A key member of a massive Thailand-based sex trafficking conspiracy pleaded guilty Tuesday to helping secure fraudulent visas for victims sent to Minnesota and elsewhere in a case first charged in Sumalee Intarathong, who also goes by Alice Spencer Warren, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit money laundering β more than one year after being extradited from Belgium to face charges.
According to Intarathong's plea agreement filed Tuesday, she was described as largely acting as a "visa application broker" for the organization. She and more than three dozen others were first charged in as part of an international probe dubbed "Bangkok Dark Nights. Prosecutors have called the case an example of "modern day sex slavery," and five of the defendants were convicted after a six-week trial in Others have pleaded guilty since being charged.
Intarathong worked directly with others at the highest levels in the organization to victimize hundreds of vulnerable women for her own financial gain," U. Attorney Andrew M. Luger said in a statement Tuesday. Law enforcement once believed Intarathong was one of the "big bosses" in the organization.
But in Tuesday's plea deal, federal prosecutors and Intarathong now agreed that was not the case. Intarathong took responsibility for her role in this conspiracy," said Aaron Morrison, Intarathong's attorney, in a statement Tuesday. According to Intarathong's plea agreement, the "large-scale international sex trafficking organization" that she took part in dated back to at least Thai women were made to travel to the United States to engage in commercial sex acts, and co-conspirators engaged in "widespread visa fraud" to bring the victims from overseas.
The ring targeted victims from impoverished backgrounds and deployed threats to make them follow through with paying off their debts. Intarathong studied and received degrees in industrial design and communications before coming to the United States, and her studies took her to Vienna and London, where prosecutors say she developed skills and experience to run a successful travel business. She became involved with the sex trafficking organization through connections in the United Kingdom, according to her plea agreement.
