A federal grand jury in San Francisco has indicted 10 defendants for their alleged role in a prostitution racketeering enterprise that recruited Asian women to work as prostitutes in approximately 40 brothels located throughout the Bay Area, including Cupertino and Sunnyvale.
The announcement was made last week by U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag, along with Tatum King, a special agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations San Francisco and San Mateo Police Chief Susan Manheimer.
The defendants are Allen Fong, Ya Huai Hung, Leow Wan Ru Veron, Robert Chun, Jie Mu, Laurence Shu Kwan Lee, Kevin Hartig, Waylon Fong, Angelina Chuong and Chonthicha Jaemratanasophin.
All are charged with “conspiring to conduct enterprise affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity; use of facility in interstate and foreign commerce to promote prostitution; laundering of monetary instruments; importation of aliens for an immoral purpose; and transportation in interstate and foreign commerce for prostitution,” according to an Oct. 23 statement by the U.S. Department of Justice.
According to the indictment, all 10 defendants are charged with operating 40 brothels in the greater San Francisco Bay Area from at least August 2002 through July 2014. Members and associates of the enterprise “solicited, enticed, and persuaded adult females, primarily from Asian countries, to work for the enterprise as prostitutes in the Northern District of California,” according to the justice department.
The suspects rented apartments to use as brothels for limited periods of time, and then opened other brothels, often with overlapping rental periods. The suspects allegedly operated brothels in the cities of Pinole, San Mateo, Redwood City, Sunnyvale, Belmont, Fremont, Cupertino, Santa Clara, Foster City, San Bruno, Colma and South San Francisco.
The indictment also alleges that from at least March 4, 2004, through Oct. 3, 2013, members of the enterprise sent numerous outgoing international wire transfers to Asian countries, including to known enterprise members and prostitutes.
The enterprise also used social networking websites such as MyRedbook.com, Craigslist.org and Backpage.com to post advertisements for prostitution services, which included contact information and photographs of nude and partially nude women assuming provocative and suggestive poses, according to the justice department.
The prostitutes kept approximately two-thirds of their earnings from clients and paid one-third to the enterprise, primarily through Allen Fong, 58, of San Mateo, the alleged ringleader of the enterprise. Fong is facing 32 counts in the case.
