I'm not really up on the topic, but I know it's a no-no.  Do the specifics matter?  Such as...a touring provider comes to my town vs. I ask a provider to travel to me vs. I take a provider on vacation out of state?

I'm no Eliot Spitzer, but I'd like to keep it that way.

The problem is a series of federal statutes commonly known as the Mann Act. The principal statute makes it a federal felony to “knowingly transport any individual” across state lines “with intent that such individual engage in prostitution, or   in any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a
 criminal offense...” Violators can be fined and imprisoned up to ten years.

         While the statute was initially designed to provide a federal weapon against white slavery, the literal language of the statute can easily fit the modern day hobbyist-provider relationship if state lines are crossed.

        So I always cringe when I see a clueless provider advertise on her website that she will go wherever the client will fly her.
It's like volunteering for federal prosecution.


        And anyone who vacations with a provider interstate  and picks up her travel charges will have issues with this statute.

you might be ok.

It seems very clear that if you take a provider with you it would be a violation.  I think it is also clear that if you arrange an appointment with a touring provider after she has entered the state then it is not a violation.

You've hit on two gray areas:  

1) paying a provider to travel.  This is what was brought up in regards to Spitzer.  It'll hinge on defining "transport."  Certainly an argument can be made that if you paid for her travel expenses, but were not with her, you still transported her.

2) Made an appointment after she announced a tour.  My guess would be that you would be OK because regardless of whether you made the appointment she was going to be traveling to your area.  

The fortunate thing is that it is a federal statute, so if you're not engaged in any other criminal activities (such as money laundering) or political hypocrisy you are unlikely to be worth the time of the feds.  Though you are in good company if you get prosecuted: Frank Lloyd Wright, Charlie Chaplin, Chuck Berry.

BTW, some interesting reading in the link and elsewhere on the web about the Mann Act being used as a form of blackmail by unscrupulous individuals.

Anytime you give the government a new (or old) weapon in the war against sin, you can count on them to push it as far as they can go, then push a little further.

            You do not have to make money from the lady’s unlawful conduct to violate the statute. You do not have to have any prior relationsip with the lady. It is not even necessary that the lady actually engage in sex for pay. Transportation interstate with intent is all that is required.

            Nonetheless I suspect that there is at least one former governor who is anxiously researching whether the Mann Act can be applied to a customer who has the bad judgment to request an agency to send the gal across state lines.

Crossing over the line by David J. Langum addresses a lot of the cases where people were prosecuted using the Mann Act. These people from Charlie Chaplin to Jack Johnson were definitely not pimps.

The US attorney said today

"In light of the policy of the Department of Justice with respect to prostitution offenses and the longstanding practice of this Office, as well as Mr. Spitzer's acceptance of responsibility for his conduct, we have concluded that the public interest would not be further advanced by filing criminal charges in this matter," Garcia said in a statement.

This would certainly seem to indicate that federal prosecutors would be very unlikely to file Mann Act charges against a client
who took a provider across state lines for a vacation, notwithstanding that such conduct would literally violate the Mann Act.


This is, however, a separate federal statute known as the Travel Act that might come into play but we'll same that for another time.

Check out the Mann Act Spoonerism posted on the Erotic Humor Board.

The bad news - Forget the Mann Act.  The federal Travel Act says that just using interstate facilities - including the Internet - to facilitate prostitution renders the offense also a federal crime.

The good news - As we see in the Spitzer decision, federal prosecutors go after pimps, not hobbyists.