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The Super Bowl is a money-maker for all businesses in New York this week — even the sex industry.
Super Bowl XLVIII exposed a seedy side of the Big Apple when police busted a high-end escort service delivering “party packs” of cocaine and prostitutes to people in town for the matchup between the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks on Feb. 2.
Having been planned almost as long as the game itself, the nearly yearlong undercover investigation discovered that the ring allegedly laundered the illegal proceeds through front businesses that included a clothing wholesaler, a wig wholesaler, a limousine service and a beauty supply wholesaler, said New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in a statement, reported CNN.
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Focusing on wealthy customers flooding to the city for the finale of the NFL season, the company sent out text messages last week promising “new sexy & beautiful girls R in town waiting for u,” along with Internet and public access TV advertisements.
According to the authorities, the ring made $3 million in credit card sales last year from thousands of clients hiring the services of hundreds of prostitutes, mainly imported from Korea.
Many were allegedly seized from their own country, blackmailed, held in captivity and then forced to sell their bodies.
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“Every two months they would bring in a new wave of girls, and they increased the importation … because of the increase in demand that accompanies the Super Bowl,” revealed Schneiderman.
While fans at home are stocking up on beer, chips and dips, the illegal ring was charging for sex and drugs as a package deal, “sometimes billing for cocaine in an equivalent number of ‘hours’ of prostitution,” the statement said. Customers often found their credit cards charged with bills of over $10,000 after prostitutes flooded their room, according to CNN.
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