Media

“Maggy Krell knew it wasn’t going to be just another case. The former California state prosecutor was going after one of the largest sex trafficking websites in the world. It was called Backpage, and in large part because of Krell’s effort, it’s been shut down since 2018.” | January 12, 2022, interview with NPR’s Rachel Martin

“Maggy Krell, who prosecuted Backpage, talks about human trafficking, what led her to the case, who trafficking impacts and the need to acknowledge survivors’ trauma.” | January 11, 2022, interview with The 19th’s Mariel Padilla

“‘The fact that Epstein’s conduct was worse than Maxwell’s doesn’t alleviate her of accountability either morally or legally,’ said Maggy Krell, a California-based former sex trafficking prosecutor and author of “Taking Down Backpage: Fighting the World’s Largest Sex Trafficker,” which will be released next month. ‘Maxwell enabled the sexual abuse by targeting, recruiting and grooming these victims, and she knowingly aided in their suffering,’ Krell added.”| December 30, 2021

“Maxwell’s defense strategy hinged on blaming, shaming and dismantling the testimony of four women… But that’s a strategy that doesn’t appear to be as effective as it once was.” | December 29, 2021

“But like many alleged predators, Epstein and Maxwell may have underestimated the courage of their victims. The survivors who have come forward in this case not only take the stand to hold Maxwell accountable, but also to expose the manipulative tactics of traffickers everywhere. Hopefully this both validates and encourages other survivors to report abuse and gives young people insight into what to watch out for.” | December 10, 2021

“‘Facebook can’t stick its head in the sand. Once on notice that its site is being used to traffic someone, they must act’ said Maggy Krell, who worked on sex trafficking cases as a former supervising deputy attorney general in California, including one against Backpage.com that ultimately led to its closure.” | October 27, 2021

“…one of Harris’s deputies, Maggy Krell, embarked on an investigation into Backpage that found several minors who had been pimped using ads from the site…federal authorities shut down the site and brought criminal charges against several of its executives. Backpage was no more, in no small part because the investigation began when [Harris] was California’s attorney general.” | January 21, 2021

“‘This is bigger than one case’,” Krell said. “‘Keiana has already told me about some of the people she’s left behind. We need to continue to work vigilantly to prevent sex trafficking but also create a better off ramp for girls like Keiana who slide down this insidious pipeline from sex abuse to prison.’” | November 6, 2020

“California is still failing some of society’s most vulnerable victims of systemic racism: Black women and girls who are exploited through sex trafficking, their lives damaged further by a legal system that too often treats survivors as criminals.”| October 28, 2020

“The damage of a policy evincing such a brute level of disregard for families, targeting the universal bond between parent and child, cannot be forgotten. The ends do not justify the means. It must serve as a constant reminder for us as a nation to safeguard justice and vigilantly protect the most vulnerable…Trump’s policies don’t make us safer, they just make us heartless.” | October 8, 2020