Sex Work and Civil Asset Forfeiture Increasingly Go Hand in Hand
Highlights of long article after the rentboy bust and asset seizing.
(Dave is aware in Arizona of such forfeitures even for independent companion busts even when no prostitution charges were filed. In one case a companion had to buy her house back from Sheriff Joe for the $50k equity in it. Another case a independent massage therapist who just got a cash withdrawal to buy a use car was forfeiture when she was arrested but no charges were filed. Assets are guilty unless proven innocent - proof of legal source - Attorneys have advised it is almost impossible to challenge an asset forfeiture in Arizona.)
We're riding high on a wave of state successes in shutting down prostitution-related businesses—from MyRedbook.com to escort services like Sensual Alaska—and cracking down on commercial sexual activity, be it street-based prostitution or erotic massage parlors.
This is all bolstered by the guise of stopping "human trafficking," and aided by massive amounts of federal funding plus newly granted wiretapping, asset forfeiture, and other law enforcement powers. As Scott Shackford pointed out, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the New York City Police Department (NYPD) didn't go after Rentboy.com out of a conviction that gay sex workers pose a threat to national safety but because they could seize $1.4 million from employee bank accounts, along with their homes and other assets. This is not so much a moral crusade—not for police, prosecutors, or federal agencies anyway—as a money-grubbing one.
Under a variety of statutes, from the Travel Act (which is what Rentboy.com employees were charged with violating) to the recently passed Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act (JVTA), the federal government can gain permission to seize assets from any number of people connected to any kind of prostitution business. And among many prostitution-related laws passed in the states over the past decade, adding asset forfeiture possibilities has been quite a popular move. At least 41 states and the District of Columbia now allow some form asset forfeiture for commercial-sex offenses
Some state laws specifically address asset forfeiture for commercial-sex crimes, from human trafficking to solicitation to "promoting prostitution." And while some states require a conviction before cash, cars, or property may be seized (aka criminal forfeiture), many allow civil asset forfeiture, wherein no conviction or even charges are necessary before police and prosecutors swoop in.
For the police to seize an individual’s property, most jurisdictions require that the officer merely have probable cause to believe the property is subject to forfeiture.
"Forfeiture was originally presented as a way to cripple large-scale criminal enterprises by diverting their resources," according to the American Civil Liberties Union. "But today, aided by deeply flawed federal and state laws, many police departments use forfeiture to benefit their bottom lines, making seizures motivated by profit rather than crime-fighting." And in cases where citizens are allowed to request their stuff back, "legally regaining such property is notoriously difficult and expensive, with costs sometimes exceeding the value of the property."
Government officials, meanwhile, think it's not easy enough to steal people's things. For instance, the JVTA, passed in May, just lowered the standard for forfeiture of targeted property by allowing the feds to access assets merely "involved in" the commission of a crime, not just those "used or intended to be used" in that crime's commission.
"By changing the standard, prosecutors (don't) have to show direct traceability between the crime and the targeted assets," Congress notes. "Instead, they only need show that the assets were involved in the crime or used to conceal the source of criminal assets." While this might seem palatable if it was only used against major trafficking offenders, remember that under the JVTA, working for an escort-advertising website such as Rentboy or soliciting prostitution from a 17-year-old (or a cop playing a 17-year-old) could get you charged with human trafficking.
In Minnesota, soliciting or promoting prostitution in any way will do. In Maryland, any form of suspected "pandering" (i.e., "taking, placing, persuading, inducing, enticing, encouraging, or benefiting" from someone's prostitution) can trigger asset forfeiture. In Colorado, "every building or part of a building including the ground upon which it is situated and all fixtures and contents thereof, every vehicle, and any real property shall be deemed a class 1 public nuisance"—i.e., a place legally up for asset-forfeiture grabs—if it was "used as a public or private place of prostitution or used as a place where the commission of soliciting for prostitution," pandering, pimping, or human trafficking occurred.
In Arizona, Ulises Ruiz and his girlfriend, suspected of running illegal massage businesses, had cars, cash, and their home seized by Pima County prosecutors. "It was found by clear and convincing evidence that all of his assets ... were, in fact, the proceeds of criminal activity," said Pima County Deputy Attorney Julie Sottosanti.
To make matters worse, police say the $15,000 Ruiz's girlfriend put up for Ruiz's bond is invalid, since that money should have been forfeited to them already. Ruiz remains incarcerated. That's right: cops can keep you in jail indefinitely, without convicting you of any crimes, because any money you might use to get out of jail is assumed to be the proceeds of the same criminal activity they haven't yet proved on you.
The Department of Homeland Security seizing $1.4 million from Rentboy.com is likely only the beginning.
Full article at http://reason.com/blog/2015/08/28/as...or-sex-workers