[UPDATED] Corbin Fisher Website Seized By U.S. Government For “Spreading Pornographic Content”
While their main site is still up and running, the official blog for gay porn studio Corbin Fisher—”Corbin’s Campus“—has been seized by the federal government and pulled down from the web. The only explanation appears above the domain seizure notice at CorbinsCampus.com: “This domain is blocked because it was used to spread pornographic content.” That explanation doesn’t provide any specific clues as to why the site was seized, given that there’s obviously nothing illegal (on the surface, at least) about a domain spreading pornographic content. As of post time, Corbin Fisher has not returned multiple requests for comment.
The other part of the domain seizure notice that reads “pursuant to U.S.C. § 982 (a)(1)” is a criminal forfeiture code, and it’s defined as follows:
The court, in imposing sentence on a person convicted of an offense in violation of section 1956, 1957, or 1960 of this title, shall order that the person forfeit to the United States any property, real or personal, involved in such offense, or any property traceable to such property.
Sections 1956, 1957, and 1960 all involve some form of money laundering, although it’s not immediately clear if that’s what Corbin Fisher has been charged with or convicted of. And even if that were the case, it’s also unclear why their blog was seized and not their actual site. Also confusing, Corbin Fisher is based in Las Vegas and would be under the jurisdiction of U.S. District Court in Nevada, not the Southern District Of New York. (And again, why the notice that the domain was seized due to “pornographic content”?) A search of all U.S. District Court records on Corbin Fisher (and its parent company names, Liberty Media Holdings/Excelsior) turns up nothing related to this event.
The Corbin Fisher blog—which was launched in 2012 and featured behind-the-scenes photo and videos, fan contests, production news, and model updates—is still being linked to on Corbin Fisher’s home page. It’s not clear when CorbinsCampus was seized due to criminal forfeiture, but it was likely within the last 90 days, according to one reader who visited the blog. This story is developing.
UPDATE 10/20/2016:
Corbin Fisher has finally responded to news of their blog being seized, and they’ve provided the below statement to Str8UpGayPorn:
Corbin’s Campus has been inactive for some time now (we’re prepping a new blog that will be located on/built-in to Corbin Fisher itself, so have no real need for the Campus URL anymore). Since we’ve just been letting it sit there unattended to, it looks like someone decided to have a little fun with a wordpress vulnerability.
So, some of you in the comments were right—the blog was hacked, according to Corbin Fisher. However, as of this update, they still have the link to Corbin’s Campus up on their homepage, making it appear to visitors that their blog has been seized by the government due to a potential money laundering offense.
