http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/01/22/MNG3RGP5GI1.DTL&type=tech

U.S. tries to curtail new cyber-brothels
- Anthony M. DeStefano, Newsday
Sunday, January 22, 2006

New York -- They operate from very modest offices in Manhattan, federal agents say, but have tantalizing Web sites featuring American porn stars and international prostitutes. Some offer high-priced call girls for trysts anywhere in the world, for as much as $50,000 a weekend. They can quickly match well-heeled customers -- from Wall Street, Hollywood, the sports world -- with stylish, beautiful women.

The cyber-brothels of New York City are raking in the dough, according to investigators who say they are discovering more and more of these highly lucrative businesses.

"A classic blond girl next door, Victoria is one girl anyone can feel comfortable with," said one "New York Elites" Web site entry. "Her near perfect figure and heart-warming charm makes for a combination that will ultimately melt your mind."

Martin Ficke, head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New York, said his agents report that "incredible" amounts of money are being made in the international sex trade via the World Wide Web. Traditionally, his agency has probed child sex rings over the Internet, but these operations are a new target.

"Now we are finding a lot of focus on the adult trade," Ficke said of the Internet rings. "To a degree, it was an eye-opener."

The businesses flourish for several reasons, authorities say. They have low overhead costs, and the Internet both confers virtual anonymity upon the customers and gives those who operate the sex businesses an easy way to do background checks on potential clients to try to avoid law enforcement sting operations.

While Immigration and Customs Enforcement is mainly involved in immigration, money-laundering and customs-related matters, Ficke said the flow of foreign women into the sex businesses has generated immigration crimes. Federal agents said prostitutes from Germany, Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic, Russia and Australia have been turning up in the city.

A number of the agency's investigations related to the cyber-brothels are under way, Ficke said. Officials said they are trolling through credit card and other records of more than 5,000 wealthy customers of one ring alone. The customers potentially could face tax, securities and prostitution-related charges, the officials acknowledged.

Local district attorneys also are getting involved in going after sex rings that have been audacious in promoting their activities. In the last year, prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney's office have brought three cases, including one against Julie Moya, 48, a Long Island woman who used the Internet site "Julienyc" and now is serving two to five years in state prison for promoting prostitution.

Another alleged Manhattan sex promoter, Jason Itzler, is currently cooling his heels on Rikers Island. Itzler, 40, ran "NY Confidential," an escort service. Investigators believe Itzler's operation was a large-scale prostitution ring in which women could make $1,000 an hour and up. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of money laundering and promoting prostitution, and is scheduled to appear in court this week.

In April, when agency agents busted a business known as "New York Elites" run by Ukraine-born Elena Trochtchenkova, 41, of Queens, and Rady Abdel Salem Abbassy, 45, who was from Egypt and lived in Brooklyn.

The case -- which has generated a slew of guilty pleas in federal court in Manhattan related to prostitution, money laundering and immigration violations -- began after a U.S. diplomat in Australia got a tip that some flight attendants there were traveling to New York to work as prostitutes, sometimes against their will. It turned out that the women were not coerced.

But investigators began to probe deeper and said they found that for more than five years, New York Elites and a related business, "Exotica 2000," were making millions of dollars through international prostitution. Using the Internet, New York Elites displayed vital statistics and enticing information about its escorts.

For instance, the woman who gave her name as Victoria and said she is 22 listed her weight and measurements and said she was available for travel. Numerous porn stars also were listed on the site.

Investigators said the system worked like this: After calling the New York Elites switchboard, potential customers were given a background check to weed out undercover cops. If they cleared, the customers told the operators which girls they wanted, sometimes using number identifications that they obtained from the Web site. The women could be flown into the New York area, or any other city, for that matter.

One buxom, statuesque German prostitute was brought in from Europe for a weekend tryst that cost the customer $50,000, said one defense attorney familiar with the case. Sometimes multiple U.S. city tours were arranged for the women, agency agents said.

The usual price range for the women ranged from $500 to $1,500 an hour, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case. Weekend arrangements often brought the women $15,000 to $20,000, according to investigators. Customers paid by credit card or cash, which was temporarily held at the New York office, they said.

For the five-year period investigated, immigration and customs agency agents said New York Elites pulled in $13.5 million in revenues that could be traced through shell companies. The women, billed as models, supermodels or porn stars, split their take with the company. Even the telephone operators at the switchboard could earn $70,000 a year, said defense attorney Steven K. Frankel, who is representing one of the phone operators. The company and its employees also paid taxes, said Frankel and officials.

Unlike human trafficking operations in which the women are coerced to do the sex work, the New York Elites business was strictly consensual, said Ficke and other investigators. That has prompted some to question why the government pursued the case.

Assholes. With all the problems this country has this is how our tax money is being spent.

The only thing that SHOULD be a crime here, is the prices this outfit was charging.

I cannot believe people use credit cards for 'illegal' pussy in the USA.
ATM all the way
(and no, I do not practise ass-to-mouth. that is just disgusting. especially when you forget not to DFK AFTER the fact)

'The customers potentially could face tax, securities and prostitution-related charges, the officials acknowledged."

I suspect that should have been written, "The companies...."

Might be an idea to start a business to make "porn movies", staring yours truely. Spend a few hours with a young lady, with a video camera. Pay her a modeling fee. All covered by the 1st Amendment. You could even purchase distribution services, should you want to.