Zongtao Chen, 49, appeared in federal court in Portland Thursday. Attorney Julia E. Jarrett wrote to the court. A Toronto man described as one of the leaders of a large-scale international prostitution ring was sentenced Thursday to two years in federal prison.
Zongtao Chen, 49, assigned women to work as prostitutes at brothels around the world and managed over websites with brothel locations in every state as well as in Canada and Australia, prosecutors said. He recruited mostly women from China to engage in prostitution, advertised the brothels online, managed the phone operators who booked appointments and recruited new brothel managers, prosecutors said.
Chen took a cut of the money paid to the women, according to the government. He promoted and helped maintain brothels operating in Portland, Tigard and Beaverton, according to prosecutors. Jarrett told a judge in a court filing. Chen, a Canadian citizen who is married with two children, was arrested in Canada in January He challenged his extradition to the United States until last November, when he reached a plea agreement.
In January, he turned himself in to Canadian authorities. Defense lawyer Benjamin Kim noted that Chen has no prior criminal record and wrote to U. District Judge Michael W. In , Canada adopted new laws giving immunity from prosecution to those who sell and advertise their own sexual services. But the law did make it a crime to communicate for the purpose of offering sexual services, purchase sexual services, receive financial or other benefits from the purchase of sexual services, recruit a person for sex work and advertise the sale of sexual services of others.
Chen used the encrypted Internet messenger service WeChat to advertise and recruit people to work for the organization, and he helped schedule women to work at brothel locations and directed them where to go, according to prosecutors. He also used a sophisticated computer program to track the meetings, the women who met with customers and customer phone numbers.
