Federal prosecutors say they have broken up a high-end international prostitution ring that ran a thriving business in New York. Prosecutors yesterday charged one man and three women with running the prostitution service, which advertised itself on the Internet as Emperors Club VIP.
According to its Web site, which was taken down at midday yesterday, the Emperors Club offered to introduce clients to models, as well as provide investment services and deals on contemporary art work. The Web site billed Emperors Club as the "elite recreation venue and private club for those accustomed to excellence."
RELATED: The Emperors Club Web Site
Court documents unsealed yesterday said Emperors Club involved 50 prostitutes who billed between $1,000 and $5,500 an hour. Several phone numbers associated with Emperors Club have been under surveillance by the FBI, which intercepted more than 5,000 telephone calls and text messages during the investigation, according to court documents.
Excerpts of those intercepted calls, provided in court documents, offer a window onto some of the managerial challenges that confronted the four defendants who allegedly managed the operation. In them, the managers discuss how some of the Emperor Club prostitutes had difficulty taking imprints of their clients' American Express cards, making it difficult to charge them. Prostitutes weren't always punctual in arriving at their engagements. There were scheduling conflicts to resolve caused by the photo shoots of the women who modeled during the day. And clients called in wanting to know what they should tell their accountants about the expenses they were racking up with the Emperors Club.
A criminal complaint charges Mark Brener, 62, with running the prostitution ring. He was arrested yesterday morning along with a 23-year-old former college student, Cecil Suwal. Prosecutors say Ms. Suwal managed the day-today running of Emperors Club. They lived together in an apartment in New Jersey. Agents found $600,000 in cash at the apartment, an assistant U.S. attorney, Daniel Stein, said in U.S. District Court in Manhattan yesterday.
A son of Mr. Brener's, who was in court yesterday, said he was "shocked" at the allegations against his father.
"It reads like a movie script," the man, who would not give his name, said of the complaint in which prosecutors laid out their allegations.
The Emperors Club had prostitutes in New York, Miami, Los Angeles, London, and Paris, and would send them to meet men as far away as Vienna, the complaint alleges.
Authorities also arrested two other women, Temeka Lewis and Tanya Hollander, whom prosecutors described as booking agents who set up meetings between clients and prostitutes.
The defendants are charged with conspiring to violate federal anti-prostitution laws. And Mr. Brener and Ms. Suwal were also charged with money laundering.
The defendants did not enter any pleas in U.S. District Court yesterday. Prosecutors did not mention any client list.
| Title | By | Date |
Taken Down [89 words] |
John Frederick |
Mar 13, 2008 15:47 |
young enough to be his daughter!!! [66 words] |
Duanna |
Mar 13, 2008 13:27 |
supply and..... [21 words] |
girlny |
Mar 11, 2008 22:13 |
Silda [9 words] |
joe |
Mar 11, 2008 19:49 |
Cheaper to Have a Mistress [53 words] |
Teresa |
Mar 11, 2008 01:31 |
Nice message to his daughters [61 words] |
Glad to have married one of the good ones |
Mar 11, 2008 00:25 |
Are you kidding me? [136 words] |
Pat |
Mar 10, 2008 21:44 |
↔ OUR TAX DOLLARS "HARD" AT WORK [19 words] |
king |
Mar 11, 2008 01:25 |
Nothing to due [18 words] |
dawg |
Mar 10, 2008 21:35 |
whores [6 words] |
micherr |
Mar 10, 2008 21:28 |
Hey [20 words] |
MJL |
Mar 10, 2008 20:03 |
sound familiar? [22 words] |
Paul Segreto |
Mar 10, 2008 19:58 |
WHY ALWAYS GUYS GET NABBED?????? [6 words] |
Skipper |
Mar 10, 2008 19:36 |
↔ Right On!!! [39 words] |
michelle |
Mar 10, 2008 20:36 |
About Time [119 words] |
Schmucker |
Mar 10, 2008 19:10 |
↔ AMAZING WHAT SEX WILL MAKE YOU DO!!! [5 words] |
SKippy |
Mar 10, 2008 19:38 |
↔ Evaluation [39 words] |
Amble Balu |
Mar 10, 2008 20:32 |
↔ Politics at it's Finest [28 words] |
michelle |
Mar 10, 2008 20:40 |
Time Eliot Made Prostituition Legal :):) [50 words] |
Fritzeroo |
Mar 10, 2008 18:34 |
The people who made these arrests should perhaps be arrested [11 words] |
Anyone |
Mar 10, 2008 18:11 |
Confused Feds Wasting Our Taxpayer Money on More Pointless Hypocricy [333 words] |
working joe |
Mar 10, 2008 17:37 |
↔ Wake Up!!! [59 words] |
michelle |
Mar 10, 2008 18:05 |
↔ Government was ok in this [132 words] |
Frank |
Mar 10, 2008 18:48 |
↔ FBI Playing Political Games With Taxpayer Dollars [274 words] |
working joe |
Mar 10, 2008 19:39 |
↔ Rationalizing....Justifying [119 words] |
michelle |
Mar 10, 2008 21:13 |
↔ Governent Corruption [299 words] |
working joe |
Mar 10, 2008 21:51 |
↔ Spitzer Has Too Many Enemies [184 words] |
working joe |
Mar 11, 2008 16:35 |
No shock here [67 words] |
Marc |
Mar 10, 2008 17:34 |
↔ Coma??? [29 words] |
michelle |
Mar 10, 2008 17:39 |
Amend the constitution? [105 words] |
Len |
Mar 10, 2008 17:23 |
New Amsterdam is still NO Amsterdam [62 words] |
Santiago |
Mar 10, 2008 17:18 |
The Governor is involved? [41 words] |
Big Al |
Mar 10, 2008 16:49 |
once and always [44 words] |
ed |
Mar 10, 2008 16:40 |
These women are attractive . . . [18 words] |
Melissa |
Mar 10, 2008 16:24 |
↔ Hey Girl... [106 words] |
michelle |
Mar 10, 2008 17:14 |
big suprise [35 words] |
glo |
Mar 10, 2008 16:14 |
whores rule [41 words] |
toy robot |
Mar 10, 2008 16:10 |
Governor Spitizer [50 words] |
RoseAnn |
Mar 10, 2008 16:04 |
↔ Spizter another typical NE liberal [13 words] |
Ron |
Mar 10, 2008 16:16 |
↔ governor spizter is wrong [24 words] |
fred |
Mar 10, 2008 17:02 |
↔ Got Whores? [139 words] |
michelle |
Mar 10, 2008 17:22 |
Make it legal [5 words] |
Chris |
Mar 10, 2008 15:36 |
↔ Revenue?? [14 words] |
michelle |
Mar 10, 2008 17:31 |
The Scandal of the Emperor Club [50 words] |
scatandskid |
Mar 10, 2008 15:20 |
↔ Taxpayer money [50 words] |
unknown |
Mar 10, 2008 16:03 |
↔ You got that right!!! [42 words] |
michelle |
Mar 10, 2008 17:10 |
I.C. [24 words] |
Mwaqar |
Mar 10, 2008 15:17 |
Ignorant Men [18 words] |
Johnson |
Mar 10, 2008 15:15 |
↔ A Moral - A Fiscal - A Family Crime; Why investgate on the tax payer's dime? [142 words] |
Lorenzo |
Mar 10, 2008 15:57 |
↔ Answer [14 words] |
michelle |
Mar 10, 2008 17:24 |
↔ I am [14 words] |
jon |
Mar 10, 2008 17:41 |
↔ Dear Jon.... [10 words] |
michelle |
Mar 10, 2008 17:55 |
↔ Thanks Girl.... [5 words] |
jon |
Mar 10, 2008 17:59 |
↔ Emporer's Club is a great organization [8 words] |
Britney |
Mar 10, 2008 18:47 |
Crazy [15 words] |
T |
Mar 10, 2008 15:07 |
Can't believe the GOV is involved [21 words] |
Health Freak |
Mar 10, 2008 14:43 |
No Victimless Crimes [51 words] |
dudelookslikeachimp |
Mar 7, 2008 20:52 |
↔ Confusion [14 words] |
Domingo |
Mar 10, 2008 16:16 |
↔ Living Large [16 words] |
Usual suspect |
Mar 10, 2008 16:20 |
↔ I'll tell you what it's called [26 words] |
michelle |
Mar 10, 2008 17:26 |
↔ Forgive me [9 words] |
Client #9 |
Mar 10, 2008 17:32 |
↔ We Know... [26 words] |
michelle |
Mar 10, 2008 17:50 |
↔ Tell them Michelle [87 words] |
Jordan |
Mar 10, 2008 19:42 |
↔ Integrity..... [106 words] |
michelle |
Mar 10, 2008 21:03 |
