#sex-trafficking

#sex-trafficking

As San Francisco prepares to block vehicle traffic from a stretch of the Mission District this month in an attempt to stifle street prostitution, the idea of creating a designated district for sex work is gaining traction among some advocates and officials.A red-light district might not be a far-fetched concept in the Mission, where many residents say sex workers have been present for decades.

The US State Department identified a rapidly growing and troubling trend of forced labor as a result of cyber scam operations, as it launched its annual human trafficking report, US Ambassador at Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons Cindy Dyer said Thursday.Traffickers have leveraged pandemic-related economic hardships, increased global youth unemployment, and international travel restrictions to exploit thousands of adults and children in a multi-billion dollar industry over the last two years in these schemes, she said at a State Department briefing.

The Justice Department has informed lawyers for at least one witness that it will not bring charges against Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz after a years-long federal sex-trafficking investigation.Senior officials reached out to lawyers for multiple witnesses on Wednesday, a source familiar with the matter told CNN, to inform them of the decision not to prosecute Gaetz.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed in principle to settle a class-action lawsuit with a victim of Jeffrey Epstein, the bank said in a statement on Monday.The settlement resolves one claim against the largest U.S. bank in a proposed class action by women who say Epstein abused them, and by the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein owned two neighbouring islands and allegedly abused victims in his mansion.

Deutsche Bank has agreed to pay $75 million US ($101 million Cdn) to settle a lawsuit claiming that the German lender should have seen evidence of sex trafficking by Jeffrey Epstein when he was a client, according to lawyers for women who say they were abused by the late financier.A woman only identified as Jane Doe sued the bank in federal district court in New York and sought class-action status to represent other victims of Epstein.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to take up a case from a victim of sex trafficking who sought to hold Reddit, an online platform, responsible for hosting images of child pornography on the website.The dispute was the latest targeting a section of federal law that offers broad immunity to online platforms.

A Chicago prosecutor said on Monday that she was dropping sex-abuse charges against the singer R Kelly, following federal convictions in two courts that ensure the disgraced R&B star will be locked up for decades.Cook county state's attorney Kim Foxx announced the decision a day ahead of a court hearing related to state charges accusing him of sexually abusing four people, three of whom were minors.

R. Kelly, center, leaves the Daley Center after a hearing in his child support case in May 2019 in Chicago.Matt Marton/AP CHICAGO Federal prosecutors Thursday asked a judge to give singer R. Kelly 25 more years in prison for his child pornography and enticement convictions last year in Chicago, which would add to 30 years he recently began serving in a New York case.

The founder of a California-based porn empire that coerced young women into filming adult videos has been arrested in Spain, three years after he fled while facing federal sex-trafficking charges, the FBI said.Michael James Pratt was on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list.Spanish National Police arrested him Wednesday in Madrid, the FBI's San Diego field office said in a statement Thursday.

A former New Hampshire marina manager pleaded guilty Wednesday to trafficking minor employees and soliciting sexually explicit photos and videos from them, according to New Hampshire U.S. Attorney Jane E. Young.John E. Murray III, 56, of Alton Bay was charged with 12 counts of production of child pornography and four counts of sex trafficking of a minor, Young said in a statement.

For years, Lawrence V. Ray manipulated and exploited a group of young people who had lived with his daughter in a dormitory at Sarah Lawrence College.He didn't do it alone, prosecutors say: Among them was an enforcer.Isabella Pollok became Mr. Ray's trusted lieutenant, prosecutors have said, helping abuse her onetime roommates.

In today's app-for-everything city, where New Yorkers, earbuds in, can overlook a romantic moment happening right in front of them, some people have developed a nostalgia for Missed Connections.The once-popular Craigslist service helped New Yorkers share the special moments in which they interacted with strangers, in hopes that the stranger would see the post and reach out.

Disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly was sentenced to 20 years in prison in a Chicago federal courtroom Thursday following his conviction last year on charges of child pornography and enticement of a minor, his second such lengthy sentencing in the past year.Kelly, 56, is already serving a 30-year prison term for his 2021 conviction on racketeering and sex trafficking charges in a New York federal court.

Disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has said that the well-known photo showing the Duke of York next to Virginia Giuffre is fake.Maxwell, 61, who was convicted of sex trafficking, has previously cast doubt on the authenticity of the photo, said to have been taken inside her Mayfair home, showing Prince Andrew with his arm around Ms Giuffre with Maxwell in the background.

Prince Andrew may not have enough money to challenge his settlement with Virginia Giuffre and his strategy to clear his name is high risk, friends of the duke have warned.Sources close to Andrew say he risks going down a lonely path of more legal bills as he weighs a bid to overturn the multimillion-pound settlement reached with a woman who accused him of sexual assault and even force an apology.

BOSTON (AP) - Four Massachusetts men who authorities say tried to arrange sexual encounters with underage girls have been arrested, federal prosecutors said Monday.All four men are charged with attempted sex trafficking of a child, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office in Boston.Sadeq Ali Quraishi, 45; Dmitri McKenzie, 27; and David Cannon, 59, were being held pending detention hearings scheduled for Tuesday.

A Boston man was charged Thursday for allegedly sex trafficking a 17-year-old girl he met on social media.Jimall Dawn Brown, 33, was charged by criminal complaint with one count of sex trafficking of a minor.He was arrested Thursday morning and arraigned in a federal court in Boston later that day.The Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's Office said Thursday in a news release that Brown met the 17-year-old girl, who was living outside Massachusetts at the time, on social media.

The South Korean boy band BTS has been low-key ruining my life for years.I was hugely relieved when their record label announced in October that BTS's seven members would not seek exemption from their mandated military service and that the group would be on hiatus until 2025, by which point these K-pop idols will have completed their service.

R. Kelly's onetime manager was sentenced Monday to a year in federal prison for calling in a shooting threat that halted a screening of a damning documentary about the R&B star.The punishment won't add to the time ex-manager Donnell Russell is already set to serve for a different effort to squelch sexual abuse claims against Kelly.

Republican governor candidate Darren Bailey likened Chicago to an "unruly child" Thursday and said he considers the city he has frequently referred to as a "hellhole" is part of his family in the way "I consider all of Illinois my family."Bailey, appearing before the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board's endorsement session of Illinois candidates for governor, also said he wanted to "clarify" comments he's made previously about former President Donald Trump.While he welcomed Trump's pre-primary endorsement and had previously said there was "no" daylight between him and Trump, Bailey said he was speaking of a bustling economy under the Republican former chief executive's leadership.

A new R. Kelly album released early Friday morning while the disgraced R&B star serves prison time was quickly yanked off of streaming platforms."I Admit It" featured such song titles as "Freaky Sensation," "I Found Love" and "Good Ole Days," and was initially uploaded by Universal Music Group-owned distributor Ingrooves, TMZ reported.

Realtor.comWhat was once the most modern school in  Latah, WA, has found new life as a home at the top of its class.The Latah School (aka Union High School) and its attached gymnasium are available for $699,000.The building dates to 1908, and it served students for 50 years.The rural schoolhouse has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2002.