SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The chief executive of an internet site authorities contend is a hub for the illegal sex trade has been moved from Texas to California where’s he’s being held without bail.

Backpage.com CEO Carl Ferrer was booked into the Sacramento County jail late Friday night on felony charges that include pimping a minor. Texas’ attorney general’s office added money-laundering to the list of alleged crimes.

The 55-year-old Ferrer was arrested Thursday after arriving in Houston on an overseas flight. The Dallas headquarters for Backpage was raided by authorities in conjunction with his arrest.

Authorities allege that adult and child sex-trafficking victims were forced into prostitution through escort ads posted on the site.

Arrest warrants also were issued for Backpage’s controlling shareholders: Michael Lacey, 68, and James Larkin, 67. Both are former owners of the Village Voice and the Phoenix New Times.

Backpage.com advertises a wide range of services, but California officials said the site collects fees from users who use coded language and nearly nude photos to offer sex for money. A California court affidavit says Ferrer expanded Backpage.com’s share of online sex marketing by creating affiliated sites including EvilEmpire.com and BigCity.com with related content.

The ad portal received more than 90 percent of its revenue from the adult escort ad portion of its classified advertising business, according to a search warrant affidavit filed by the Texas attorney general’s office.

In a statement Friday, Liz McDougall, Backpage.com general counsel, called Ferrer’s arrest “an election-year stunt, not a good-faith action by law enforcement.”

She said prostitution ads violate Backpage.com’s policies against illegal content, that the company blocked the posting of ads using terms that violated those policies and removed ads when contacted by law enforcement.