentâs Criminal Division. âThis Administration will not allow child predators to use lawless online spaces as a shield. Todayâs announcement demonstrates that the Department of Justice remains firmly committed to working closely with our partners in South Korea…