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Four individuals from the Miami, Florida area have been arrested on a six-count indictment charging conspiracy to coerce and entice acts of prostitution, coercion and enticement of prostitution in the Eastern District of Michigan, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
A fifth individual was arrested on a complaint alleging conspiracy to commit money laundering, announced United States Attorney Barbara L. McQuade [pictured].
Ms. McQuade was joined in the announcement by Special Agent in Charge Andrew G. Arena, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Detroit Field Division; Special Agent in Charge Maurice Aouate, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations, Detroit Field Division; and Special Agent in Charge Brian Moskowitz, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Detroit Field Division.
The defendants included in the indictment are GREGORY CARR ( a.k.a. Paul Cutlass ), 43, LAURIE CARR, 39, NAYUBET LOANI SWASO, 24, and MICHELLE MATARAZZO, 36. A fifth defendant, FABIOLA CONTRERAS, 33, was arrested on a related federal complaint.
The defendants are believed to have owned and operated Miami Companions, which was, at one time, one of the largest prostitution organizations in the United States.
The Miami Companions organization previously had a large presence in the Eastern District of Michigan, until agents for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Southeast Michigan Crimes Against Children ( SEMCAC ) task force made several arrests in 2009. The Miami Companions organization sent prostitutes to the Detroit. Michigan area, to include hotels in Southfield, Romulus, Novi, and Canton, for an extended period of time starting in the early 2000s until March 2009. Michigan was one of the most popular destinations for Miami Companion prostitutes.
The CARRS are alleged to have owned and operated the Miami Companions prostitution organization since 2001. The indictment also alleges that MICHELLE MATARAZZO served as an office manager, coordinating travel for the women, appointments with the clients ( i.e., johns ) who used their services, deposits from the women into Miami Companions bank accounts, advertisements, and web postings, among other duties.
NAYUBET LOANI SWASO was the manager of the overseas call center the Carrs used for a period of time to coordinate travel of the women to different U.S. cities, including Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dayton, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis, and calls from clients to schedule “dates” with the women. It is further alleged that FABIOLA CONTRERAS currently assists in managing the affairs of the organization and owns bank accounts to which the proceeds of the prostitution activities for the organization were being deposited.
The CARRS are believed to have laundered more than $4 million in proceeds from their prostitution organization in numerous bank accounts in different names in order to conceal their illegal activities. In addition, the CARRS transferred millions of dollars to overseas bank accounts in order to promote their prostitution organization by paying for employees to work in their call centers in Panama and Costa Rica, and rental payments for exotic beach houses, where clients exchanged money for sex.
The defendants were arrested on Wednesday, July 21, in the Miami, Florida region, with the exception of NAYUBET LOANI SWASO, who was arrested in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are scheduled to appear in the Eastern District of Michigan on August 11, 2010. The indictment also includes a forfeiture count.
The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Michigan, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jennifer Blackwell and Julie Beck. The case is being investigated by agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. It will be the government’s burden to prove guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.