It sounds as if they had probable cause for a search warrant - and it sounds as if it was pulled right out of her trash.
They have lots of info on her work, but can they prove she did something illegal? Enough that would stand up in court?
"No? Well, we did find all this cash..."
http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82%257E1865%257E2414505,00.html
Scary Scary stuff.
A
Is it just me or is this article confusing? It seems that with all the info/dirt they have on her she'd be up on some hobbying related charges, but the hobby makes no mention of any such charges. I'm assuming they starting tailing her because of the escort thing and the assets were just seized in the process? Or were they chasing after a tax fraud/money laundering type from the get go. If so why would LE overlook the whole escort thing when they had plenty of info in this regard?
Or am I just naive and it's a "given" that escort related charges were already handed down. Her web site is still up, usually when a girl gets nabbed that's the first thing to be taken down.
Any lawyers in da house!?
It sounds as if they had probable cause for a search warrant - and it sounds as if it was pulled right out of her trash.
They have lots of info on her work, but can they prove she did something illegal? Enough that would stand up in court?
"No? Well, we did find all this cash..."
They obviously did tons of homework on this over a lengthy time period (They searched her trash in Sept 2002 but didn't seize any assets until Jan 2004). They interviewed clients, had a colleague admit to working as a prostitute with her, read her reviews, conducted surveilance, etc.. had detailed knowledge of her safe deposit boxes, bank accounts, storage lockers, money orders.
It just doesn't seem logical that they wouldn't be able to prove anything hobby related took place. If they needed a smoking gun on top of what they already had they could have very easily had an undercover agent set up an appt with her. It almost seems like they turned the other cheek on any hobby related charges.
Must be more to the story than the article lets on.
she can count the money gone forever, they have up to 3 yrs to charge her with prostitution and whatever crimes, the prost. is a felony bcuz crossing state lines to commit a misdemeanor is a felony.
Shes lookin at least at 25K in atty fees if she does not have a fool for a client (herself)
Ms. Woods,
As the starter of this thread and someone a bit familiar with the case I can assure you that it will be way more for Ms Brazil to defend herself.
I'd say at least 100k.... If she has a half way decent lawyer.
200 or more if they're really good.
25k? lol. Wishful thinking.
Alias007
AT LEAST! As in for starters retainer...hence count the money gone (it will hardly be worth the fight except to set a legal precedent if lucky).
Also, if she makes the feds mad they may well pursue other charges...and it depends on whether she is eventually charged with prostituion/ill gotten gains to boot and possibly losing her law license if she has passed the bar
This is a federal case involving the IRS. They want their cut of the action (the taxes on her income). The fact that she made the money escorting is a secondary issue. If she had made the money selling cocaine (something illegal) or as a gardener (something legal), but still did not report her income and pay the taxes, they would be doing the same thing to her.
One other thing. If she didn't like the prospect of spending the next 20 years of her life as a lawyer, then she SHOULD NOT HAVE GONE TO LAW SCHOOL!
300K paid to student loans, 1800/mo in rent, 70K car, 13K in money orders, 61K in cash.....that is a lot of unreported income. Not to mention receipts for large purchases that said were found. That's a lot of back taxes and penalties, 6 figures easily I'd guess.
Anyone who's worked a 9-5 job to pay off debts like this knows that paying this off (legally) is one hell of a burden on top of life's daily expenses. I'm sure those who spent the first ten years of their working life paying off student loans will agree!
-- Modified on 9/23/2004 6:32:28 AM
The IRS doesn't care if you're robbing old ladies, so long as they get their piece. For a graduate of a prestigious law school, she wasn't too smart. This will likely get ugly.
They took the cash but not the $70K Mercedes? Sounds odd.
Remember, prostitution is only a misdemeanor. Doing it over state lines doesn't necessarily make it a felony offense, it merely makes it a federal offense and the federal penalties for prostitution are minor... whereas the federal penalties for tax evasion are severe... just ask Heidi Fliess and Al Capone. They both went to prison for tax evasion.
You want the government to stop wasting money prosecuting prostitution? Well here is their answer... They won't waste time on the criminal end, instead, they put their effort on the fiscal violations and will be reimbursed 60K+ in the process.
I was curious why Brazil's reviews disappeared from the site earlier this year... now we know. Guess what website they're talking about in that article... methinks its this one!
-- Modified on 9/24/2004 5:32:04 AM
...I am wondering though, from reading it, it seems as though they began an investigation on her because of tax discrepancies... is that true? I try to take special care that I dont have any problems like that but it does make one wonder how safe are we? Is there nothing we can do to escape this seemingly sometimes inevitable fate?
Dani
otherwise with the large amount of cash going into your bank account, sooner or later the Feds will be suspicious.
The IRS criminal investigation division is darn good at reconstucting expenditures incurred by a person - i.e. this case the loan payments, rent, the Mercedes etc. are enormous. Absent some verifiable source of funds for the expenditure level, the IRS is ususally successful in asserting that unreported income exists. CID hasn't brought charges yet, but I'll bet she'd received Miranda warnings.
It's also important to declare this income (and pay taxes) so that you can properly invest for your eventual retirement. Such investments can be in stocks, bonds, real estate etc., and are necessary so that your money can keep pace, and possibly exceed a bit, inflation.
The amount of money that you save by not paying taxes is simply not worth it.
That way, we can find out how much juice she really has with LAPD.
The unfortunate experience of Brazil underscores the need for discretion in this hobby.
According to the article, she says within a month of becoming an escort, everyone in her law class knew about new occupation.
That's exactly the kind of publicity you DON'T need--having all your college friends know you're on the web--that stuff spreads like wildfire.
No wonder she was targeted by the IRS. 
"Federal civil asset forfeiture laws let the government seek to keep property -- in this case, money -- representing the proceeds of a federal crime even if the property's owner hasn't been convicted or even charged with the alleged crime."
Twisted, self serving bureaucratic at is worst. Seized funds should be placed in escrow until there is a conviction. If the defendant is aquitted, they should be returned with interest, that rate of interest being the average rate charged by credit card companies for unpaid balances...
The replies taken altogether make two key points: (1) Any provider who on her website publicly discusses her non-provider life (unless that life is also part of the sex industry) is taking a very foolish chance. If that other life is in the public eye or in any way connected to the legal profession, then the provider is simply inviting law enforcement scrutiny. In this particular case, the provider seems to have been unusually arrogant and unusually foolish (high IQ notwithstanding).
(2) The IRS really does follow the money. Any provider pulling in income through a website should get solid legal advice and should definitely pay taxes.
Of course we would be happy if providers were never busted because LE decides it has better things to do with its time. But even "enlightened" LE has little choice but to react in this sort of situation.
BTW, can someone tell me why every time I try to open the Oakland Trib attachment I get flipped to a Viagra ad? Same thing happened when my friend sent me the article via yahoo mail.
I think a big problem wiht many providers is that they are not caeful enough in how the report the income if at all and live a high end life style. Sooner or later they will get noticed and when they start to do some checking, they will finds that thngs just don't add up.
If you show the income as an entertainment buiness, you can write off your travel expenses, some wardrobe, meals...ect. and keep yourself abover board as far as the IRS is concerned. Rule of thumb is don't get too greedy and put some $$ away for the future.
just my 2 cents.
and otherwise innocent people have lost houses, cars, boats and their minds dealing with these proto-Nazis. Keep in mind I have the deepest respect for many if not most of my friends in law enforcement, especially underpaid and overworked US Attorneys and FBI agents. Still, they're only human. And in the political gamesmanship it takes to get promotions, these people will stoop to all manner of storm-trooper tactics to make a case. Combine that with an indoctrination that teaches them that most people are evil scum who deserve to have the book thrown at them even before charges are proven and you can see how this stuff happens. Clearly the other prosecutors got to Enron and Computer Associates first, leaving this schmuck to ruin some woman's life over a bunch of nonsense. Realize that this is a risk in this curious profession but that a prosecutor who doesn't have the resources and time to find a bunch of F*CKING terrorists sneaking over the border has the time to go after a provider is proof to me that being a Federal agent does not immunize one from being a total assh*le.
There are people getting away with cheating the government out of tens of millions of dollars each year and the people who went after this provider would not dare take them on, simply because such people can hire carloads of good lawyers and defeat them in court.
There is repeated talk of late about an imminent terrorist strike again on our soil, and the people who went after this provider spend valuable resources that can be diverted to preventing such an attack from happening on bringing the provider to "justice". How f....ed up are their priorities?
While I do not condone not paying taxes, the tactics used in this case appear to be a bit overboard given the significance of what was being accomplished.
"an admission card for the July 2001 California Bar Exam; and a promotional postcard from a Southern California woman. That woman, when arrested for solicitation in January 2003 in Orange County, told officers her friend Brazil had gotten her started in prostitution; she also told officers they'd worked together as prostitutes. "
I bet my impacted wisdom teeth that THAT woman got nabbed, and then squealed on her friend.
Even more probable is that hefty chump change the IRS gives out for IRS fraud paid off an informant. Oh, I don't know..neighbor? Jealous friend? Scorned client? Please. I prescribe more CSI. From a Certified Sex Instructor of course.
Forgive my alias, mea culpa, me love my low profile long time..
http://www.usatoday.com/money/jobcenter/workplace/2004-06-19-whistle-blowers_x.htm
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/fleiss2.html
I know Stanford Law is expensive, but I don't recall it being THAT MUCH!!!
by the way, how is she going to pay her legal bills now....
Is she still escorting?