LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Louisville man could spend decades in federal prison for running an illegal and lucrative online marketplace advertising and selling pornographic images of children and adults.
Kyle White, 24, ran the marketplace from his Louisville home, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. White has been charged with advertisement, receipt, and distribution of child pornography.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams called White’s alleged conduct “abhorrent and depraved.”
“From behind a computer screen in the comfort of his own home, White ran a lucrative and illegal online pornography marketplace called ‘The Ho Zone,’ where he sold access to child pornography and illegally obtained adult pornography to thousands of people,” Williams said.
Police said White advertised and sold child pornography in the online marketplace, which was created in October 2022. He also sold illegally obtained adult pornography, including images and videos that had been hacked from women's cellphones, and pornography that was the result of blackmailing.
Detectives learned some of the minor victims were as young as 11 years old. Other victims included women with large social media followings and female athletes.
According to the federal complaint, White categorized the pornography he advertised into dozens of groups and channels on the messaging app Telegram.
Within those groups, White further categorized the pornography by the victim’s name. Each channel included free content as a “preview of what users could get” if they paid White for full access.
Depending on the type of pornography, police said access to those channels cost between $15 and $75.
The complaint alleges that once a user paid White for content of a specific woman or minor, they gained permanent access to numerous sexually explicit photographs and videos of that woman or minor that White had compiled, enhanced and edited.
Authorities said White “knew that running ‘The Ho Zone’ was illegal, but he continued to sell child pornography and illegally obtained adult pornography on the marketplace because it was lucrative.”
In one example, federal investigators said White claimed in a message to another Telegram user that he “made over 300k in the first year” of operating the marketplace. In another chat, White allegedly said he “[p]rob made over $10k off the girls” in the “THZ Black Market” channel.
White also stated that he did not want to stop selling child pornography because “[i]t’s just easier said than done givin up $1,000s,” the complaint said.
On Thursday, White went before U.S. Magistrate Judge Colin H. Lindsay of the Western District of Kentucky.
White is facing a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison for advertisement of child pornography. He also faces a minimum of five years and maximum of 20 years for receipt and distribution of child pornography.
James Smith, assistant director-in-charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said White's actions are "unconscionable."
"He now faces a lengthy punishment for his crimes," Smith said. "Removing predators who seek to exchange and profit from sexually explicit material of minors will remain a top priority.”
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