Whiskeria World

Beverly Carter was being sexually abused by immediate members of her family, who then used her to provide paid-for sex to outsiders

2009-10-30T14:26:00.000+01:00

Beverly Carter was being sexually abused by immediate members of her family, who then used her to provide paid-for sex to outsiders – leading to a 30-year stretch of prostitution. Despite eventually reporting the abuse to doctors, she says she wasn't helped and began to use alcohol and drugs – including slimming pills, cannabis and crack cocaine – to fill the painful void.Today, aged 47, Carter is free from alcohol and drugs and prostitution, citing a 12-step drugs programme and a conversion to Christianity as her turning points. "For me, a holistic approach to rehabilitation is what helped," she explains. "Prostituted women need to deal with all areas of their lives in order to get free – mind, body, soul, spirit and, most importantly, the deeper levels of emotions."Ten years ago, Carter founded the charity Bridging the Gap (BTG), part of the New Community network, which offers just such all-round support. Women affected by prostitution are supported in a holistic format through one-to-one mentoring, weekly group therapy sessions, and practical and financial assistance. BTG has helped around 100 women in the Southampton area to leave prostitution, make progress towards leaving or avoid being groomed for prostitution. Last year Carter was invited to advise MPs on how to tackle prostitution.
The policing and crime bill, which is being debated in the House of Lords, aims to create a new offence of paying for sex with a prostitute who is subject to force. "Force" would include threats, psychological manipulation, coercion, deception or trafficking.But Carter challenges the notion that any prostitute works without in some way having been forced into it. As a result, she believes that the acceptance of any paid-for sex should be illegal. "Through childhood sexual abuse, many prostituted women have become conditioned into thinking that this is their choice," she says. "That's what happened to me and to many others. It normalises this kind of behaviour and causes many to enter into the trade, which is why I think it should all be illegal. There should also be more investigation into child abuse, which would act as a preventive measure for those vulnerable to the sex industry."
To back her case, Carter points to the 2004 Home Office report Paying the Price, which highlighted some disturbing facts. In a representative sample of the women interviewed, 85% reported that they had suffered physical abuse within the family, and 45% said that they had suffered sexual abuse. Up to 70% had spent time in care, and as many as 95% of those involved in street prostitution are believed to be users of heroin and crack cocaine."Counselling, career mentoring, rehousing, drug rehabilitation and childcare assistance on a wider scale would help," she argues. "This costs a lot, but if the government is serious about creating change, then finance needs to be redirected from short-term funding for temporary fixes to a more long-term approach."In the meantime, Carter has started a new BTG group in Bournemouth: "Creating exit routes, enabling affected people to leave prostitution, is the priority. We're dealing with damaged individuals who are often children, emotionally, in adults' bodies."

Female police officers are to pose as prostitutes in South Africa

2009-10-30T14:24:00.000+01:00

Female police officers are to pose as prostitutes in South Africa in a bid to snare kerb crawlers ahead of next year’s World Cup, security chiefs said.A squad of undercover cops will dress provocatively and walk the streets during a crackdown designed to catch sex workers’ clients in the act.
The planned stings are part of an operation to seize control of the HIV-ridden industry before around 450,000 foreign fans descend on the Fifa host nation next summer.Rudolf Wiltshire, a Cape Town city official who has fined 112 prostitutes for soliciting during the past last month, said 10 officers handpicked for the task would begin their new job next week.
He said: “These women were specifically selected for this function. They have all the attributes that are conducive to this kind of job.
“It requires high ethical norms and values, and a good understanding of the social issues of sex workers.
“Our team are receiving dedicated training aimed at enhancing sensitivity in the environments of health and substance abuse.
“They will also be equipped with information about safe housing, remedial intervention and how to connect sex workers with the organisations that drive social intervention”.
The move has angered campaign group the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (Sweat).
Sweat spokeswoman Vivienne Lalu said the industry would be driven further underground and deprive women of their human rights.
But as South Africa prepares for an influx of tourists – with around 25,000 expected from Britain – MPs and charities have repeatedly called for the country’s thousands of prostitutes to be brought under control. (Daily Telegraph)

Robbed after performing a sexual act

2009-10-30T14:21:00.000+01:00

Arthur Elliott, of Baier Avenue in the Somerset section, was indicted Wednesday by a Somerset County grand jury on charges of first-degree armed robbery, second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purposes and fourth-degree possession of a defaced firearm.

Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne J. Forrest has said the alleged victim, a New Brunswick woman, called township police at approximately 6 a.m. Oct. 4 and said she had been robbed at gunpoint in a parking lot off Hawthorne Drive near Byron Place.
The woman said she was robbed after performing a sexual act, according to Forrest.
Elliott picked up the woman in New Brunswick, and the two then traveled in his vehicle, a red Toyota Camry, to his residence to retrieve a condom prior to driving to Hawthorne Drive, police said.Elliott paid money to the woman for the sexual act, according to court papers.Once the sexual act was completed, Elliott got a firearm from the car's glove compartment, placed the firearm to the woman's head and robbed her of an undisclosed amount of money, according to court papers. The woman gave Elliott the money and was able to escape from the parked vehicle unharmed, court papers state.The woman then led detectives to Elliott's residence, court papers state.

Patronizing a prostitute reportedly is a misdemeanor offense, but the harassment conviction is a felony, according to the News-Tribune.

2009-10-30T14:19:00.000+01:00

Convicted yesterday in a prostitution and harrassment case, a Washington state judge apparently will continue to collect his $148,000-a-year salary for the foreseeable future.Although the state attorney general's office contends that Washington law provides for Pierce County Superior Court Judge Michael Hecht automatically to vacate his elected office upon conviction, the county's presiding judge argues otherwise, reports the News Tribune.The state constitution, which presumably must trump conflicting state law, provides that judges can be forced from office only if impeached by the state legislature or removed by the state supreme court, after an investigation by the according to Superior Court Judge Bryan Chushcoff.
“It is my understanding of the law that the entry of a conviction does not, of itself, remove a superior court judge from office,” he tells the newspaper.
An investigation of Hecht's conduct is already under way by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct, which could potentially lead to his removal, and a fact-finding hearing is scheduled Feb. 22 at the King County courthouse in Seattle. Unless and until the supreme court or legislature acts, however, Hecht, who has been on paid leave since March from his judicial job, will continue to receive his $148,000-a-year pay.
Patronizing a prostitute reportedly is a misdemeanor offense, but the harassment conviction is a felony, according to the News-Tribune.

WHAS11 News has been investigating a local male modeling agency for six months.

2009-10-30T14:09:00.001+01:00

Some of the models say the agency isn't delivering on its promise to try to find the models work and they say the work that is being offered isn't to model.
It's an investigation six months in the making, with a criminal file that dates back to 1992 when Russell Claxon spent time in jail for promoting male prostitution.
Now a model in his agency claims he's at it again.
Michael Casolari is model number 88 at Models Today L.L.C.
He’s 5'11, 173 pounds and trying to get out of modeling.
According to Casolari, he hasn’t made a dollar modeling for Russell Claxon.
Tim Amyx is model number 59 on the site. He is 6'1, 173 pounds and looking for a break."Brand new to the area, just moved here, didn't have a job, didn't even have a place to live yet and the money he promised was sounded pretty good," says Amyx.
Also there's Kyle Dever, model number 148. He has taken Russell Claxon to court.
Claxon was in small claims court to defend himself after Dever sued him for the money paid to join the agency."I paid $225, which is half of one of my unemployment checks. Then two weeks later, when I got my next check, I gave him the rest of it. Its $450 total," says Dever.Claxon testified in court that he currently represents 349 models. WHAS11 News doesn’t know how much money he makes, but if all those models paid the $450 to sign up, that would add up to over $157,000.
Claxon has offered no evidence that he's placed any of those models in a modeling job.Judge Jacquelyn Eckert ordered Claxon to give Dever his money back.
"You've shown me nothing to indicate that you're running a legitimate business. I think you're running a scam," said Judge Eckert.
The court awarded Kyle Dever his $450 minus court costs. Russell claxon appealed the decision and lost.

Dutch girl ´Meinke´ (25) used to be a prostitute.

2009-10-30T14:07:00.001+01:00

Dutch girl ´Meinke´ (25) used to be a prostitute.
´Make a lot of money and do as little for it as possible. Of course most people would like that. But most of them are not prepared to do for that what I did: become a prostitute.

When I was eightteen I moved from the small town where I was born to Amsterdam. The capital had always drawn me. As a little kid I used to go there with my parents. During those visits I always enjoyed the special atmosphere and the people. It was very different from the place I grew up in. I just had to live there.

I was there for a couple of months and had a great time. I found a job at a departmentstore and there I met Lonneke. She became my best friend. Together we wandered whole days all over town. Except for work we had not much else to do. We started to live for party-ing. If we were at home, we just waited for it to get dark. Every sunday it was on: we went to this legendary club in the city. One sundaynight we wanted to go, but we didn´t have any money. We took to the streets and started to ask people for dough. A very desperate act, but it did work. I asked one guy for 1 euro. He gave me 15! Enough for an entrance-ticket. Then and there emerged the idea of becoming a hooker. I didn´t tell Lonneke a thing. Or any of my other friends for that matter. I viewed my looks very business-like. If men liked me that much, well, then they had to pay for me.´

Inquest into the death of a Sydney teenage prostitute has been adjourned to pass on new evidence to the homicide squad.

2009-10-30T13:53:00.000+01:00

Inquest into the death of a Sydney teenage prostitute has been adjourned to pass on new evidence to the homicide squad.NSW Deputy State Coroner Jacqueline Milledge on Friday adjourned the inquest into the death of 17-year-old Arron Light, whose remains were found in a shallow grave on the banks of a canal in Sydney's inner west in March 2002.Counsel assisting the inquest, Ron Hoenig, told Glebe Coroner's Court a person gave new information to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions on Thursday.Mr Hoenig said the material was "significant" and was corroborated by evidence at the inquest."It's my submission that that material needs to be forthwith forwarded to the homicide squad," Mr Hoenig said."It's my submission that that material is of such significance that your honour adjourn this inquest."The inquest was adjourned for two years in 2007 and resumed in October this year.Ms Milledge noted the delays, but said the new information needed to be investigated.
"At this stage of course it's a significant development that requires a careful scrutiny of the material that has been offered to the coroner and I do think the only group that could do that ... is the homicide squad," she said.
Mr Hoenig discussed the adjournment with Arron's parents, who were present in court.
"As Mrs Light said to me, 'We only get one shot at this'," Mr Hoenig said.
Ms Milledge said the decision to delay the inquest was the right one.
"I gave a commitment ... that what could be done would be done and we would do our best and this is part of it."
Frederick Rix, 81, a "person of interest" at the inquest, queried Ms Milledge on the nature of the new evidence.Arron had been due to give evidence against Mr Rix in a sex abuse trial listed for March 1998, but after he went missing in December 1997 the prosecution offered no evidence at the trial and Mr Rix was acquitted.
"This inquest is definitely a war of attrition," Mr Rix said.
"This is more or less another ploy to delay the inquest."
Mr Hoenig said the delay was in fairness to Mr Rix to ensure whoever was engaged in the "heinous murder" of Arron was brought to justice.
The adjournment also allows Ms Milledge to extend the warrant for Elliott Little, a friend of Arron's who sometimes uses the alias "Elliott Young", who it is hoped will give evidence at the inquest.The 34-year-old was last known to be residing in Cairns.
The matter will be mentioned in the same court on February 12 to check on the progress of the investigation.

Michelle Robinson,was arrested in August; she eventually pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud.

2009-05-04T11:36:00.000+02:00

Michelle Robinson, dressed in a gray pantsuit, appeared nervous yesterday as she sat next to her lawyer, Mark Smith, and when asked by Judge Mark L. Wolf if she had anything to say before he announced his decision, she initially declined. But after conferring with Smith, she stood up and said, "I just want to say that I am sorry and will obey the conditions."Wolf then ordered Robinson to check into an undisclosed halfway house by noon next Friday. Her release date is scheduled for Aug. 17. The order was the result of a joint recommendation by Smith and prosecutors. Wolf then reprimanded Robinson, saying at one point that she appeared not to be listening to him and that she probably committed more than one violation of her home confinement."I'm very concerned that I'm seeing you again. There would have been probable bases to see you in March when there were problems with the telephone. I'm disturbed about where you were on [April] 3d, and I'm concerned you weren't truthful with the probation department."Robinson had contended that she was at work that day at Propel Inc. in Norwood, but her employer told her probation officer that she hadn't shown up. She was fired for missing work. Robinson had also contended that there were technical problems with her electronic monitoring unit, that it had become unplugged once, and that she had replaced a headset with one that had a louder ringtone.Last year Wolf accepted a controversial plea agreement that gave Robinson, 29, less time behind bars than the two to three years federal sentencing guidelines recommend and that forbids her from revealing the identity of the man she extorted with threats of public disclosure.The businessman's identity has not been revealed. He has been described by authorities as a wealthy married man in his 60s from the Boston area who has funded startup companies and is active in charitable circles. Authorities say he paid Robinson for sex from about January 2007 to June of last year.
A month later, according to the FBI, Robinson called the businessman with a threat to reveal their relationship unless he gave her cash. The businessman gave her $80,000 outside a Newton hotel, and when she said that was not enough, he gave her $200,000 outside a store in Dedham, according to court records.
When she demanded $300,000 more, the businessman contacted a lawyer, former US attorney Donald K. Stern. Robinson was arrested in August; she eventually pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud.Stern previously said that his client wants to donate the $280,000 in restitution owed.

Allegedly bought a 13-year-old girl from her mother for money and forced her to work as a prostitute.

2009-05-04T11:31:00.000+02:00

Dubai Prosecution referred four Arab nationals to the Dubai Courts on charges of human trafficking, after they allegedly bought a 13-year-old girl from her mother for money and forced her to work as a prostitute. The public prosecutor accused three of the suspects, two men and a woman, of buying the teenage girl from an Arabic country and bringing her to the UAE under a fake passport, pretending that one of the men and the woman were the parents of the girl, while the fourth suspect was accused of failing to report the crime to authorities. The victim, identified as Z.A., testified that since she entered the country, the suspects forced her to have sex with men for Dh2,000 and Dh3,000 per night. Following information about the crime in January, the suspects were arrested in collaboration with the Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD) and Sharjah Police. They were seized at Sharjah International Airport while trying to take the girl to a neighbouring country. Khalifa Rashid Bin Deemas, Head of Attorney Generals Technical Office said that the girl was referred to Dubai Foundation for Women and Children as per the directions of Attorney General Essam Eisa Al Humaidan.

Thirty-four-year-old Melissa Halstrom is going on trial on sex charges

2009-05-04T11:29:00.000+02:00

Thirty-four-year-old Melissa Halstrom is going on trial on sex charges, including inducing a minor into prostitution and deriving support from a prostitute with her alleged business partner, Anthony Gorgoglione Jr., of Millbury.Trial of a North Andover woman accused of running a prostitution ring out of her apartment is scheduled to continue this week.The two are accused of recruiting teenagers to be "call girls," supplying them with drugs to help calm them down and setting them up on $200-an-hour sex sessions.Both have pleaded not guilty.The trial in Lawrence is set to resume Monday after being held up last week by jury selection delays.They were arrested in September 2007 and police said they had been running a sex-for-money operation for months.

Hunters Corner in Papatoetoe and in parts of Manurewa street prostitution has been an ongoing problem

2009-05-04T11:24:00.000+02:00

Issues associated with street sex workers - including turf wars and used condoms being littered on suburban streets - last month prompted the council to recommend to the Government to have the Prostitution Reform Act 2003 changed, making street prostitution illegal. It was the second time the council made the recommendation.
But a Ministry of Justice report released on Friday has recommended that the council work with police, residents and sex workers to address problems among the different groups.The report also says a more localised approach to addressing the "very localised problem" would be more effective than a change of law.Manukau City Council portfolio leader for community safety Dick Quax says he is disappointed with the government review, because Manukau City residents - specifically on Hunters Corner in Papatoetoe and in parts of Manurewa - have had to deal with the mess and violence for more than 10 years."Street prostitution has been an ongoing problem since 1998. We've been battling to get them out for a long time - we will continue to battle this," Pakuranga councillor Mr Quax said.
"We tried to bring in a local act, to get prostitutes off the streets in Manukau only - only to be told to that wouldn't work unless it was outlawed."And now we make a recommendation to have street prostitution illegal and we're told it's a local problem."
The council's Policy and Activities Committee will now seek an amendment to the Prostitution Reform Act 2003 to make street prostitution illegal, with mayor Len Brown, Mr Quax and Manurewa councillor Colleen Brown seeking to meet Prime Minister John Key.
Problems with used condoms, syringes and toilet paper littering the streets have been addressed in the report, which recommends that more rubbish bins be provided and public toilets are opened 24 hours a day.Reducing the opening hours of pubs, enforcing a liquor ban and increasing community policing were also recommended to the council. Mr Quax said: "I don't think there was anything new. Most things they are recommending are things that we are already doing."
Auckland City mayor John Banks said he could understand why Manukau City Council was seeking to have the law changed, saying it was unfair of the Government to let local councils deal with such a major issue.

"Most of this has been pushed down from government on to the communities, the cities and the local people to deal with."

Mr Banks acknowledged that Manukau City was not the only council battling street prostitution and illegal brothels popping up in various suburban streets throughout the city.Although he knew of the many problems caused by prostitution - and the dangers prostitutes were inadvertently putting themselves in - he would not judge a person's chosen lifestyle.
"[Street prostitution] isn't going to go away - it will continue to grow and we will have to deal with it."

I have bad news, I have lost $5 billion." The second replies, 'Well I have lost $7 billion. But the good news is that whores are back to costing $100

2009-05-04T11:18:00.000+02:00

popular joke among Russian oligarchs has one telling another, "I have bad news, I have lost $5 billion." The second replies, 'Well I have lost $7 billion. But the good news is that whores are back to costing $100.' It may seem a typically Russian view of the economic crisis -- selling and paying for sex makes up much of Moscow's notorious nightlife, and some "night butterflies" say they are slashing their prices to compete. But they add a new kind of customer has emerged who wants emotional support, not sex.
Adriana, a prostitute in her 30s who works in the flat she shares with her 18-year old son, said her role has evolved to being a shoulder for her customers to cry on: "They complain and many (now) don't come for sex," she said, downing a flute of champagne in a noisy bar and flicking back her jet-black hair.

She recalled a recent experience with a client whose salary had fallen by a third to 40,000 roubles ($1,200) per month: "He stopped after three seconds and suggested we had drinks and talk."

Sex drive and economic prosperity are strongly linked, said British sex expert, columnist and writer Tracey Cox. "Lots of men define themselves by their jobs and how much money they make... Our libido is definitely affected by times of financial difficulty. Stress is a huge contributor to (its) loss," she told Reuters.

"A prostitute is someone who is basically paid not to judge them for whatever they ask for... she therefore becomes the logical person to talk to."

Though illegal, paying for sex is widely accepted by many Russian men. The eight-laned highways which stretch out of the sprawling capital of 10.5 million teem with prostitutes, some of whom agree demand for sex has fallen. "Now they often talk about work," said Olya, who is in her early 20s and works independently without a pimp near the MKAD, the capital's main ring road. "They are afraid of losing their jobs." On Web site www.x-love.ru where men can search for prostitutes in their area, a banner invites them to de-stress by simply talking: "When your stock price is falling, what better way to relax than chatting with one of our girls?" Moscow police decline to estimate how many prostitutes work in the city but media reports and rights groups say it houses more than 100,000 -- roughly 10 times higher than estimates for London and New York.
Police and law enforcement agencies often turn a blind eye to prostitution or ask girls for either a bribe up to 6,000 roubles or free oral sex, several prostitutes said.

High court declared the mujra dance "vulgar" and banned it from being performed on stage.

2009-05-04T11:12:00.000+02:00

A barefoot, long-haired woman is gyrating and twirling on the carpet, to the beat of a four-man band whose drummer sweats profusely as he pounds out a furious rhythm.The dancer, who only gives her first name, Beenish, is performing a kind of Pakistani belly-dance called the mujra.Her harmonium player, a skinny bald man who squints through coke-bottle glasses, has been performing like this for the past 50 years. But he says the art form is dying out."That spark, the way it was in the past, is no more," said Ghulam Sarwar.Last fall, a judge in Lahore's high court declared the mujra dance "vulgar" and banned it from being performed on stage.Some here say the government is cracking down on easy, "immoral" targets in an attempt to appease religious hard-liners like the Taliban. Islamist militants are believed to be responsible for a recent wave of bomb attacks in Lahore, targeting cinemas, theaters and cafes where young men and women fraternize together.
"It is a gesture of good will to pacify the mullahs and the Taliban," said Samia Amjad, a lawmaker in the provincial assembly. Though she is a member of an opposition political party, she said she supported the crackdown on vulgarity. "I see it as an essential part of Islam."Dancers aren't the only targets of the court censors.In late March, the Lahore high court banned two female singers from recording new albums after ruling that they sang sexually explicit lyrics."If the current circumstances persist in Pakistan," said Noora Lal, one of the banned singers, "then singing will die out in this country."
Pakistan is a deeply conservative Muslim nation, where the punishment for blasphemy is the death sentence.But there is one person in Lahore who openly mocks the conservative establishment: painter and restaurant owner Iqbal Hussain.Though he said he has received multiple death threats from Islamist fundamentalists, Hussain continues to be Pakistan's most vocal defender of prostitutes. All of the models portrayed in his paintings are sex workers."I portray them on canvas, portray them as human beings," Hussain said, "They feel pain. They want their children to be educated."Hussain knows the industry intimately. He was born to a family of sex workers. His mother, a former prostitute, passed away last month at the age of 98.The small, soft-spoken painter has turned the house he grew up in, an old four-story building with ornate wooden balconies, into a popular restaurant for tourists and wealthy Pakistanis. On one side of the house there is a brothel, on the other side, the 17th century Badshahi Mosque, one of the largest mosques in the world.In his subversive paintings, which Hussain said sell for more than $10,000 each, he highlights the overlap between Lahore's sex industry and its religious community. In one canvas, hundreds of worshippers are depicted prostrating themselves around the mosque, while in the foreground, two women apply lipstick and makeup on a balcony.Hussain explained that the prostitutes in the painting were preparing to receive new customers as soon as the prayers in the mosque were over. The painter claimed that on religious festivals, the brothels and dance halls in his neighborhood overflow with customers.
"They come from the northern areas with their turbans," Iqbal said, laughing. "All coming to this area. They're not going to the mosque ... but to the brothels!"Nevertheless, the rising tide of the Taliban in northwestern Pakistan has some residents of Lahore's red light district worried.
"May Allah keep us safe from them," said Beenish, the mujra dancer. "We are poor, humble people. They should not target this place."

Craig Thomson faces allegations that his union credit cards were used to pay for escort services and to withdraw more than $100,000 in cash

2009-04-13T15:50:00.000+02:00

Craig Thomson faces allegations that his union credit cards were used to pay for escort services and to withdraw more than $100,000 in cash, as well as bankroll his election campaign for the central coast seat of Dobell. Health Services Union officials concluded last year that union credit cards issued to Mr Thomson - and other financial resources - were used for election campaign spending. These had not been disclosed under electoral law.Mr Thomson, 44, was the union's national secretary from 2002 to 2007 and is chairman of the House of Representatives economics committee.
The union officials also concluded that Mr Thomson's union Commonwealth Bank credit card had been used to withdraw cash advances totalling $101,533 during his five years as national secretary.And the documents suggest the Commonwealth Bank MasterCard in Mr Thomson's name was used to make payments to operators of a Sydney brothel and two escort services as well as numerous payments to restaurants and bars and for purchases of personal items.The allegations are outlined in a letter written by the union's national secretary, Kathy Jackson, to the law firm Slater & Gordon in December asking it to hire forensic accountants to examine possible financial irregularities during Mr Thomson's period in office.But Mr Thomson, who was an HSU official for nearly 20 years before securing preselection for Dobell, one of the Coalition-held marginal seats Labor targeted in the 2007 election, strenuously denied the allegations.He said yesterday they were the result of feuding in the union's Victorian branches, with "more and more outrageous claims and counter-claims being made" by factional opponents.Mr Thomson insisted there was no truth to suggestions his union credit card had been used to withdraw cash from ATMs every few days for five years or that union funds and resources used in his election campaign had not been appropriately authorised or disclosed.

Windmill on Oil Street, Vauxhall, and First Choice, in Canal Street, Bootle, had been “exceedingly well-run”.

2009-04-13T15:47:00.000+02:00

Ex-Maghull cricket captain John “Mike” Hagan and his co-accused Deborah Burgess were both jailed for 15 months after they were caught following a police investigation.Undercover officers watched the pair running the brothels which masqueraded as massage parlours.
Jailing them, Judge Robert Warnock said: “Your services concerted illegal activity that preyed upon the sexual desires of men and the denigration of woman for your personal reward.“To suggest a basis of altruism and goodwill is disingenuous.”
Judge Warnock accepted the two brothels, Windmill on Oil Street, Vauxhall, and First Choice, in Canal Street, Bootle, had been “exceedingly well-run”.But he added: “If there are those who seek to legalise prostitution they should use legitimate and public channels and not flout the law or encourage others to do so.”

635 percent increase in the number of teenage girls in prostitution, or rather, Mutah.

2009-04-13T15:36:00.000+02:00

According to an official source in Tehran, there has been a 635 percent increase in the number of teenage girls in prostitution, or rather, Mutah. The magnitude of this statistic conveys how rapidly this form of abuse has grown. In Tehran, there are an estimated 84,000 women and girls in prostitution, many of them are on the streets, others are in the 250 brothels that reportedly operate in the city. The trade is also international: thousands of Iranian women and girls have been been contracted in Mutah to foreigners abroad. The head of Irans Interpol bureau believes that the Mutah trade is one of the most profitable activities in Iran today.
High unemployment 28 percent for youth 15-29 years of age and 43 percent for women 15-20 years of age - is a serious factor in driving restless youth to accept Mutah. The Mutah pimps take advantage of any opportunity in which women and children are vulnerable. For example, following the recent earthquake in Bam, orphaned girls have been contracted out in Tehran where Iranian and foreign traders meet.

Popular destinations for girls sent for Mutah are the Arab countries in the Persian Gulf. According to the head of the Tehran province judiciary, Mutah traffickers target girls between 13 and 17, although there are reports of some girls as young as 8 and 10, to send to Arab countries. The number of Iranian women and girls who are deported from Persian Gulf countries indicates the magnitude of the trade.

Police have uncovered a number of Mutah rings operating from Tehran that have sold girls to France, Britain, Turkey, as well. One network based in Turkey bought smuggled Iranian women and girls, gave them fake passports, and transported them to European and Persian Gulf countries. In one case, a 16-year-old girl was smuggled to Turkey, and then sold in Mutah to a 58-year-old European national for $20,000.In the northeastern Iranian province of Khorasan, local police report that girls are being sold in Mutah to Pakistani men. The Pakistani men temporarily marry the girls, ranging in age from 12 to 20; they are also sent to Mutah brothels called Kharabat in Pakistan. One network was caught contacting poor families around Mashad and offering to temporary marry girls. The girls were then taken through Afghanistan to Pakistan where they were sent to Mutah brothels to work. In the southeastern border province of Sistan Baluchestan, thousands of Iranian girls reportedly have been sold in Mutah to Afghani men. Their final destinations are unknown.One factor contributing to the increase in prostitution and the sex slave trade is the number of teen girls who are running away from home. As a result of runaways, in Tehran alone there are an estimated 25,000 street children, most of them girls. Mutah pimps prey upon street children, runaways, and vulnerable high school girls in city parks. In one case, a woman was discovered selling Iranian girls to men in Persian Gulf countries; for four years, she had hunted down runaway girls and sold them. She even sold her own daughter for US$11,000.
In cities, shelters have been set-up to provide assistance for runaways. Officials who run these shelters are often corrupt; they run prostitution rings using the girls from the shelter. For example in Karaj, the former head of a Revolutionary Tribunal and seven other senior officials were arrested in connection with a Mutah prostitution ring that used 12 to 18 year old girls from a shelter called the Center of Islamic Orientation.Other instances of corruption abound. There was a judge in Karaj who was involved in a network that identified young girls to be sold in Mutah abroad. And in Qom, the center for religious training in Iran, when a Mutah prostitution ring was broken up, some of the people arrested were from government agencies, including the Department of Justice.
Officials of the Social Department of the Interior Ministry are worried about the increase in sexually transmitted diseases. Unlike other Muslim countries which have a relatively low HIV rate in comparison to the rest of the world, Iran is facing a long and hard battle with HIV due to the institution of Mutah, which is not permissible in the Sunni school of thought. At least 500,000 women make their living from Mutah in Iran, and at least 1.7 million women in Iran have engaged in it on a regular basis, according to sources in Tehran.

Nazi occupation as the “golden age” of the French brothel

2009-04-13T15:25:00.000+02:00

Nazi occupation as the “golden age” of the French brothel, chronicling a dramatic growth in prostitution to satisfy German demand.The book, 1940-1945, Erotic Years, is the second hefty volume in a wide-ranging sexual history of the occupation that one critic last week described as a “magisterial provocation” because of its assault on the myth that life under the Nazi boot was all resistance, hardship and suffering.Brothels that had been on the verge of closure before the war, as the abolitionist league gained force, enjoyed a dramatic revival as German soldiers poured into France.Some of the so-called maisons closes were reserved exclusively for officers, whose good looks and gallantry – they would bring chocolates and flowers – won them admirers in a country whose natives were rather less charming with prostitutes.“I’m almost ashamed to say it,” Fabienne Jamet, a madame at one of the top addresses, is quoted as saying, referring to debauched, champagne-drenched soirées, “but I’ve never had so much fun in my life. Those nights of the occupation were fantastic.”Seldom has a book delved as deeply into what is regarded by many as a source of national shame: far from being forced into bed with the invaders through economic hardship (as the official history would have people believe), thousands of French women fell in love with German soldiers and it is estimated that 200,000 children were born to Franco-German couples during the war.“That the departure of the Germans caused thousands of women deep affliction . . . is one of those facts that political necessity commands us to ignore,” writes Buisson, director of France’s History Channel and a presidential adviser.Members of the artistic and literary elite were “particularly sensitive to the seductiveness of the enemy”, the author says. He describes a string of romances between German officers and such iconic figures as Coco Chanel, the fashion designer, Mistinguett, the singer, Colette, the writer, and Arletty, the pseudonym under which Léonie Bathiat, the actress and star of Les Enfants du Paradis, was known.Arletty later justified her affair with a dashing young Luftwaffe captain by saying: “My heart is French but my body is international.”The aristocracy also showed a fondness for les boches and many of the most famous Parisian hostesses, including Countess Marie-Laure de Noailles, allowed themselves to be “occupied” by the invaders.“Their [the elite’s] behaviour helped to take away the sense of culpability of women of more humble station who felt the same fascination or attraction [for the enemy],” the author writes.Many, inevitably, sought favours from the Germans and there were an estimated 100,000 “occasional prostitutes” working in Paris – five to six times more than before the war. Women began dyeing their hair black in the belief that it would make them seem “exotic” because the wives of their Teutonic clients were more likely to be fair-haired.“In less than an hour,” writes Buisson, “a girl who sells her charms to the occupier can earn up to three times the daily allowance that was given to the wives of French prisoners of war in 1941.”Brothels, many of which were requisitioned for the exclusive use of the Germans, became a booming industry, upon which the collaborationist Vichy government imposed taxes. The business was tightly monitored by the occupiers, who imposed three stringent weekly medical examinations on women to prevent disease in the ranks.
The 15 doctors in charge of these inspections were obliged to sign a form in which they acknowledged that any negligence on their part would be considered by the Wehrmacht to be “an act of sabotage”.“Never have the brothels of France been better maintained than in their presence,” said Jamet, who ran a club called One Two Two. The working girls were just as grateful. “Everything indicates that the new clients of the summer of 1940 were given a favourable form of treatment that the seductive power of the [deutsch-mark] alone could not entirely account for,” writes the author.
Officers seemed often to regard the brothel as a home from home: “They were a substitute for the warmth of a distant hearth, convivial places where you would go for a drink, to listen to music, to dance with the women without necessarily going upstairs with one at the end of the evening.”The German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 was a distressing event for Parisian brothel owners, Buisson relates, because so many of their “youngest and most vigorous” clients were redeployed to the eastern front.
Women ended up paying for their betrayal: thousands had their heads shaved to shame them after the liberation – “the revenge of the French male”, Buisson says.

Taiwan sex workers' group on Sunday urged the government to legalize the sex trade

2009-04-13T15:22:00.000+02:00

Taiwan sex workers' group on Sunday urged the government to legalize the sex trade, calling on lawmakers to back a bill aimed at decriminalizing prostitution. Campaigners believe they are just one parliamentarian short of getting enough signatures to get such a bill started in parliament. 'We hope we can get backing from 15 lawmakers, the minimum number of lawmakers needed to send the bill to parliament,' Wang Fang-ping, general-secretary of the Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters (COSWAS), told German Press Agency dpa. If introduced to parliament, the bill needs to pass three readings and the the Cabinet's approval to become law. 'We have been fighting for decriminalization of prostitution for a long time, but I am not very optimistic,' she said by phone. On Saturday, lawmaker Cheng Li-wen said she had gathered signatures from 14 lawmakers to push the bill to decriminalize position, one signature short of the total number required. 'We are worried because we heard that some of the 14 lawmakers backing the bill have withdrawn their support,' Wang said. The bill is aimed at abolishing Clause 80 of the Bill on Maintaining Social Order. According to the clause, a provider of sex faces a maximum three-day imprisonment or a fine of 30,000 Taiwan dollars (888 US dollars) but recipient of the sex service is not punished.
Taiwan in 1957 stopped issuing license to brothels. Currently there are some 100 brothels across the island with nearly 2,000 prostitutes. While it is legal to practice the trade in the legal brothels, police crack down on the illegal sex trade in motels, clubs and massage parlours. According to Wang, there are some 700,000 illegal sex workers in Taiwan who face the danger of being arrested by police every day. 'We think that every one has the right to make a living. Prostitution is only a job like other jobs, so it should be decriminalized,' Wang said. However, public opinion remains divided over the issue. Some women's groups want brothel visitors, not prostitutes, be punished, while some law enforcement personnel are firmly opposed to legalizing the sex trade. 'I am against decriminalizing prostitution because prostitution destroys our marriage system which is the basis for social harmony,'

Bill requested by rural brothel owners that would have added a $5 state tax to each payment made by their clients

2009-04-13T15:19:00.000+02:00

Bill requested by rural brothel owners that would have added a $5 state tax to each payment made by their clients should have sailed through the Legislature.Instead Senate Bill 369 was killed in committee Friday after a drawn-out hearing on Tuesday that featured testimony by a psychologist, brothel owners, a lobbyist for the brothel industry and several prostitutes.The hearing room was packed, according to Las Vegas Sun reporter Cy Ryan, who said the onlookers included “lobbyists who presumably had no financial interest in the issue.”Legislative time is too precious for such a spectacle during a session in which the critical issue is how to preserve state services even as tax revenue is drying up because of the recession.Our view is that the bill was a no-brainer, one that warranted quick passage every step of the way through the Legislature. A legal industry wants to be taxed? Fine. Tax it.
Owing to a law passed by the 1971 Legislature, brothels are legal in Nevada counties with populations less than 400,000.
Sen. Mike Schneider, a member of the Senate Taxation Committee, which killed the bill on a 4-3 vote, criticized what he saw as the faux morality behind the majority’s position.Legislators are not inclined to repeal the 1971 law, but the four committee members did not want to further legitimize prostitution through taxation.Such hypocritical reasoning does not serve the state. The tax would generate about $4 million during Nevada’s two-year budget cycle. That is tiny compared with the state’s $2 billion-plus deficit, but why turn it away?The tax would not legally insulate the brothel industry if the Legislature in a future session wanted to override the 1971 law. And neither would it force the Legislature to extend prostitution to the populous counties of Clark and Washoe.All a tax would do is put more money in the state’s general fund, money that is badly needed.

Two women rescued from the North's sex slave trade

2009-03-30T20:07:00.000+02:00

Two women rescued from the North's sex slave trade in the last year were given support and counselling in Derry, it's been revealed.
The two victims of ruthless human trafficking operations were picked up in a North West brothel run by an international criminal gang. They were referred to Derry-based Foyle Women's Aid (FWA) for support."They sought help in Derry and came through our services," Marie Brown of FWA told the 'Journal'.The Derry organisation has taken the lead in the North West in terms of providing support services for victims of the sex slave trade and from next month will be taking part in a new government-funded support scheme.
"Dealing with trafficked women requires a different expertise to give them the proper support and ensure they are not terrified, re-trafficked or even murdered," Ms Brown said.The proximity of Derry to the border with Donegal has raised concerns about the risk of the city becoming a sex slave hotspot."There's a lot of human trafficking going on in the South and because we're so close to the border it's important that we have the expertise to deal with the problem here," Ms Brown added.The new package is supported by the PSNI and will be delivered by Foyle Women's Aid in Derry. Victims of human trafficking will be offered secure accommodation, healthcare and counselling.PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Drew Harris revealed this week that women from Africa, Eastern Europe and the Far East have been rescued from brothels in the last year.
"They are being held in captivity . . . continual victims of rape," he said. He added that officers had uncovered brothels in very unexpected locations, many of them in rural areas.Mr Harris said while international gangs were organising the racket, many local criminals were assisting them.

Forced prostitution in Cambodia

2009-03-30T20:03:00.000+02:00

Forced prostitution in Cambodia, Somaly Mam recounts how her grandfather sold her to a brothel, and her subsequent efforts to help others in the situation she ultimately escaped from. The organization she founded in Phnom Penh 13 years ago, AFESIP, has opened offices in Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand to combat the regional trade in girls.“In Thailand’s brothels,” writes Nicholas Kristof, columnist for The New York Times, “Thai girls usually work voluntarily, while Burmese and Cambodian girls are regularly imprisoned.” In Cambodia’s worst brothels, he says, “Pimps use violence, humiliation and narcotics to shatter girls’ self-esteem and terrorize them into unquestioning, instantaneous obedience.”
Somaly Mam finds girls as young as 5 and 6 sold to brothels, explaining, “Since we started AFESIP, the brothels have grown larger and more violent. We find women chained to sewers. Girls come to us half beaten to death … these girls suffer a more brutal sort of torture.”The U.S. State Department pursues international trafficking of women for sex by investigating U.S. citizens involved in trafficking, and monitoring countries with a history of sex trade. But investigators have a hard time distinguishing between illegal migration and forced trafficking, and between trafficking for sexual purposes and forced labor.In fact, many advocates argue that labor trafficking is a far worse problem than forced sex work.Throughout Asia, women are recruited for jobs in foreign countries. Once signed up, they have no control over where they go, how much they work, or the type of work they do. The bait may be child care in San Francisco, housekeeping in Malaysia, or factory work in Hong Kong; the reality is often much more arduous, and much less lucrative.The Immigrant Women and Children Project of the Bar Association of New York City says the majority of their clients were trafficked into domestic work, including immigrants brought to work for UN and consular officials.The typical employee “gets paid $50 a month or not at all…. working seventeen, eighteen hours a day, catering parties, washing laundry by hand even though there’s a washing machine. They’ve had their documents withheld and their phone calls monitored.”Most of the publicity and prosecutions of forced labor have been for prostitution. Writing in The Nation magazine, Debbie Nathan criticizes this focus as a “morbid fascination with forced prostitution, even though more people may be forced to pick broccoli than to rent out their genitals.”In some Asian countries, sweatshops offer an alternative, with rare stable jobs for women, who often leave behind their homes and families.Kristof concludes that jobs in Cambodia’s garment sweatshops are among the best in that country: “In the hierarchy of jobs in poor countries, sweltering at a sewing machine isn’t the bottom.”His critics argue, however, that the problem isn’t factory work itself, but the factories with deplorable conditions, where “recruiters” lure children into illegal factory work, as in a case that erupted in China last summer.Some women instead turn to international matchmaking to escape poverty, assuming that marriage to a man who can afford the cost of “consuming” a mail-order bride, which can range from $4,000 to $15,000, is better than toiling in the rice fields, garment factories, or sex shops of Asia.The unregulated “wife-import” business draws women mostly from poor countries like Vietnam and the Philippines. Some companies even advertise minors to their clients, says the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association.But many brides find themselves in servitude to their husbands. In the U.S., a woman can only get permanent residency after two years of marriage, tying her to her husband and making her vulnerable to abuse.In 1994, in a stunning act of violence against his imported bride, Timothy Blackwell shot his abused Filipina wife Susanna to death outside the Seattle courtroom where her divorce petition was being heard.What are the alternatives?Educating vulnerable girls is the best hope for ending poverty and abuse, says the Girl Effect, an organization working to improve opportunities for girls throughout the Third World.
Girls and young women ages 10 to 24 comprise over one-quarter of the population in Asia. And when girls and women earn an income, they reinvest more of it into their families than men, says The Girl Effect; every additional year of secondary school increases their income by 15-25 percent.NGO’s and governments are finding when women invest in their communities, rates of malnutrition, hunger, disease, infant mortality and HIV/AIDS can be reduced, and economic growth improved. Microlenders report an exceptional rate of repayment among women’s businesses, and measure the return on their investments in improvements to the community.

10-20 “massage” parlours, “sexy girls”, or exotically named “escorts” in the classifieds of the daily newspapers in Trinidad and Tobago

2009-03-30T20:01:00.000+02:00

Missing people per capita of Trinidad is one of the highest in the world.Is such a high-profile crime being carried out in Trinidad though? Human Trafficking? Some of the horrible motives behind human trafficking include : stealing organs, pornography, sex slavery, settlements for drug trades and plain old money. Keeping that in mind and after seeing Hostel and Hostel II, human trafficking is probably the worst thing that could happen to someone, and their family.We don’t know if it really exists. If it does, then there is some credence behind the whole children found in a container story, if not, then a serial killer or group of serial killers are on the loose in Trinidad.What I do know however is there is a relation among the drug trade, unprotected coasts, prostitution and these missing people.The first two are no-brainers, but prostitution in Trinidad is probably the most bold-faced crime being committed in the world. Unlike some states in the U.S like Nevada, and other countries like the Netherlands, Israel, Australia, etc. prostitution is illegal in Trinidad, and it always has been.As a teenager I always got excited to see one or two suspicious ads in the personals section of the newspapers which suggested that sex services were being offered. In recent years, coincidentally when missing persons numbers began spiking like crazy, the personals section of the newspapers suddenly is an obvious sex marketplace. Brothels are also now quite obviously open all over Trinidad.Right now you can get the name and number of between 10-20 “massage” parlours, “sexy girls”, or exotically named “escorts” in the classifieds of the daily newspapers in Trinidad and Tobago on any given day. In other words, these people are advertising something illegal, plain and bold in the newspapers, and the Trinidad police aren’t doing a damn thing about it.

Rami Saban, 35, from Megadim, was charged with 23 felony offenses, including conspiracy to commit a crime, operating a brothel, managing a brothel

2009-03-30T17:46:00.000+02:00

Rami Saban, 35, from Megadim, was charged with 23 felony offenses, including conspiracy to commit a crime, operating a brothel, managing a brothel, solicitation, forcing a person to leave their country of residence to work as a prostitute, assault, forgery, money laundering and harassing witnesses. The three key suspects are alleged to have pocketed between NIS 1 million and NIS 3m. each. The suspects forced scores of women to leave their homes to work as prostitutes, smuggled them across international borders, and employed them as prostitutes in 12 brothels in the Tel Aviv area, according to the charge sheet filed in a Tel Aviv court. Hundreds of women worked at the brothels over the years. The 60-page indictment was filed after a suspect in the case turned state witness as a part of a plea bargain agreement. The suspects allegedly operated the brothels for the past decade ago, as well as a separate phone sex service. The women were smuggled into Israel from the former Soviet Union via Sinai. The women were kept - and often imprisoned - in Tel Aviv apartments that were rented for them by the suspects, the charge sheet relates. The prostitutes charged NIS 100 to 400 per client, and are believed to have had dozens of clients each day. The women had to hand over the money to the suspects, who kept the vast majority of it for themselves. Some of the women were lied to about why they were being brought to Israel, with one told that she was going to work as a caretaker, and another as a waitress, according to the indictment. Saban allegedly put a gun to one woman's head and beat her when he suspected she had tried to escape. In another case, he is alleged to have assaulted two women for refusing to have sex with each other in front of clients, and then locking one of them in an office for a week as punishment. A year and a half ago, several of the suspects allegedly opened a brothel in Cyprus to conceal the money they were making off the women in Israel. The suspects exploited the 25 women in Cyprus, too, forcing them to work during their periods, and depriving them of or reducing their meager income if they complained about their treatment. Saban was convicted back in 2001 of trafficking in women and sentenced to 31 months in jail, and was found guilty of operating a brothel a year later. He is suspected of carrying out the latest offenses while serving the additional suspended sentences from his previous convictions. Prosecutors asked the court to remand the suspects in custody through the duration of their trial, saying they pose danger to the public in light of the severity and number of felonies they allegedly committed.

child-trafficking ring that has sent 200 teenage girls from Laos into sex slavery in Thailand.

2009-03-30T17:44:00.000+02:00

Brisbane-based charity says it has smashed a child-trafficking ring that has sent 200 teenage girls from Laos into sex slavery in Thailand.Two Brisbane business figures started the charity, The Grey Man, which claims more than 400 supporters in Australia and South-East Asia.The Grey Man says its raids this month, with the help of Thai police, rescued five 15-year-old girls from brothels and karaoke bars.It is alleged an accused child-trafficker took the girls from their families in 2005 after promising to find them factory work. The girls' families allegedly each received $600 - twice the average annual wage in Thailand. Three alleged ringleaders of the child trafficking ring were arrested this month in northern Laos, The Grey Man says.Retired chartered accountant Russell Hawksford is one of the two men who front The Grey Man. The other, who only goes by the name "John", is said to be an ex-Special Air Service (SAS) officer."John . . . became an anthropologist," Mr Hawksford said. "He works in Brisbane when he is not in Laos."The Grey Man also runs projects to provide solar energy, community centres or school equipment.Rotary backs some projects. But the main game was running covert operations to rescue child prostitutes, Mr Hawksford said.The last raids had been the most successful since the group formed in 2004.

"We find that [the girls] are trafficked for either their labour or for the sex trade," he said. "We find that in the south [of Laos] . . . a lot of them are trafficked into Thailand for factories. But the ones we rescued [this month] were definitely for the sex trade. The intelligence we have is that the gang has been running roughly 200 girls a year."

Mr Hawksford said The Grey Man's work barely scraped the surface towards eradicating child prostitution. "It is the tip of the iceberg, but it is still five lives," he said. "Once they are trafficked, they are beaten and raped. And if the resist they are beaten and raped and many of them end up with AIDS."Intelligence about the latest child-trafficking ring had come from a non-government agency working in northern Laos, he said.
"They would prefer to give the intelligence to us and then we would work out the best way of handling the operation," he said.
"We don't break the law, we don't do operations that might become an international incident and we obviously engage the police."In this case, the provincial police engaged the Bangkok special squad and we worked out the logistics of doing it."He said the arrests, near Chiang Khong, had taken place on the Mekong River, with Thai police leading the operation. Police now had information that could lead to seven more arrests. Mr Hawksford said there was no evidence of children trafficked to Australia, but there had been a few cases of Asian women smuggled into brothels.No one knows how many women and children are affected, but estimates for the East Asia region alone are between 250,000 and 400,000 a year.

Eight men were indicted yesterday on 23 counts of trafficking in women for purposes of prostitution

2009-03-30T17:41:00.000+02:00

Eight men were indicted yesterday on 23 counts of trafficking in women for purposes of prostitution, assault, threats and other charges. According to the Tel Aviv police Central Unit, which made the arrests at the beginning of March, the men are suspected of operating "the biggest woman-smuggling ring that ever operated in Israel." The central suspect in the indictment, filed in the Tel Aviv District, is Rahamim Saban, 35, from Moshav Megadim, allegedly a member of the Abutbul crime family. The other suspects are Shmuel Malka, 33 and Golan Azrad, 37, also from Megadim, David Muraidi, 38, from Tel Aviv, Ya'akov Muraidi, 40, from Holon, Reuven Hodiantov, 40, from Rishon Letzion, Kobi Elimelech, 43, from Afula, and Shlomo Dukerker, 45, from Petah Tikva. The arrests were made possible due to information provided by another suspect who turned state's witness. The indictment states that some of the suspects operated 12 brothels from 1999 to 2004 in Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan, among other charges. They also brought hundreds of women from the former Soviet Union to Israel via Egypt. They allegedly sold the women to brothels for between $5,000 and $7,000 each. Saban is suspected of being a partner in some of the brothels, receiving a 30-percent cut. Some of the women were reportedly locked into apartments and some were told they would have to work for free or for low fees at first to pay back the cost of bringing them to Israel. Some were also told they would not be paid if they left before their 18-month period of employment was over. Rahamim Saban is said to have made NIS 1,128,850 during the period he was supposedly a partner in the brothels. The indictment states that in one case the suspects told the woman she was being brought to Israel to care for the elderly, and in another, that she would be a waitress. Saban is suspected of holding a gun to the head of one woman, kicking and punching her.
Some of the suspects also reportedly established a brothel in Cyprus to launder money from their Israel operation. Saban was convicted in 2001 of aiding and abetting trafficking in women for purposes of prostitution, and sentenced to 31 months in jail. In 2002 he was convicted of maintaining a brothel and procuring women for prostitution. According to the prosecution, Saban committed the crimes he is now charged with while serving his sentence for previous crimes.