It was about two years ago that Kurt Einchenwald broke the story of Justin Berry, an underage internet hustler. The story was creepy and disturbing, but now that Justin is of age, the creepy and disturbing part is Kurt Eichenwald.

A Tennessee federal court released last week that Einchenwald, using a fake name, bought $1,184 worth of digital photos from Justin. Whether or not these were pornographic or taken when Justin was under 18 is unknown. But Eichenwald made comments like "I found a pretty good one but the lighting sucks… still worth 100" and “I found 3 so far that I either didn't already have and were good.” What exactly constitutes “good” is unclear; presumably Eichenwald wasn’t referring to how the lighting would look in the Times.

After the story ran, Eichenwald took on a civic service role to persecute online predators with Justin, but before the story ran, Einchenwald was offering business advice to him. In a PayPal message, Eichenwald wrote to Justin, "I'll be online today. Find me and lemme know what to do. And I have other proposals for you that would get you even more money." Which begs the question, why would a journalist offer business advice to an underage Internet porn star and use the phrase “lemme?”

Eichenwald’s relationship with Justin was already suspect when it was released in March that Eichenwald, depending on who you ask, gave or lent Justin $2,000. As if that arrangement weren’t bizarre enough, documents from the federal court revealed that hours after receiving Eichenwald’s money, Berry videotaped a 14-year-old boy masturbating and uploaded the tape onto his Web site, JustinsFriends.com.

Eichenwald was a paying member of JustinFriends and had administrative access, which included the ability to monitor new subscriptions. In late June, 2005—over a year before the Times article ran—Eichenwald visited the area to monitor new subscription over 20 times.

But it was all an act, or at least Eichenwald claims he only “posed” as a pedophile. Another posture Eichenwald is trying on: the unemployed journalist. Two days after the Times reported that Eichenwald spent $1,184 on what turned out to pictures of Justin, he resigned from Portfolio after just one issue. With his business acumen for illegal porn sites, Eichenwald should be back on his feet in no time.