Following the FTC settlement, in 2003 then Crescent/Blue Horizon president Bruce Chew was indicted, along with alleged organized-crime figure Richard Martino on federal charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, credit-card fraud and money laundering for illegally billing web users including for the Playgirl website. changed its name to Blue Horizon Media, Inc. In December 2001 Crescent Publishing Group, Inc. Chew and David Bernstein were barred by the FTC from operating adult entertainment websites unless first posting bonds of $500,000 each. As a further condition for the settlement Crescent principals Bruce A. In November 2001 for one of the then largest FTC settlements involving online credit card fraud, Crescent agreed to pay $30 million in refunds to settle charges of online credit card fraud and also agreed to post a $2-million bond before it could continue to operate its websites. In August 2000 Crescent was charged by the Federal Trade Commission with over $180 million of online credit card fraud, much of which was alleged by the FTC to have taken place on the website.

The magazine was published by Drake Publishers, Inc until 1993 when Drake was merged into Crescent Publishing Group, Inc. However, over the course of the last 30 years, Playgirl faced adversity and many obstacles of opposing opinions in the media that ranged from feminist sex wars to pornography, prostitution, and lesbian practices. During its height, publisher Ira Ritter took the magazine to an even more sophisticated arena which included political articles to strengthen the editorial content, and featured influential figures of that time. Playgirl from inception to recent years was intended to be a women's magazine and an outlet for women to explore their sexuality (very similar to the popular men's magazine Playboy) and to embrace the feminist movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

As of 2016 the magazine was believed to have had only approximately 3,000 subscribers. The last print issue to date was for Winter 2016. The magazine returned to print as a sometime quarterly beginning with its March 2010 issue. From March 2009 to February 2010, Playgirl appeared only online.

The magazine covered issues like abortion, equal rights, and interspersing sexy shots of men and played a pivotal role in the sexual revolution for women. In 1977 Lambert sold Playgirl to Ira Ritter who took over as publisher. The magazine was founded in 1973 by Douglas Lambert during the height of the feminist movement as a response to erotic men's magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse that featured similar photos of women. In the 1970s and 1980s, the magazine printed monthly and was marketed mainly to women, although it had a significant gay male readership. Playgirl is an American magazine that features general interest articles, lifestyle and celebrity news, in addition to nude or semi-nude men.

Playgirl magazine centerfolds 1980s