The shady secret history of OnlyFans' billionaire owner
n October 2018, Florida-based internet porn baron Leonid Radvinsky, now 39, bought an estimated 75% of a growing but largely unheard-of business called OnlyFans. At the time, London-based OnlyFans was a fledgling video and social site that allowed adult performers to make money from the comfort of their own homes. “Content creators” – mostly porn stars — set up accounts via the company’s platform and charge a subscription fee to viewers that ranges from $4.99 to $49.
We do know that OnlyFans was founded in 2016 by a British entrepreneur named Timothy Stokely, now 37, alongside his retired banker father, Guy Stokely, and brother Thomas. In U.K. filings, Radvinsky and Guy Stokely are listed as the company’s sole directors. Timothy, Thomas, and Guy Stokely all declined to comment for this story.What little else is known about Radvinsky is not flattering.
It was a scummy business, but it was a profitable one. One of Radvinsky’s sites was bringing in revenues of $5,000 a day in 2002, or $1.8 million for the year. Radvinsky remained elusive during the nearly 20 years between the start of his sex link farm businesses and his purchase of 75% of OnlyFans. In the early 2000s, he created a handful of sites linking to celebrity sex tapes and MyFreeCams, a site that claims to be the world’s number one porn-via-webcam service. He has also occasionally popped up in lawsuits. In 2003 and 2004, Amazon and Microsoft sued Radvinsky in U.S.
I'm associate editor for Forbes, covering security, surveillance and privacy. I'm also the editor of The Wiretap newsletter, which has exclusive stories on real-worldI'm associate editor for Forbes, covering security, surveillance and privacy. I'm also the editor of The Wiretap newsletter, which has exclusive stories on real-world surveillance and all the biggest cybersecurity stories of the week. It goes out every Monday and you can sign up here: https://www.forbes.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Tyga Is Launching a Platform to Compete with OnlyFansHe said creators will be able to 'make content of their choice.'
Read more »
Podcaster Adam22 Decries OnlyFans Banning Porn, Calls It 'Mainstream'OnlyFans is making a big mistake, so says Adam 22.
Read more »
Tyga Deletes OnlyFans Account To Launch Competitor ‘myystar’Just 24 hours after OnlyFans announced that it will ban “sexually explicit” content, Tyga, one of its most popular creators, has deleted his account to launch his own content platform as a competitor.
Read more »
OnlyFans Will Ban Pornography Starting in October, Citing Need to Comply With Financial PartnersOnlyFans, which has amassed a base of more than 130 million users largely for adult-oriented subscription fan pages, announced that it will ban sexually explicit content this fall. The U.K.-based c…
Read more »
Tyga Deletes OnlyFans Account To Launch Competitor ‘myystar’Just 24 hours after OnlyFans announced that it will ban “sexually explicit” content, Tyga, one of its most popular creators, has deleted his account to launch his own content platform as a competitor.
Read more »
OnlyFans Creators React to Site’s Porn Ban With Anger, ConfusionOnlyFans is pulling the rug out from under the sex workers and performers who turned it into a billion-dollar business. And those who have relied on OnlyFans as their key source of income are furio…
Read more »