The Takahashi, Gordon, Becker saga
Part 3: The Talented M. Despallieres
In 2011 I discovered that “Alex Becker” was also known as Alexandre Despallieres and was in jail for the suspected murder of his husband, music executive Peter Ikin. I retraced the steps of our earlier collaboration and made some unpleasant discoveries. Later I visited him in Paris after he had gotten out of jail and…
Read MorePart 2: An E-Commerce Empire From Porn to Puppies
In 2008, Alex Becker helped me with a followup story into a man named Richard Gordon, who had ties to Stickam and the Japanese pornographers and also to politics, Christian philanthropies and a “charity” called the SPCA International. Here’s that second story in the New York Times, which caused the American Bible Society to not…
Read MorePart 1: Accuser Says Web Site Has X-Rated Links
In July 2007, Alex Becker emailed me with a story to tell. He claimed that the social network Stickam, which catered to American teens, was secretly owned by a Japanese pornography company. I visited him in Los Angeles, where I met his wife and friends. They snuck me into the Stickam headquarters on the top…
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