413047-Underground-Commercial-Sex-Economy

associated with their charges, though the median amount spent on legal fees was $20,000 for
respondents who reported legal expenses.
Additional Costs
Additional business related expenses reported by respondents included: drugs and alcohol (19 percent);
payments to drivers and security staff (19 percent); food for employees (15 percent); condoms (14
percent); business licenses and office space rentals (8 percent); and weapons (3 percent).
Finally, two respondents (3 percent) hired additional employees to transport women from other countries
into the United States to engage in sex work. “I would pay the coyote $3,000 for each girl. They would go
from Mexico to Atlanta or Mexico to Arizona. They would have to pay me back for that money. It would
take one week. If she didn’t want to work, she could go. Some women left the work, some got married, but
they would have to pay me back first. That was the deal” (G5). Another respondent reported payments to
both recruiters and coyotes:
I was paying between $7,000 and $10,000 for the coyote, and paid the recruiter $1,000
to $1,500 for each girl. So they were going to find any women so they could get $1,000.
(H5)
While uncommon among respondents, recruiters and coyotes could charge high fees for their
participation in the trafficking of individuals across borders for sex work.
Investments Outside the Business
Investments in other businesses were not common among respondents, but were reported. Some pimps
invested in both legal and illegal businesses, while others indicated that they had intended to start
investing in other businesses. Respondents reported investing in trucking companies, restaurants, and
music. One respondent reported that he was frequently contacted with investment opportunities:
You have people that are going to call you and say, “Hey man, I am trying to start a rap
group.” I reach in my pocket, and maybe give $2,000 or $3,000. My partner had a
nightclub. Might stock up, but I was always trying to find a way to help someone invest
with a little bit of interest. That’s how I got my restaurant. (D5)
A commonality across multiple respondents was the desire to invest in a small business as an eventual
transition into the legal economy. Some respondents invested in multiple opportunities. One respondent
explained, “I had ideas to do certain things. I used to invest my money with the car guy I was buying cars
from. I would front him to buy cars, bring them back to the lot. I did book shows for rappers, venues, stuff
like that. It’s a quick flip. Anything that is a quick profit” (E2).
Summary of Operational Costs
Tremendous variation existed across respondents regarding the costs of supporting a business operation
in the underground sex market. Despite differences in the amount of business-related costs, the costs
discussed above were reported by multiple pimps, suggesting some consistency in operational expenses.
Money Management, Laundering, and Storage
Pimps employed different money management methods, ranging from “no management” to online money
management services. Less than one quarter of respondents (16 percent) used a formal money
management system to track their business expenses and profits. Some respondents believed that basic
money management actually helped evade law enforcement detection and avoid suspicion: “I did the
books once a month, as far as who I had to write checks to in order to see how much to put in the bank
and how much [to put] in the safe” (A1). Accounting practices could evolve over time as business
developed: “In the beginning, I didn’t have nothing, but in the end I kept track of it through books, a
monthly calendar. How much I spent today, how much each girl [made], [over] weeks, months. I used
books, not a computer” (D5). Exposure to legal accounting practices shaped at least one pimps’ business
approach. Pimps also reported using banks, but chose their banks based on personal preference,
convenience, or past experience. Business considerations largely did not factor into respondents’ bank
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