TAX EVASION.
That is what is at the root of LE having busted the agency that is such a topic on this board. I only became aware of this through a post on another board, I am not in the DC area. I can however give you some insight on what is going on here, a couple threads I read touched on it but it seems like some people are really not thinking rationally, which is understandable to a point.
It can't be stressed enough, tax evasion is what got the LE wheels turning here. I made a couple other posts on the general discussion board in response to an inquiry about "Independents vs Agencies" you may find my feedback there of interest.
I am going to cut and paste some of my comments to that on the other TER board, maybe they will provide some things to think about. Unless you are a high profile individual whose name is of interest to the media, assumning the client list is ever given to the media which doesn't always happen, you have little to nothing to worry about.
Now to the DC thing you mentioned, as a former client of Miami Companions, I can tell you that those freaking out should calm down a little. I am unfamilar with the bust you mentioned, though I will read up on it now, but I can tell you that the probable reason for that bust was something other than illegal sexual business.
Two words, tax evasion, think of all the agencies that openly advertise in every major city in the country, why are they all not shut down? I guess it is greed that fuels the attempts of the people that run these agencies to try to conduct an lawfully illegal enterprise AND try to get away with not paying income taxes.
The fact is that some independent, and I would hope agencies who are not goofballs, actaully file with the IRS their earnings in the hobby, obviously not being blunt about what they are doing, I woud think they would have some creative way of describing their income, through "counseling services" or some other BS. The IRS is not concerned with how the money was made and I am telling you it is not paying taxes that get these agencies shut down.
LE does not have the proof that would hold up in a court that any particular hobbyist did anything illegal after meeting the escort. The fact is it would cost them way more money than they have available to track down clients and have any chance of a successful prosecution. Money is the name of the game with these agency busts, they want to let others know they need to pay their taxes, they want to levy fines to the offenders, and they are not interested in spending boocoo bucks trying to prosecute jo schmo hobbyist.
Now with that said, the client list may be another story. In the MC case, the thing has not seen the light of day. There have been other busts where the media hass gotten ahold of the client list. If you are a well known person then that might be cause for concern, the media is obviously going to do what they do. But if you are not a public figure or someone with a higher profile than the average citizen, even if the list fell into media hands you probably would have little to fear. The whole time people were freaking out about the MC bust I never really freaked, as I am not a public figure, I am not married, and it really didn't bother me.
With that said, I have decided that I will not deal with local agencies. If one of those are busted then it is a local story. If a touring agency is busted, it is only going to be a story where they were based and the city in which the federal trial takes place. With MC that was Miami and Detroit. I know seeing an out of state agency makes it technically a federal crime, but remember, they are doing these busts to go after TAX evasion and not prostitution.
