The Rolling Stones has an interesting take on this case, raising the question about why spend resources on this particular place. Speculates that maybe this ring was extorting high-level people, or there was something bigger they were trying to accomplish:
Money, politics and sex -- just the same old same old or is this an interesting story starting to emerge. Not sure myself.
Not sure I’d call that high end 🤷♂️
The little fish will get fried and the big fish will skate. They have the money to fend off real prosecution.
"Selling is legal and fucking is legal, so why isn't selling fucking legal?" George Carlin
So these Asian geniuses deposited almost one million in cash into their personal bank accounts. I thought Asians were supposed to be smart. NOT! Nothing like a good old fashioned paper trail. And their clients, almost all of them hypocrites. Remember NY Gov. Eliot Spitzer and the Emperors Club? He was supposed to be cracking down on prostitution and all the while he was a VIP member.
Aside from a bit racist undertone, I agree with you.
Depositing cash into real, personal accounts was pretty dumb. I guess they didn't want to deal with hood "cash to btc" spots.
Also paying rent with money orders immediately sets off an alarm. But that's not why they were nabbed. Nor is the paper trail.
Just because you live in Cambridge, doesn't make you Harvard material. Just plain stupid!
I guess Han thought depositing ~$1M in cash over 4 years would not raise an eyebrow?
These geniuses helped to reaffirm something that many of us here treat as Gospel: Never, ever give out PII.
we agree on this. There is a correlation between how much personal info you give people running an illegal business and the likelihood that it will come back to bite you on the ass someday.
Maybe they should have bought a car wash and hired Saul Goodman at the beginning. I'll bet the feds have a good long list on driver's licenses, employment information, telephone numbers and other customer's information in MA and VA. You kindof wonder what's the point of these agencies having this information.
And California!
They are targeting brothels and massage parlors that are recruiting workers from other states by using the Mann act. It was put through in the early 1900s, during turn of the century religious/moral panic era. It was called the "white slave act" and was supposed to prevent young women from being abducted and forced into sex trafficking. Blah. Blah. Blah.
Any sex work business, legal or not, was specifically prohibited from receiving covid relief ppp loans, so the substantial amount they received for that would have raised questions. The owner will get hit with sex trafficking, the ppp nonsense, some of the clients might get tickets, sex workers will get "help". Same bull shit, different day.
Any who, I would highly recommend sticking with independent workers at this point. Stay safe everyone!
If anyone sees a client in this case being prosecuted I'd like to hear about it. I don't believe that generally happens unless they are caught in the act. Too difficult to prove.
I was wondering the same thing, although I could see names somehow getting leaked or released. But seems hard to prove anything actually happened other than photography or hanging out and having some wine or TV time?
Excellent points. I think most guys could definitely fight any charges or tickets, but most would rather pay and move on and not deal with it. Yes I am sure it is political, yes I am sure it is about trying to embarrass/hurt people's reputations, and yes, in reality, the average person does not give a shit what people do in the privacy of their bedroom.
That was one of my lines of thoughts as well. But I just wonder if perhaps we'll ever see a report with party affiliation breakdown -- don't need the names but would be fun to see.
this kind of situation is an example of their clients' vulnerability. I have often used agencies, usually as a backup, but was on the client list of a major one in the NY-area that was busted around ten years ago. Fortunately for me I was too small a fish. Or maybe my information was no longer in their files. So no harm, no foul.
The article said customers had to give lots of information to get into the system, but it also seems like a person could have used someone else's information (unless they verified it somehow, like work email?), or filled out the application and not gone through with anything. Or there could have been people who just wanted a companion to hang out with and talk. I guess what I'm getting at, I wonder how any of the information they took will really help their case against individuals on the list, unless they actually also caught them in the act or got a confession out of them?
I'm no expert on this, just curious. I imagine there are lots of families, careers, and lives of regular people that will be ruined by this as well as the high-powered ones, unless the group was somehow specifically targeting big fish.
The unreliability of the records is a major reason why clients won't normally be prosecuted based on records.
Anyone know which agency(ies)?
The court doc has the two websites in it.
Boston Top Ten in Massachusetts and Brown Eyed Girls in the Washington DC suburbs.
LOL everyone seems to get BEGs actual name wrong. It's "Eyes" not Eye or Eyed. But don't feel bad, even the guy that wrote the affidavit screwed that up. If not for the URL maybe they could have tried for a case of mistaken identity defense - well, that and all the financial and communication related evidence.
Wouldn't trust them at all now.
You'll find everything known in the links there.
The Rolling Stones has an interesting take on this case, raising the question about why spend resources on this particular place. Speculates that maybe this ring was extorting high-level people, or there was something bigger they were trying to accomplish:
Would like to see the internal FBI memo telling agents to stay away from these brothels and use other ones.
Anything with the FBI's name one it has not become creditable anymore.
Note the article centers on High-ranking Federal officials, Military Officers, and politicians. Never mind prosecution for soliciting sex, but rather being outed and risking security clearances and reputations.
in Massachusetts had to say about the information kept by this org . . . .
“Alleged prospective sex buyers in this scheme first had to respond to a survey and provide information online, including their driver’s license photos, their employer information, credit card information, and they often paid a monthly fee to be part of this.”
Anybody here still doubt that you should NOT give personal information for screening purposes? Fill out an online contact form, DL photo, employment, credit card numbers, auto pay for the monthly dues??? Why not just put your own picture in the paper with the caption, "Brothel John." Lol
So far, it appears the 20 or so customers that cooperated with the investigation have not been named, but if the case goes to trial, who do you think the witnesses might be and how do they stay UTR then? A Lose-Lose for the customers.
-- Modified on 11/9/2023 10:38:13 AM
"Cooperated." A mistake they will pay for, most likely.
I find it fascinating that people feel more at ease providing their real-life information to an agency or a "screening" platform rather than an independent, despite the fact that LE usually target bigger fish and tend to leave independent providers alone, unless of course, they draw attention to themselves.
By the way, have y'all seen the news clips from Boston? It's quite intriguing how prominently the P411 banner is displayed in the clips. And if we're "keeping it a buck" the reason clients are walking out of interviews and is because they're basically trading (cooperating) their freedom for their credentials. Then references to P411 (and not-so-subtly, TER) as the dark web? It's no secret that P411 has been compromised in the past and has cooperated with LE. But now? Yeah, they're definitely compromised.
That does bring up an interesting point I haven't considered since the SESTA/FOSTA blackout: is TER still based outside the US?
I assume the answer is yes but would like to know for sure. Same goes for P411. It has been US-based and then Canada-based. But under new ownership I have no idea.
Registrar for the domain is based in Australia and the site whois listing shows the organization address (what is not redacted for privacy requirements) as New Zealand. They should be safe.