With the whole Eliot Spitzer deal in the news it has occurred to me more than once why it is the FBI is expending resources going after high-end prostitution rings.
While I personally think prostitution should not be illegal I understand that currently it is although frankly it seems one of those things law enforcement does not go after in a big way. Certainly in my hometown prostitutes advertise openly in local papers and even the Yellow Pages (as escorts of course).
Going after the pimp who abuses the women “working” for him and who may well be beholden due to a drug addiction is worthy of going after but the Eliot Spitzer case is nothing like that. According to reports these women were costing $5,000/hour! I am willing to bet if you interviewed those women they are likely quite content with their job, not slaves, able to walk away at anytime if they so choose and do it because they want to. At rates like that I’d consider it (even if they only get $1000 of that $5000 still pretty darn good).
In short it looks like a victimless crime. While the FBI is certainly within their rights to pursue any crime am I the only one who thinks there are other crimes far more worthy of their attention? The day all those are sorted they can look in to this.
[sub]NOTE: I am not writing this as a backwards way of absolving Spitzer. This thread is not about him although his story prompted it. IMO he needed to resign for this but that is another thread.[/sub]
I don’t know… prostitution has been around since the beginning of time. I don’t see the real problem here. The issue with spitzer is his hypocracy in the entire scenario. He acted as though he’s above the law.
I think the feds should be more concerned with keeping prostitution clean by regulating it. Rhode Island has legal prostitution…
No. Although it’d be better to specifically legalize and regulate prostitution than to just
not bother to enforce the current laws. Consenting adults can make their own choices.
Another vote for legalization and regulation. Until it’s legalized, the only LE should be going after in the industry is pimps who use coercion or violence. One thing I think is really stupid is arresting or prosecuting the prostitutes themselves. I know of no other class of criminal statutes which seeks to punish the victims (to the extent that prostitution has any victims).
Well from my reading of the story, it sounds like the Feds were investigating something else, and the prostitution turn out to be the only illegality. Shit happens. Might as well blame drugs as prostitution.
It seems to me the high end prostitution rings are perfect things for the FBI to investigate. You’re dealing with an interstate criminal conspiracy with large sums of laundered non-taxed money moving around.
We’ll probably never know one way or the other, but I am not convinced of their ability to walk away. $5,000 an hour, of course, is only the top price. If they get to keep half that, the $500/hour the “one diamond” women are getting is much less impressive. And I also doubt they get to dictate the terms of their employment.
You can make that argument about so many crimes that ultimately I’m not sure what the FBI would be doing. This was a multi-million dollar international prostitution ring. While I think prostitution should be legalized, to me, this isn’t one of those “why is Congress holding hearings about baseball?” deals.
This is a quibble, but I also disagree with your description of this as “the Eliot Spitzer case.” It works as shorthand, but the FBI didn’t find out about this by investigating Spitzer; they were investigating the ring and discovered Spitzer was a client.
Actually, according to the feds, they were invesigating a report from Spitzer’s bank that he was moving fairly large sums of money into dummy accounts and that led them to the call girl service.
Only a guess but I would suspect at that level the women are chosen as much for their discretion and brains as their beauty given the likely clientele. While not protected by OSHA and labor laws I would think their employers treat and pay them rather well (not to mention the tips these women could pocket). Pissing the women off by screwing them over (pun intended) on compensation and such would be a poor business decision.
But then I really have no clue…maybe they have a gun pointed at their head and are told to go to work.
To an extent sure but I think we could make up a continuum of crimes from least “bad” to most “bad”. We could dicker over placement of some but I think spending money to track child pornographers would rank higher on most people’s list of things we’d like to see them stop before $5000 prostitutes (and yes, I know they actively pursue child pornographers already but the more agents after those types the better IMO).
Apparently, from reading other replies, the FBI was investigating Spitzer’s financial transactions which led to this so I guess they just stumbled across the prostitution ring rather than actively seek them out. If Spitzer was moving only enough money to buy hookers I am not sure why that really got their attention to go to these lengths but if he was moving millions then sure…makes sense they’d look.
And FTR I think Spitzer should get busted. I am not overly concerned with a guy seeing a prostitute but I severely dislike his hypocrisy on the matter.
Intelligence is proof of what, exactly? Smart people engage in all manner of stupid behavior, too.
It would be stupid if the prostitutes could do anything in response. But I don’t know if they can.
Supposedly it got their attention because he was moving money through shell companies in such a way that auditors were wondering if he was a victim of extortion or fraud. The way the New York Times explained it, there are federal laws that require disclosure of transfers above $10,000, and he was allegedly attempting to avoid them.
Oh how I remember the days of struggling to live off of $250/hr wages. It took two or three weeks to pay off new cars, and those weren’t even Lambourghinis.
Sure, but there was likely a parking ticket or Code violation in there too. :dubious:
My point is, if the FBI doesn;t find eveidence of Federal Crimes- or a “clear and present danger to the public Safety” then they should never reveal their evidence. Whisper a lead in the ear of the local cops, sure. Nothing more.
Money-laundering? Only maybe technically, nothing that coudl lead to an indictment, IMHO.
yeah, but how long-lived is that rate? Whores likely age faster than your run of the mill woman, and while there are personal choices involved on both sides, there’s always a seamy underside to this kind of activity, whether it’s illegal or not.
Somebody is pimping the hoes, whether they beat them or not.
Prostitution should be legal, and it should be unfettered by the likes of abusive pimps, dames and the like. The girls should be able to collect ALL of the money for their “services”…and pay taxes on it and have a regular AIDS checkup.
Sweet Jesus I love being Conservative…
Of course it should be regulated. Pimps with 20 crack dollar whores gathered on a street corner should be outlawed, but you should be able to call a phone number which goes to an office staffed by one or two people, tell them the whore you picked out of the catalog, and when you want her. The serivce calls the girl at her home and the arrangements are made, girl leaves her home to meet client at his home or hotel at the arranged time. That way everyone is happy, no violence, and nobody’s property value goes down.
