413047-Underground-Commercial-Sex-Economy

getting a ticket in Lynnwood for not driving very well while you’re supposed to be
attending massage school in China at the same time. Or you’re down in southern
California being sentenced for prostitution when you were supposed to be in China
getting your massage license. (Seattle Law Enforcement Official)
Smaller massage parlor takedowns indicate that that there is more money sent overseas that could be
generated through massage parlor activities alone. Law enforcement stakeholders think other illegal
activities may be laundered through these massage parlors, including in-call services.
Respondent: I watch these places and all of a sudden I see them ship off ten grand one
week, and then ship off ten grand another week. And I’ve got a camera on these places.
They’re not doing $10,000 a week in business. They are not. Makes you wonder where
the money’s coming from, doesn’t it We have information that not all, but the foot
massage places have related in-call services. They’re related in the fact that the people
who are running the foot massage places are also managing the in-call locations, in-call
being an apartment, off-site location. Some of those in-call locations are for, what we’ve
been told, are for Chinese only people, community.
Interviewer: And you don’t know, the wires that are going to China, you don’t know
who they’re going to
Respondent: We have no idea because once it goes to China, we’re pretty much done.
But there’s too much money at the spas we’re looking at so far going to China to have it
coming from the spas. Just can’t. I’ve been doing this too long. (Seattle Law Enforcement
Official)
The money sent to China is often sent by Western Union. Law enforcement raids have found Western
Union receipts that show a couple thousand dollars a week sent overseas, more money than what these
parlors should be generating on legitimate massages.
Home/Residential Brothels
Similar to Asian massage parlors and spas, home/residential brothels have proliferated over the last five
to ten years. Residential brothels are typically run and staffed by Vietnamese nationals. Some women
have received refugee status or asylum, while others are in the United States illegally. Law enforcement
has found that many women initially worked in the underground commercial market to pay off a debt, but
chose to remain working after their debt had been paid back. They have strong ties to the Vietnamese
population in Orange County, Santa Ana, and Anaheim, California, and law enforcement suspects that
they also work in brothels in those locations. Similar to massage parlors, women move from brothel to
brothel through word of mouth and references. They usually stay at one brothel for ten days and then go
home for a week or two. They see up to 18 clients a day.
Residential brothels differ from massage parlors in day-to-day operations and clientele. In residential
brothels, there is no house fee that is paid when they walk in the door; however, the house does receive a
percentage of what the women are paid:
With those resident-based ones, they’re pretty regimented. With those, people pay all the
money up front for the amount of time that they want. What they’ll usually do is there's
envelope. So they’ll meet the girl, the girl will take them upstairs and they get a shower,
and then there's like an envelope in there. They put the money in for the amount of time,
and then at some point the women picks up the envelope and makes sure the money is
there. So that was like $200 dollars an hour, for an hour, and I think the house would
take $60 to $80 of that. And it would work its way down. Half an hour was $140, 45
minutes was $160, or something like that. (Federal Law Enforcement Official)
The clients that frequent residential brothels/homes tend to be “middle-class” and prefer to go to a house
in a residential area rather than a massage parlor that has a flashing sign saying “Open 10-8 every day.”
Residential brothels often cannot be seen from the street and tend to be secluded. Thus, it provides a level
of privacy for men who do not want to be seen walking out of a massage parlor in a commercial district.
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