Investing.com -- Mastercard (NYSE:MA) and Visa (NYSE:V) have been accused of failing to prevent their payment networks from being used to launder money derived from child sexual abuse material and sex trafficking on the website OnlyFans, according to a Reuters report. This claim was made in a whistleblower complaint that was previously undisclosed and was filed with the U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).
The whistleblower, a senior compliance expert in the credit card and banking industries, alleges that the two card companies were aware that their networks were being used to pay for illegal content on OnlyFans since at least 2021. The companies are accused of ignoring the illicit revenue streams.
The complaint was submitted to FinCEN and the U.S. Justice and Homeland Security departments in January 2023. The whistleblower claims that Visa and Mastercard were alerted to the unlawful content on OnlyFans in a series of calls made in 2021 and 2022 by the whistleblower and other anti-trafficking experts, including U.S. federal agents.
The complaint further states that the federal agents confirmed the existence of child sexual abuse material on OnlyFans. The allegations against Visa and Mastercard suggest that they failed to take appropriate action despite being made aware of the illegal activity.
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