return2ozmaDOJ announces arrests in ‘high-end brothel network’ used by elected officials, military officers and others
LEDZeppelinLady G licking his dry lips
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.”
Wait, what? (͡•_ ͡• )
That should make the prosecutors jobs much easier.
Could be a honey pot. Either the guys running it would use it to blackmail the clientele or sell the info to foreign intelligence
Or they use it for further identity fraud to open new locations.
squibletWow, imagine willingly providing that information to what you know is a criminal organization. The people who signed up are obviously a major security hazard to whoever they work for.
100%. I wouldn’t even give all that information to my online pharmacist and I need some of those medications to survive.
Lem JukesYeah my employer don’t need to know fuckall about what meds I’m on.
Seriously. How dumb do you need to be to be in an actual high ranking government position and willingly give up all that info to an even slightly shady organisation? Never mind an illegal prostitution network you are sure is both illegal and easily blackmailable.
Say something is exclusive and idiots will do anything to get in.
Facebook got so huge because at first you had to be in college to be on it. After a couple years they opened it up to everyone and pretty much everyone signed up.
Doesn’t always work. See Google+.
how horny*
Yeah. This is the real issue here.
Sex work should be legal and the morality discussion here is about people lying to their spouses and if anybody is being forced into sex work… all interesting topics.
But anybody implicated in this situation needs all security clearances and access dropped because they are high risk morons.
Chaotic EntropyIt’s signing up to a blackmail scheme.
hemmes…to get your dick wet
Oh, well in that case will you need me to provide my clearance number as well?
theneverfoxOr better yet, we actually publicly prosecute them, or at least “accidentally” leak the list
I’m guessing this is prostitution with extra steps to make sure they can wiggle out of it, but if we actually held them to consequences things would get better quickly
I’m guessing it was that one P411 website or whatever. That site has been in the news in the past. It baffles me that people would willingly comply with such invasive identification requirements for something that’s illegal. I get the idea behind it is to try and prove that you’re not a cop/murdery type of criminal in order to protect the sex workers, but… yeah, lol.
ubermeistershoneypot
Criminals and criminals masquerading as religions love to get blackmail on their clientele, it’s probably the more lucrative part of their enterprise, and it keeps those members/clientele loyal, because who wants their nasty ass secrets leaked out of sold to their enemies?
IninewCrowThe ease of prosecuting is directly proportional to how wealthy and influential the accused is.
Remember, is a legal system … not a justice system … you can easily distinguish the difference by how wealthy you are (or are not)
Sad but true
Not really, because the people who made the survey are probably smart enough to not include anything about exchanging money for sex. Basically, there’s nothing illegal about filling out a survey about who you are and what are your likes or dislikes. There’s also nothing illegal for someone to pay another person for their time.
So no mention of exchanging money for sex and it’s incredibly hard to prosecute.
No idea if you’re right or not but that’s not what I meant. I meant they don’t have to hunt down the johns, the johns already provided all the possible info the prosecutors would need to find them.
How exactly does that help? It’s not like they are going to do stake outs on these guys. It’s not enough probable cause for any type of warrant or anything.
It would help support a case if you already had one, but as an entry point it’s all but completely useless, if not actually completely useless.
Which is why they won’t release the names, because doing so would open them up to lawsuits. All risk no reward.
I think what the person above was implying is that having your name on that list is not de-facto evidence of participation. I’m sure the DOJ has more than just that one piece of evidence if they’ve already made arrests, because sex workers in America are nothing if not extremely careful about how they conduct their business to avoid exposing themselves or their clients to law enforcement stings.
Hell, if they’re actually smart, they have red herrings in the list that muddies who is actually a client
Are Johns even worth prosecuting? I think the DOJ is interested in a organized prostitution ring, involved in conspiracy and money laundering, not a few dudes paying for (adult) sex.
None of that’s illegal, aside from the card info it’s actually a lot of the things a trustworthy sex worker will be asking you for as a background check before agreeing to meet you.
Customers are not named in the affidavit, according to the agent, because the investigation into their involvement is “active and ongoing.” these are the type of people who don’t get held accountable, ever.
Or, you know, they don’t have any evidence that a crime actually was committed. These people aren’t morons and know that unless they are caught exchanging money for sex, the fact that they have their name in this group is not even remotely enough to even charge someone with a crime, let alone get a conviction.
Accountable for what? Something that should be legal in the first place?
Do you also think marijuana users should be named and shamed?
Heyo, I’m a heavy smoker!
It should be legal but it’s not. Those are government officials with clearances which put up their Driver’s licenses and credit card information on an illegal site to bang hookers. That’s the issue.
The “name and shame” argument is also meaningless. Take marijuana for example. If you’re a government official who is actively pushing for legalization and it comes up that you actually consume it… ok? Big news, you’re putting your mouth where your money is. Nobody cares, there’s no “shame” in being “named”. The issue comes when people are publicly against marijuana/prostitution and then engage in it. Those are hypocrites and should be shamed.
YoBuckStopsHereIf the girls were sex trafficked I have a problem with this, if they were free to do as they please, then I have no issue with this.
Regardless of whether someone was trafficked, folks in positions of power choosing to disregard the law is an issue.
Sex shouldn’t be illegal if it occurs between two consenting adults.
Consent can be hard to judge when you have wildly disparate financial powers.
ExcursionInversionIt shouldn’t. But if elected officials are breaking the law instead of fixing it, that is bad.
Not really.
I’d give 0 shits if people in ‘positions of power’ smoked marijuana while it was illegal.
Heck, I’d support them for their civil disobedience!
Nothing in the article suggests it wasn’t consensual, but you never know
That is why the context matters.
Since it’s illegal and probably secret from their wives, it opens the client to blackmail, which isn’t good for the public if they’re in government or military.
I really don’t understand the way the US works in regards to „bought“ sex… on the one hand prostitution is illegal (with the exception of Las Vegas) and as soon as you point a camera on the paid fucking it is called PORN and it is still a multi billion dollar industry.
You guys are weird
😈MedicPig🐷BabySaver😈It’s very bizarre. Kinda shocking the gov’t hasn’t figured out the massive amount of tax revenue behind the legalization of sex workers.
Works in other countries at least. Here in Germany they just pay income tax, like everyone else.
On the other hand, Germany is still a bit backwards regarding cannabis legalization… but we are working on it.
How is the trafficking in Germany?
Illegal income is taxed, technically, but paying that tax would also basically be a confession. That’s how they got mobsters back in the day. So there ends up not being any when you’re right and there absolutely could be good tax revenue there
Hell, it’s not federally banned, so it’s just states not being willing.
What’s weird is that loophole exists and people don’t abuse it.
Like, I get the streetwalkers selling $10 BJs dont, but for “high end” organizations like this, just stick an old school camcorder in the room and let the John keep whatever grainy unidentifiable footage they make during the encounter.
If you’re ever investigated, you’re in the clear. If not, then no one even has to know.
I bet fraud employment fraud would have a bigger jail sentence than prosecution.
Pretty sure the forms required for filming adult entertainment include personally identifiable information, so no, it’s not just ‘add a camera and now it’s porn’.
Source: I do porn
Nah. A group tried this in Pensacola and got busted. Can’t remember the details, but they were trying to pass prostitution off as pr0n because camera. Didn’t fly.
GlitzyArmrestpeople don’t abuse it.
An entire “studio” (GDP) was relatively recently shut down because they told the women it wouldn’t be seen by anyone (a lie), and many of the women felt assaulted afterwards. Besides just for money, I am positive that the “producers” for this were using the porn loophole to rape these women. On top of that, there are plenty of other “studios” that are all about hiring escorts and filming the encounter.
It’s very much a loophole that is abused. Whether or not the people who are responsible are caught, that’s another story.
The only thing that can help with this is legalizing and regulating sex work so that people involved don’t have to (and in many cases, cannot) do it completely in the shadows anymore.
teftProstitution isn’t legal in Vegas. Parts of Nevada yes, but Clark county where Las Vegas is located prostitution is illegal.
That’s more insane than what the original comment pointed out.
There are porn producers who do such a crappy job that I’d swear they only film so they have legal access to prostitution.
Like 90% of OF “fan meets” are filmed fucks because it’s actually prostitution. Pretty sad they can’t be honest because some people had weir hangups hundreds of years ago
Go on any hookup app or site and you’ll see plenty of “content creators” willing to meet up and “make content.”
It started a few centuries ago when this annoying group of people known as Puritans were expelled from their home country and sailed to north America.
The natives saved them from starvation and today still impose their beliefs and values on everybody. These hypocritical laws is but one example
Basically all the founders and settlers were groups who were too weird for Europe lol
PaleRiderI don’t believe they were expelled?
I might be wrong…