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Description: Miami, Florida criminal law lawyer represented Defendant charged with running a sex trafficking organization for more than 20 years that exploited dozens of vulnerable women and girls.

At any given time, up to 15 women and girls lived with, and worked for, William D. Foster, age 60. Through manipulation, lies, and threats, Foster forced his victims to work at South Florida exotic dance clubs and engage in commercial sex. Foster told the victims that he would invest their earnings so that they could retire in their 20s, which was not true. Foster coerced victims into working eight-hour shifts, six days a week, every week of the year and kept all their money.

He used psychological coercion and violence to keep victims in line. If a victim wanted to buy things like food, clothes, or personal hygiene products, she first had to get permission from Foster. He required many of the victims to go on liquid diets, get unsafe weight loss surgeries, and take anti-anxiety and anti-psychotic medications without proper diagnoses. Foster often had sex with victims, some of whom were minors.

If a victim attempted to leave, Foster would threaten financial ruin and other harm. If a victim left, she left with nothing.

Foster expanded his operation beyond South Florida. He transported victims to other states including New York, New Jersey, Michigan, and Nevada, for the purpose of engaging in prostitution.

Law enforcement officers recovered one of Foster’s victims out of a Detroit hotel room after she called the National Human Trafficking Hotline.

Foster tried to grow his business by starting a website (Foster’s Care) that promised to help human trafficking victims. His plan, however, was not to save anyone, but to lure them into his commercial sex business.

Foster pled guilty in March to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking; sex trafficking of a minor; sex trafficking of a minor by force, fraud, and coercion; five counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion; two counts of sex trafficking by fraud and coercion; conspiracy to transport individuals for purposes of prostitution; two counts of transporting individuals for prostitution and a money laundering conspiracy.

Two of Foster’s co-conspirators -- Ashleigh Holloway, 37, and Hanah Chan, 32 – pled guilty in the Southern District of Florida to bank fraud charges in connection with the operation. They are scheduled to be sentenced on October 11.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Robert M. DeWitt, Acting Special Agent in Charge, FBI Miami; and Anthony Salisbury, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Miami Field Office announced the sentence imposed yesterday by U.S. District Judge Raag Singhal.

FBI Miami and HSI Miami investigated this case. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jessica Kahn Obenauf and Brooke Elise Latta. Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Stone is handling the asset forfeiture aspects of the case.

18:1594C.F Conspiracy to Sex Traffic Minors, or by Force, Fraud, or Coercion
(1)
CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT SEX TRAFFICKING/18:1594C.F
(1s)
18:1591.F Sex Trafficking of a Minor and by Force, Fraud or Coercion
(2)
SEX TRAFFICKING OF MINOR/18:1591.F
(2s)
18:1591.F Sex Trafficking by Force, Fraud or Coercion
(3-4)
SEX TRAFFICKING OF MINOR BY FORCE, FRAUD AND COERCION/18:1591.F
(3s)
SEX TRAFFICKING BY FORCE, FRAUD AND COERCION/18:1591.F
(4s-8s)
18:1591.F Sex Trafficking by Fraud or Coercion
(5)
18:2421.F Transportation of an Individual for Prostitution
(6)
SEX TRAFFICKING BY FRAUD AND COERCION/18:1591.F
(9s-10s)
CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD THE UNITED STATES (CONSPIRACY TO TRANSPORT INDIVIDUALS FOR PURPOSES OF PROSTITUTION)/18:371.F
(11s)
TRANSPORTATION OF INDIVIDUAL FOR PROSTITUTION/18:2421.F
(12s-13s)
MONEY LAUNDERING CONSPIRACY/18:1956-9999.F
(14s)

Outcome: 09/27/2022 233 CLERK'S Notice of Policy re Electronic Submission of Exhibit(s) sent to Defendant Re D.E. 232 Exhibit and Witness List. Exhibit Numbers: Defendant's Paper Exhibits

Local Rule 5.3 provides that within ten (10) days of the conclusion of a hearing or trial, a party must file in CM/ECF an electronic version of most exhibits offered or introduced into evidence. Before electronically filing, the filer must redact any sensitive, confidential, or private information in accordance with Fed. R. Civ. P. 5.2, Fed. R. Crim. P. 49.1, and CM/ECF Administrative Procedures, Section 6, or seek an order from the Court either to seal the exhibit or to exempt the exhibit from electronic filing under subsection (b)(3)(C) of the rule. Failure to electronically file exhibits and the Certificate of Compliance Re Admitted Evidence within ten (10) days may result in the imposition of sanctions. The Local Rule, the Certificate of Compliance Re Admitted Evidence, and the Quick Reference Guide to Electronically Filing Trial Exhibits can be found on the Courts website: http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov as to William D. Foster. (drz) (Entered: 09/27/2022)

09/27/2022 234 CLERK'S Notice of Receipt of Defendant's Exhibit(s) received from Defendant Re D.E. 232 Exhibit and Witness List. Exhibit Numbers: Defendant's Paper Exhibits as to William D. Foster. (drz) (Entered: 09/27/2022)

Defendant was sentenced to 60 years in prison.

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

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