Porn King Fabian Thylmann Arrested For Tax Evasion In Belgium

Authorities say an Internet porn king responsible for some of the web’s biggest erotic websites was arrested in Belgium last week over allegations of tax fraud.

Fabian Thylmann, 34, was apprehended at the Brussels airport on December 4 after a German court in the western city of Cologne issued a warrant for his arrest.

Thylmann serves as managing partner of Manwin, a multimillion-dollar, international porn giant that owns more than 35 properties including highly trafficked sites such as YouPorn, Spankwire, Webcams Tube8, ExtremeTube, KeezMovies, Mofos, ExtremeTube, JuicyBoys, and PornHub.

Gawker writes:

“Thylmann has aimed to be a different type of porn kingpin, playing up the high-tech aspect of Manwin instead of the sex parts. He’s earned an image as a sort of Mark Zuckerberg of porn, even convincing a Wall Street investment bank to give him a nine-figure loan in 2011.”

While Manwin bills itself as an information technology firm, the Luxembourg-based company is best known for running pornography websites and overseeing Playboy’s web and TV operations. Its various arms are registered in Luxembourg, Germany, Canada, Cyprus, the USA, and Ireland.

According to a report from Welt.de, German officials seized numerous computers and documents at the offices of Manwin Germany GmbH in Hamburg following Thylmann’s arrest.

Thylmann is currently awaiting potential extradition from Belgium to his home country, Germany.

In response to Thylmann’s arrest, porn gossip blogger Mike South took to the web to gloat:

“Many is the time I told Fabian I would live to see him taken away in handcuffs… The good is I did, the bad is it isn’t for what he should have been arrested for, the good is it’s likely just the beginning. Whose [sic] laughing now Fabian?”

via Washington Post