Sex Trafficking—American Samoa

Last August, two Chinese women who claimed to be the victims of a sex trafficking scheme managed to make a dramatic escape from their alleged captors in America Samoa and alert authorities.^[1] The women claimed that they had paid $2,000 to travel to Pago Pago to get jobs as cashiers at a grocery store, but instead were imprisoned in a karaoke bar and forced to have sex with customers.^[2]

After six months of being locked in a room whenever they weren’t working, threatened with harm to their families if they didn’t cooperate, and told “No sex…no food,” the women made their escape by rope from a third-story balcony of the Bao Kai Karaoke Bar, flagged down a police car, and told their story to police and the FBI.^[3]

Last Wednesday, a federal grand jury in Honolulu indicted Fu Shen Kuo, also known as “Zhu Ge” or “Brother Pig,” and Shengji Wang, also known as “Bing Bing” on two counts of sex trafficking for financial gain (18 U.S.C. § 1591).^[4] Both men are being held without bail pending further proceedings.^[5]

As we have discussed in a previous post, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) provides a special “T” visa for victims of sex trafficking who wish to stay and work in the United States.^[6] It is not known whether the alleged victims in this case will remain in U.S. territory or return to China.

Sex Trafficking (18 U.S.C. § 1591(a)(1) and (a)(2))
It is a crime to knowingly recruit, entice, harbor, transport, provide, or obtain by any means a person for the purpose of causing the person to engage in commercial sex acts or to benefit financially from such recruitment, etc. The punishment for this conduct, if done by fraud or coercion, includes a fine, imprisonment for up to life, or both.^[7]

A “commercial sex act” is defined as “any sex act, on account of which anything of value is given to or received by any person.”^[8] “Coercion” may be “threats of serious harm to or physical restraint.”^[9]

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[1] Women Tell of Forced Sex in American Samoa, Associated Press, Oct. 8, 2006 [hereinafter AP].
[2] Id.
[3] FBI Arrests 2 in Alleged Sex Case in Samoa, Associated Press, Oct. 7, 2006.
[4] U.S. v. Kuo et al, No. 1:06-cr-00524-DAE, Indictment, Docket Entry # 19 (HI, Oct. 4, 2006). The spelling of Mr. Wang's name in court documents is "Shengji" while news reports use the spelling "Shenji."
[5] AP supra note 1.
[6]Pub. L. No. 106-386, 114 Stat. 1464 (2000) (codified at 22 USCS §§ 7101-7110).
[7] 18 U.S.C. § 1591(b)(1) (the punishment level is the same if the victim is under 14 years of age; if the victim is between the ages of 14 and 18 or no fraud or coercion is involved, the sentence is limited to not more than 40 years in prison).
[8] 18 U.S.C. § 1591(c)(1).
[9] 18 U.S.C. § 1591(c)(2)(A).