Human trafficker who forced men to have sex for 20 hours every day gets 11 years in prison

[+ Gar1eth]

Anyone here remember any ads in NYC or Miami that might have been part of this?

Human trafficker who forced men to have sex for 20 hours every day gets 11 years in prison

LGBTQ Nation

 

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

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Andrew Vass

 

A 25-year-old Hungarian man will spend the next 11 years in prison after being convicted of running a gay sex slave operation out of New York and Miami.

 

Andras Vass was sentenced this week to more than a decade behind bars for his part in an elaborate scheme in which he and two others lured young men from Hungary to the United States under false pretenses then forced them to have sex on webcams and prostitute themselves to strangers for up to 20 hours a day for months on end.

 

One of Vass’ victims, a 24-year-old Hungarian man, testified that Vass and his henchmen threatened to kill his family if he didn’t have sex with men around the clock. The abuse nearly ruined his life.

 

“It’s really hard for me to socialize, to mingle with people,” the young man testified. “I started drinking heavily to try and forget. I lost all my friends.”

 

The man also said that Vass would use extra food and cigarettes as rewards for his victims who “slept with enough johns.”

 

Those who didn’t meet their quota were threatened with a sword.

 

“I was under their control, all day, all night,” a second victim added in a written statement read to the court. “They used me like I was a machine. They sold me to strangers. I was not allowed to be tired. I was not allowed to be sad.”

 

According to court documents, Vass started the operation back in 2012. His strategy was to find desperate Hungarian men on social media sites and offer to fly them to New York for legitimate work. The victims “believed they would only be in New York for a few months to make tens of thousands of dollars before returning to their homeland and their families,” Homeland Security Investigations agent Melissa Pavlikowski wrote in an arrest warrant.

 

Once the men arrived, however, they were made to live in a stuffy one-bedroom apartment and perform sex acts literally all day and night then given just four to six hours to sleep before doing it all again, day after day, week after week, month after month. They were not paid, though Vass and his fellow pimps raked in around $40,000 each per month. And at one point, as many as eight young men all shared the same cramped apartment.

 

“Their traffickers used various techniques to keep them enslaved, including isolating them from others, withholding their travel and identification documents and using financial manipulation to keep them in constant debt,” Pavlikowski said.

 

Though he faced a possible 155 years in prison, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Richard Hersch sentenced Vass to just 11 years.

 

“I know very well that I am culpable,” Vass told the court. “After I do my time, I would like to start a new clean life and I’m asking for God’s help and I pray every day for forgiveness.”

 

His other two cohorts, Viktor Berki and Gabor Acs, are still awaiting trial.

 

Gman

[sincitymix]

Anyone here remember any ads in NYC or Miami that might have been part of this?

 

 

Human trafficker who forced men to have sex for 20 hours every day gets 11 years in prison

LGBTQ Nation

 

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Share on facebook4.2KShare on twitter?Share on redditMore Sharing Services

 

 

http://i0.wp.com/static.lgbtqnation.com/assets/2015/12/Screen-Shot-2015-12-16-at-10.31.14-AM-670x372.png?zoom=1.5&resize=500%2C278

Andrew Vass

 

A 25-year-old Hungarian man will spend the next 11 years in prison after being convicted of running a gay sex slave operation out of New York and Miami.

 

Andras Vass was sentenced this week to more than a decade behind bars for his part in an elaborate scheme in which he and two others lured young men from Hungary to the United States under false pretenses then forced them to have sex on webcams and prostitute themselves to strangers for up to 20 hours a day for months on end.

 

One of Vass’ victims, a 24-year-old Hungarian man, testified that Vass and his henchmen threatened to kill his family if he didn’t have sex with men around the clock. The abuse nearly ruined his life.

 

“It’s really hard for me to socialize, to mingle with people,” the young man testified. “I started drinking heavily to try and forget. I lost all my friends.”

 

The man also said that Vass would use extra food and cigarettes as rewards for his victims who “slept with enough johns.”

 

Those who didn’t meet their quota were threatened with a sword.

 

“I was under their control, all day, all night,” a second victim added in a written statement read to the court. “They used me like I was a machine. They sold me to strangers. I was not allowed to be tired. I was not allowed to be sad.”

 

According to court documents, Vass started the operation back in 2012. His strategy was to find desperate Hungarian men on social media sites and offer to fly them to New York for legitimate work. The victims “believed they would only be in New York for a few months to make tens of thousands of dollars before returning to their homeland and their families,” Homeland Security Investigations agent Melissa Pavlikowski wrote in an arrest warrant.

 

Once the men arrived, however, they were made to live in a stuffy one-bedroom apartment and perform sex acts literally all day and night then given just four to six hours to sleep before doing it all again, day after day, week after week, month after month. They were not paid, though Vass and his fellow pimps raked in around $40,000 each per month. And at one point, as many as eight young men all shared the same cramped apartment.

 

“Their traffickers used various techniques to keep them enslaved, including isolating them from others, withholding their travel and identification documents and using financial manipulation to keep them in constant debt,” Pavlikowski said.

 

Though he faced a possible 155 years in prison, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Richard Hersch sentenced Vass to just 11 years.

 

“I know very well that I am culpable,” Vass told the court. “After I do my time, I would like to start a new clean life and I’m asking for God’s help and I pray every day for forgiveness.”

 

His other two cohorts, Viktor Berki and Gabor Acs, are still awaiting trial.

 

Gman

 

Just 11 years? I have to wonder. If this was a guy forcing young WOMEN into prostitution under these conditions.. would he then still get 11 years? I tend to think not.. This to me unfortunately is reverse discrimination of a sort.

[+ Gar1eth]

Just 11 years? I have to wonder. If this was a guy forcing young WOMEN into prostitution under these conditions.. would he then still get 11 years? I tend to think not.. This to me unfortunately is reverse discrimination of a sort.

 

 

Well yes. But on the other hand we've sometimes seen some awfully light prison sentences for rapists of women with idiot judges making statements like 'the woman asked for it' too.

 

Gman

[Tonyko]

About three years ago I fed a young E Euro homeless guy outside a market who "said" he had run away and told the EXACT same story as above EXCEPT that instead of sex slave he said he was a "bike" slave (the young guys almost all of whom are E European who pedal the pedi-cab bikes around Central Park) Except for THAT all else the threats financial indenture withholding of travel documents living situation etc etc etc etc was ALL the same. I wonder IF he was one of the victims of this ring and too embarrassed to tell the truthful deets??

[maninsoma]

Does anyone know anything more on this story? I'm particularly curious as to how law enforcement was first tipped off about these human traffickers. Did one of the sex slaves finally contact authorities?

[+ sync]

Just 11 years? I have to wonder. If this was a guy forcing young WOMEN into prostitution under these conditions.. would he then still get 11 years? I tend to think not.. This to me unfortunately is reverse discrimination of a sort.

 

I, too, would like to know the judge's reasoning for just 11 years. Is this another instance of moral justice being thrown under the bus by legal justice?

[cany10011]

Is he associated with the "Murray Hill gang"?

[Jock123]

Wow.....This is the saddest thing I've read In awhile. Thank god for the Internet/Social Media and Camera phones. I Imagine 20 Years ago Things like this were very Common as their werent Websites for Escorts to Advertise...thus Literally being Pimped out.

[+ glennnn]

I wonder about the "clients". Did they not notice something was wrong.... Tiny apartment, sad_hopeless young men, cheap fees?, disinterested sex partners?, non English speakers?, what was the method of contact with the pimp?

 

I know that ANY if us would have recognized a sex mill and found a way to blow this hellhole sky high and help theseboys. All the more reason to decriminalize and regulate the sex worker profession. 11 years is too lenient by half.

[+ glennnn]

What happens to the victims now?

[+ quoththeraven]

What happens to the victims now?

 

Good question. I seem to remember someone from a non-profit geared to help women who want to leave or were coerced into sex work saying they welcome men too, but that men were often reluctant to seek their help. Agencies' lack of familiarity with male victims (who are probably in the minority), shame, and the view that it's okay for women to seek help but men should be able to deal with their own problems may all play a part.

[adannyboy]

I wonder about the "clients". Did they not notice something was wrong.... Tiny apartment, sad_hopeless young men, cheap fees?, disinterested sex partners?, non English speakers?, what was the method of contact with the pimp?

 

I know that ANY if us would have recognized a sex mill and found a way to blow this hellhole sky high and help theseboys. All the more reason to decriminalize and regulate the sex worker profession. 11 years is too lenient by half.

 

That was my initial thought, too. I wondered how many people on this forum would know who to begin to call.

[+ glennnn]

Probably a stupid question, but can we do anything? Are they under arrest for prostitution? Being deported? I'm not wealthy, but I could make a contribution. Its fucking winter in NYC! Is someone seeing to their needs!

[+ stevenkesslar]

Does anyone know anything more on this story? I'm particularly curious as to how law enforcement was first tipped off about these human traffickers. Did one of the sex slaves finally contact authorities?

 

I doubt anyone here knows the specifics of this case. I don't.

 

The DHS website features a "Blue Campaign" targeted to combat human trafficking - both for labor and sex. The photos feature an attractive young Hispanic man working in a sweatshop. This article suggests it could just as easily be an involuntary brothel.

 

This is exactly what could be involved in things like the Rentboy bust. Even if you require govt. ids people who are this criminal can probably figure out how to forge documents.

 

This is also why Laars at Rentmen ought to be concerned about the traveling pack thread that is still lingering in The Deli. If male sex slaves (who are likely heterosexual) from E Europe or Mexico are being forced to sell their bodies for sex to Gay men on sites like Rentmen, it could appear like the Traveling Pack does - either a group of interchangeable young men "traveling," or a group simply holed up in an apartment somewhere like the Hungarians allegedly were. It is a perfect use of "The Travel Act."

 

Are you listening, Laars?

[+ glennnn]

That was my initial thought, too. I wondered how many people on this forum would know who to begin to call.

 

Atta boy, Danny! I'm onboard for whatever I can offer!

[+ Gar1eth]

I wonder if anyone who reads the Forum hired any of the guys, but is not willing to divulge for a multitude of reasons having done so.

 

This apparently was not just in NYC but in Florida too.

 

 

Anyone remember seeing ads that might have been connected with this?

 

Gman

[+ stevenkesslar]

That was my initial thought, too. I wondered how many people on this forum would know who to begin to call.

 

That's easy. DHS.

 

Ironic, isn't it?

[maninsoma]

I doubt anyone here knows the specifics if this case. I don't.

 

The DHS website features a "Blue Campaign" targeted to combat human trafficking - both for labor and sex. The photos feature an attractive young Hispanic man working in a sweatshop. This article suggests it could just as easily be an involuntary brothel.

 

This is exactly what could be involved in things like the Rentboy bust. Even if you require govt. ids people who are this criminal can probably figure out how to forge documents.

 

This is also why Laars at Rentmen ought to be concerned about the traveling pack thread that is still lingering in The Deli. If male sex slaves (who are likely heterosexual) from E Europe or Mexico are being forced to sell their bodies for sex to Gay men on sites like Rentmen, it could appear like the Traveling Pack does - either a group of interchangeable young men "traveling," or a group simply holed up in an apartment somewhere like the Hungarians allegedly were. It is a perfect use of "The Travel Act."

 

Are you listening, Laars?

 

Well, I was tempted to connect those dots earlier but decided to let someone else do it first. I do find myself wondering if the part of the reason why Rentboy got the Feds' attention was that at least some ads were related to trafficking. I agree that other websites can and should do a better job to screen out such ads.

[Brian Kevin]

Just no. So sad, disturbing and makes me frown. Really hurts.

 

Hope they can stay in the USA and get some kind of help to get on there feet and away from these people !!!

[+ stevenkesslar]

Probably a stupid question, but can we do anything? Are they under arrest for prostitution? Being deported? I'm not wealthy, but I could make a contribution. Its fucking winter in NYC! Is someone seeing to their needs!

 

I am far from an expert on this, but from what I have read this is exactly why DHS should be working with "us," not fighting us - assuming in fact we are open to partnership.

 

As an enforcement tool, the law Wellstone helped pass - the TVPA - offers special visas to victims of trafficking that rat out the criminals trafficking them. This is an underutilized tool. First, imagine if the victim was a Muslim. Second, even if they are not, the standard for proving they were trafficked may not be easy to meet. Third, they fear retaliation. As the article points out, they may be told their families are at risk.

 

It's not even clear whether these guys want to stay in the US. Hungary is a country refugees are flocking to, not fleeing from. These guys wanted to make a quick buck. Hopefully they will at least get home safe, or get a visa to stay legally if that is their desire and they cooperated with DHS to bust a sex slave ring.

 

Sorry to merge issues, but as an escort I feel that this makes "my" profession look bad, and by implication it makes both pimps and the "johns" that hire prostitutes look unethical or worse. This is "my" rats nest. This is why the burden is on "us" to prove that we don't support this kind of crap.

 

When I go after Muslims who are silent in the face of a minority who do very bad things, I feel I am holding them to the same standard of decency I expect to be held to when things like this - Gay sex slave rings - are exposed.