Jeffrey Hurant the former CEO of Rentboy.com has been indicted by a grand jury in New York on charges of promoting prostitution and money laundering.

Hurant was arrested last year in a raid of Rentboy’s offices in New York City carried out by the Department of Homeland Security and the NYPD.

Said Hurant after being arraigned in court,

“Twenty years we’ve been doing it [running Rentboy.com]. And I don’t think we do anything to promote prostitution. I think we do good things for good people and we bring good people together. And I hope that justice will be done in the end.”

Many gay rights activists and newspaper outlets have condemned DHS and NYPD for pursuing charges against Hurant.

Dan Savage criticized the federal government’s involvement in the raid, writing on his blog, “Since when did it become the Department of Homeland Security’s job to protect gay men from buying and selling blowjobs?”

Even the New York Times has unleased its wrath upon the DHS for going after Rentboy:

“Gay men in the United States turn to sex work for a variety of reasons. In New York, where homeless shelters for gay and transgender youths have lengthy waiting lists, sex work can mean the difference between sleeping on a bed and sleeping on the street. For others, it is a way to afford a degree.

You can’t help but wonder with the thousands of such businesses in this country what the REAL the story is behind the RENTBOY raid . How many names of high profile people are on that client list? And what does the DHS and the DOJ plans to do with them.