Check out www.rosespeaks.com/rose-blog/ for the story.  They will be posting Ms. Braun's plea agreement on their site shortly for all to see that she is a "fully cooperating" Federal witness.  She got five years probation, a $30,000 fine, forfieted $325,000, a laptop and a cell phone in return for "flipping".

It would appear from the story that she had a choice of cooperating with the FBI or going to prison for up to 20 years. There were some discussion board posts from 2007 that said she was also arrested on drug charges and tax evasion. If I were in her shoes, I would do the same thing. There are very few people in the world that are worth going to prison for, for me anyway.

That you were not a client of bellamodels, you were not a provider who worked for them, nor were you one of the agencies she pointed the finger at in her Nici/Bellamodels Statement she posted right here on TER.  Because if you were you may be feeling a little different right now.  It is ok for her not to go to prision as long as she sends other people to prision?  She is the one who got caught and gets to keep millions with only a wrist slap.

or an agency. I also don't think that a whole herd of people are going to prison as a result of her cooperation just for being her clients. A slap on the wrist? Because of the drug and tax evasion charges, she stands to lose millions instead of retaining them. Plus her legal bills are probably going to be astronomical.  This is one of the inherent risks of participating in the hobby and both sides should be aware of it.

I used her years ago (around 2000) through Nici's Girls, so I guess I would have reason to be concerned.  The thing is, I'm not.

Am I comfortable that they may have my home address (I've since moved twice) and email from nine years ago?  Not really.  But am I concerned?  Not really.

Call me naive, but I think they're after this to discourage more than to prosecute.

you a candidate for public-office, taking gov't bail-out money or are a potential Presidential appointee there is no need to be concerned.

What are they going to do with the information they receive from Michelle?  They're certainly not going to go after the clients; what could they charge them with?  Hiring an escort?  Escorting in and of itself is not a crime.  Unless Uncle Sam was in the room and observed the escort and the customer having sex, they have no proof of any crime being comitted.

So are they going to go after the girls?  For what?  At best, income tax evasion, IF Michelle 1099'd them and IF they didn't report the income on their tax returns.  Cash transactions??? No paper trail, no crime.  So what are they going to do?  Hassle a handful of models and pornstar for a few hundred thousand bucks in back taxes?  I doubt it...

With drug enforcement, the Feds cut deals with the street dealers to get to the big distributors and cartels... it seems here that when it comes to prostitution, they started at the top and are negotiating with the kingpin to get to the low level players.  What's with that???

The only possible benefit to the government in making a deal with Michelle is to access information regarding her competitors; but let's face it; all they have to do is read TER and they'll have all the information they need regarding who is offering the same services as Nici's Girls or Bella Models. a Whois.com search and/or a couple of warrants and they could get the same information that they may have gotten from Michelle.

As for anyone here who's ever used Michelle's services, relax.  You're small potatos.  Michelle's real money came from C.E.O.s and extreme high-rollers along with clients in Dubai and other Arab nations.

This is just another example of our Federal Government wasting it's tax-payer's money. It the Sex Police, nothing more, nothing less.  But they're like a dog chasing a car; when they catch it, tye don't know what to do with it.

-- Modified on 4/29/2009 2:56:20 PM

Agree with you Eddie. The taxpayer takes a hit again and nothing changes. It's called "The World's Oldest Profession" for a reason and I'd hope the government has better, more significant things to be worried about.

It seems to me that her cooperation would give them insight as to who her competitors are and the hobby in general.  She agreed to answer all questions posed her from any Federal or state LE not just turn over the information.

There have always been rumors of her giving kick backs to Hollywood agents or even still owning a part interest in an ongoing escort agency.  Could be bigger fish to fry than her.

Just what Eddie said.

Nothing can be proven, unless BOTH parties agree something happened on a particular day and time.

NO ONE goes down in a he said she said case.

You guys need to think with your big head, unless the FEDS were in the room, they've got NOTHING.

Once again your taxpayer dollars at wotk !

Thats a question I've been asking for almost 20 years, lol

Using the internet to arrange an illegal transaction is considered rackteering and an FCC violation.  ANY ILLEGAL TRANSACTION whether it be drugs or hitmen or kiddie porn or arranging to send a woman across state lines for the purposes of hired sex -- even if the actual prostitution never happens, simply the arranging of it is a CRIME.  This is true even for letters in the US MAIL!  However, because the practice is so widespread but the social danger so small, the feds don't really have the resources to prosecute and jail all the potential convicts.  An offender has to tick off somebody who's actually willing to blow the whistle to a police agency, or draw the attention of a police agency.  Even one incriminating email can send you to Ft. Leavenworth -- and I don't mean the Army base side of it.

still, i'm scared shit. because i have used a couple of agencies. truth is i know better, they do keep our information contrary to what we say. it doesn't matter that we are perfect gentlemen to them, it's irrelevant

In the last few LE busts (Houston, Phoenix) they rounded up all the providers.  In phoenix, LE released the names of all the hobbyists.

She paid her taxes.  She was never charged with tax evasion.  The drug charge was for a small amount of cocaine and was a state charge not a Federal charge.  She plead to interstate prostitution and money laundering for which she forfeited $325,000 and was fined $30,000 (plus the 5 years probation).

Just to explain how a plea bargain of this nature works...
If what she provides to the government is useless her agreement becomes null and void.
That means that her original sentence will be reinstated. I sincerely doubt she is able to provide anything to them that will justify not locking her up.