Woman sues Facebook, claims site enabled sex trafficking

A Texas woman, claiming that she was raped, beaten and sex trafficked at the age of 15 by a pimp who posed as a Facebook "friend," has filed suit against the social network, alleging its executives knew minors were being lured into the sex trade on their platform.

The woman, identified only as Jane Doe in court papers filed in Harris County District Court in Houston on Monday, also named as defendants the now-shuttered classified ads website Backpage.com and its founders.

Facebook did not respond to a request by Reuters for comment.

Attorneys for Backpage.com and the former employees named in the lawsuit as defendants also did not return calls for comment.

According to the lawsuit, the woman was "friended" on Facebook in 2012 by a user who appeared to know several of her real-life friends. The man messaged her through Facebook, according to the lawsuit, which was seen by Reuters.

The lawsuit alleges that at one point following an argument with her mother, the trafficker offered to console her, but after picking her up from her home he beat and raped her and took pictures that were posted on Backpage.com.

The lawsuit says Facebook did not do enough to verify the user's identity, which the lawsuit said was false, and that Jane Doe was never warned that sex traffickers were operating on the social media network.

The plaintiff's attorneys, David Harris and Louie Cook of the law firm Sico Hoelscher Harris LLP in Houston, did not reply to requests for comment.

Backpage.com was shut down by authorities earlier this year after a Justice Department investigation into allegations that the website was used primarily to sell sex.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Chicago Bulls' Derrick Rose, two others, accused in lawsuit of rape

Derrick Rose, the 2011 National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player, is being sued by a former girlfriend who alleges he and two friends drugged and gang-raped her in 2013.

Rose's accuser, identified only as Jane Doe, said she and the three-time All-Star Chicago Bulls guard dated from 2011 to 2013.

In August 2013, she said, Rose and two friends invited her to Rose's home in Beverly Hills, California, where they slipped a drug into her drink with the aim of raping her.

The woman said she escaped the house but that Rose and his friends broke into her apartment later that night and gang-raped her while she was incapacitated, it said.

Rose's accuser, who is seeking unspecified damages, said she waited for two years to file the suit because she was "ashamed and embarrassed" of what happened.

"I am just focusing on staying healthy and getting ready for the season," Rose, 26, said in a statement on Thursday. "I am not going to comment other than to say: I know the truth, and am confident I will be proven innocent."

The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

A spokeswoman for Rose said in a statement the "plaintiff's allegations are completely false and without any factual basis."

"This is nothing more than a desperate attempt to shake down a highly respected and successful athlete," the statement said. "Mr. Rose was in a non-exclusive, consensual sexual relationship with the plaintiff for over two years."

"We have complete confidence that the case will be dismissed and that Mr. Rose will be vindicated. This lawsuit is outrageous."

Rose, who missed a portion of last season because of a knee injury, averaged 17.7 points, 4.9 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game in 51 games.

"We just learned about this matter and do not know all the facts," the Bulls said in a statement. "It would be inappropriate to comment further at this time." (Reporting by Steve Ginsburg in Washington; Editing by Mohammad Zargham and Peter Cooney)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com