Tag: sex trafficking

Female Las Vegas judge, 53, commits suicide a year after being forced to resign to avoid ethics probe: Married mom-of-three told cops clothes shop where her daughter worked was sex-trafficking hub

A Las Vegas judge has committed suicide a year after stepping down from her role to avoid becoming embroiled in an ethics probe.

Melanie Andress-Tobiasson, 53, stepped down as a Justice of the Peace prior to a a hearing regarding her ethics investigation.

The mother-of-three was reportedly found dead on Friday, according to 8NewsNow, though it is unclear where or how she died.

Andress-Tobiasson claimed that she had been trying to save her daughter, Sarah, from prostitution after she started working at a clothing store she believed was a front for criminal activities.  

But the trial into her alleged conduct was dropped after she agreed to resign in 2021.  

She had been living at her $2million five-bedroom mansion in Las Vegas with her husband Todd before her death. 

Tobiasson was being investigated by Nevada’s Judicial Discipline Commission for almost two years, after asking police to investigate a clothing store where her daughter worked.

The former judge made claims that the store, Top Knotch, was being used as a front for prostitution and her daughter Sarah was being recruited as a prostitute.

She accused the Las Vegas Metro Police Department for ignoring information she provided, claiming she was trying to save her daughter from sex trafficking.

Tobiasson claimed that the store was an unlicensed, underage nightclub and a front for prostitution – with Sarah, who was 16 at the time, saying she was ‘terrified’ of Shane Valentine who ran the store.

The judge said that she was forced to turn to the FBI with the information after the inaction of the local police – which led to officers investigating her for allegedly breaching judicial rules after discovering she had repeated claims to federal agents.

Keep reading

Police Officers, Including the Chief, Protected Sex Trafficking Ring In Exchange for Sex With Victims—Lawsuit

Police officers in America, we are told, are here to protect the public and put people in jail who cause harm to others. All too often, however, as the following case illustrates, police officers become the ones from which society needs protection. The Fairfax County Police department is the perfect example. Instead of protecting women from dangerous sex traffickers, officers were actually participating in the trafficking and protecting the bad guys while preying on the young women.

According to a federal lawsuit by prominent civil rights attorney Victor Glasberg, the corruption within the department ran all the way up to the department’s chief, Ed Roessler. Officers were allowed to have their way with the sex trafficking victims in exchange for protecting the modern-day slave owners.

Glasberg filed the suit on behalf of a woman who was ensnared in the sex trafficking ring, who had been taken from Costa Rica and trafficked by the group.

The trial for the lawsuit is underway this week and the victim, known only as Jane Doe, has given dramatic testimony — forced to describe the injuries she suffered while held captive in a Virginia-based sex trafficking ring.

“They are with the force of the law. They’re here to protect us. They have to not be clients,” Doe said Thursday, according to the AP.

The woman was lured from her home in Costa Rica with promises of a job that did not involve sex. However, when she arrived in the US, the traffickers took her passport and she was forced into commercial sex.

Keep reading

Gloria Trevi Sex Cult Claims Revived in New Lawsuit

NEARLY TWO DECADES after a judge abruptly cleared pop diva Gloria Trevi of charges she lured minors into a secret sex ring in Mexico, the singer is facing a new civil lawsuit in Los Angeles that revives claims she procured underage girls for her ex-producer Sergio Andrade.

The new complaint, obtained by Rolling Stone, was filed shortly before the Dec. 31 deadline for a three-year “lookback” window that temporarily lifted the statute of limitations on childhood sex assault claims in California. Neither Trevi nor Andrade are specifically named in the suit, but it’s clear they’re the top two Doe defendants based on details including concerts Trevi played in the 1990s and albums she recorded.

According to the filing, two Jane Doe plaintiffs allege they were 13 and 15 years old respectively when Trevi approached them in public and lured them into joining Andrade’s purported music training program by promoting it as an elite star-making opportunity. The victims says Trevi groomed them to become sex slaves to Andrade, and that much of their abuse happened in Los Angeles County.

By the time the Jane Does were recruited, Trevi and Andrade already had reached international fame with a series of hits showcasing Trevi’s edgy lyrics and rebellious persona, the lawsuit states. Trevi was dubbed Mexico’s version of Madonna while Andrade was credited as her behind-the-scenes production ace. It would be several years before the once-celebrated duo would seemingly disappear ahead of a flood of sex cult allegations from multiple former protégées. The claims would explode into an international scandal, with Andrade painted as a violent serial pedophile and Trevi his willing accomplice. The two would be arrested in Brazil in January 2000 after an international manhunt.

Trevi, now 54, spent four years in pre-trial detention but was ultimately acquitted when a judge said there was insufficient evidence to support the rape, kidnapping and corruption of minors charges filed against her by Mexican prosecutors. After spending four years awaiting trial, Andrade was convicted of rape, kidnapping and corruption of minors, but ended up spending only one more year behind bars.

Keep reading

Prince Andrew sex abuse accuser Virginia Giuffre will be freed from gagging clause which banned her from speaking publicly about the Duke – one year after he paid out £12m in bid to draw line under scandal

Prince Andrew‘s sex abuse accuser Virginia Giuffre could return to the public eye next month as her gagging clause is lifted.

Ms Giuffre, who now lives in Australia, had alleged that she was forced to have sex with the Duke three times when she was 17 under the orders of the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

She launched her legal action against Andrew in August 2021, seeking unspecified damages for battery, including rape, and the infliction of emotional distress. 

It was settled outside of court on February 15, 2022, for a reported £12 million, with £2 million thought to have been donated to her sex trafficking charity. The Duke did not admit wrongdoing and has consistently and vehemently denied the claims.

As part of the settlement last year the Duke of York and Ms Giuffre signed a one-year agreement that meant neither party could discuss the case or financial settlement made.

With this clause lifting within weeks, Ms Giuffre, who is married with children, will likely be free to talk about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse.

This could include writing a book, or conducting printed or televised interviews with the media or writing a book.

The Duke settled the case with Ms Giuffre ahead of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee last year, after having been stripped of all military titles and patronages and ordered by Buckingham Palace not to use his HRH title in January. The Palace also ruled out a return to public duties.

Keep reading

US Virgin Islands AG is FIRED just days after she sued JPMorgan Chase – accusing the bank of ‘pulling the levers’ in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex crimes and ‘turning a blind eye’ as he abused minors at his villa

The attorney general of the US Virgin Islands has been fired by the territory’s governor just days after filing a lawsuit accusing JPMorgan Chase of ‘turning a blind eye’ to Jeffrey Epstein‘s prolific sex crimes. 

USVI Governor Albert Bryan Jr confirmed in a statement on Sunday that he had ‘relieved Denise George of her duties as attorney general this weekend’ without offering further details. 

George, who had served as the territory’s attorney general for four years, on Tuesday filed a massive lawsuit against JPMorgan, accusing the bank of ‘knowingly providing and pulling the levers through which [Epstein’s] recruiters and victims were paid.’

She did not warn Bryan of her intent to file the lawsuit, and the incident was the final straw in the governor’s increasingly frustrated relationship with her, the Virgin Islands Consortium reported, citing a source familiar with the matter.

Keep reading

‘The footage will haunt me for the rest of my life.’ Jeffrey Epstein survivor claims she watched tapes the pedophile made of his wealthy friends having sex with a female victim for ‘blackmail’ – and says she still has copies stashed

One of Jeffrey Epstein‘s victims has claimed that he did make sex tapes of his wealthy friends – and not only has she seen them, she’s made copies.

And Sarah Ransome’s newly released deposition has rekindled allegations that top attorney Alan Dershowitz was involved in the abuse of underage girls.

Ransome claimed in the deposition taken as part of a lawsuit that Virginia Giuffre filed against Epstein’s one-time girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell that she has seen footage of two of Epstein’s associates having sex with a female victim.

And she claims that she had been forced into a threesome with Dershowitz and an unidentified woman.

Dershowitz denies any abuse. He told the Daily Beast: ‘Let me be very clear—I have had sex with one woman since the day I met my wife.

‘And during the entire relevant period of time, I never had any contact with Ransome. I’ve never had any contact with anyone else. And the stories are all made up.’

Ransome goes on to claim that footage she saw will ‘haunt me for the rest of my life’ and that the faces of the two men were clearly visible. She does not identify those men.

Ransome even claims to have copies which she has stored at several secure locations around Europe and says she fears retaliation by Epstein even though he is dead.

The bombshell claim gives new insight into the long-held theory that Epstein blackmailed his wealthy male friends with secretly recorded videos of them having sex with underage girls he provided.

Keep reading

Project Veritas: HHS Whistleblower Reveals ‘Tax Dollars’ Spent to ‘Put Children in the Hands of Criminals’… Migrant Child: My Female Sponsor ‘Would Pimp Me to Men’ 

Project Veritas on Tuesday released video of a Department of Health & Human Services whistleblower revealing US tax dollars were spent to put children in the hands of criminals.

Tara Lee Rodas, Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity & Efficiency, told Project Veritas that the US government in complicit in child trafficking.

One migrant child said her female sponsor would “pimp” her to men.

“The tax dollars of people who are listening [to my testimony to Project Veritas] are paying to put children in the hands of criminals,” Rodas said.

Rodas continued, “Our sponsors typically are not citizens. They’re not permanent residents. They don’t have a legal presence.”

“The sponsor can hold up an ‘Order of Deportation’ to a [migrant] child and say, ‘This is your Order of Deportation. If you do not do what I say, when I say, I’m going to call ICE on you myself.’ We are paying to put children in the hands of criminals,” she said.

Keep reading

Jeffrey Epstein victims sue JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank for ‘facilitating his sex-trafficking operation and ignoring red flags’: Women claim large cash sums were withdrawn to pay them for sex

Victims of Jeffrey Epstein are suing Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase, alleging they ‘played an integral role’ in the pedophile financier’s campaign of sexual abuse.

In two lawsuits filed in New York on Thursday, the women say the banks facilitated Epstein’s sex trafficking operation because large sums of money were withdrawn to pay his victims.

They are also accused of ignoring ‘red flags’ and putting profit before the law. 

Bradley Edwards, a lawyer in the case against Deutsche Bank, told the Wall Street Journal: ‘The time has come for the real enablers to be held responsible, especially his wealthy friends and the financial institutions that played an integral role.

‘These victims were wronged, by many, not just Epstein. He did not act alone.’

Epstein took his own life in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.

Both lawsuits are class action cases that name the plaintiffs as ‘Jane Doe 1, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated’.

Keep reading

Identity of several ‘John Does’ affiliated with Jeffrey Epstein revealed after judge orders release of more court documents

The judge who oversaw the 2016 defamation case against Ghislaine Maxwell, the disgraced former associate of Jeffrey Epstein, filed by one of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, has ordered the release of more court documents which will unveil the identity of several people who had heretofore attempted to keep their names a secret.

The case has already been settled, and many of the names have already come out through subsequent court proceedings or other means, the judge said. One of the “John Does” is Maxwell’s former personal assistant, who faces her own accusations as well, and at least one of them is a victim who has publicly discussed her experiences.

For these reasons, Judge Loretta Preska determined on Friday that public interest outweighed privacy concerns and that much of the “purportedly sensitive information” had already come to light during Maxwell’s 2021 trial. She therefore ordered the release of more documents.

Currently, those individuals are referred to in court documents as Does 12, 28, 97, 107, 144, 147, 171, and 183.

One of the names revealed is that of Tom Pritzker, a billionaire and the executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels. He is also a cousin of the Democrat governor of Illinois, J. B. Pritzker. Tom Pritzker had fought to keep his name concealed, but Preska dismissed his reasoning. Though his name did come up in a deposition, Preska said, a witness in the deposition said he or she did not recognize Pritzker.

Giuffre has previously alleged that Epstein and Maxwell forced her to have sex with Pritzker and other high-profile men, including Prince Andrew of Britain; Bill Richardson, the former Democrat governor of New Mexico; and Glenn Dubin, a wealthy hedge-fund manager, the Daily Beast reports. All of the men have denied the accusations against them.

Keep reading