Indian-origin couple held in U.S. on charge of running prostitution racket

The prostitution scheme was masterminded by a 34-year-old an Indian businessman, also a key figure in the Telugu film industry.

Imagine by Subyendu Ganguly

An Indian-origin couple have been arrested for allegedly running a high-end prostitution ring in the U.S. by luring at least five actresses from Tollywood and advertise them for sex at Indian conferences and cultural events across the country, according to a media report.

The prostitution scheme was masterminded by a 34-year-old an Indian businessman who rose to become a player in the Tollywood movie industry and co-produced several hit films, Chicago Tribune reported.

The ring charged clients up to $ 3,000 for each sexual encounter, according to a 42-page criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

The businessman along with his wife allegedly kept detailed ledgers of the sex acts performed by each girl, including where they occurred and how much they collected, the report said.

While here on temporary visas, at least five actresses were sometimes forced to stay in a dingy, two-story apartment building in Chicago’s Belmont Cragin neighbourhood waiting for their next “date,” the charges alleged. They also met clients in hotels at conferences in Dallas, New Jersey and Washington.

Actors, family threatened

The complaint alleged the accused threatened the life of one of the actresses and her family if she told law enforcement the truth about what she did while in the country.

Federal agents discovered the ledgers when they searched the businessman’s apartment in the 5700 block of West Belden Avenue in February, according to the complaint.

The couple have been in federal custody since the agents arrested them in late April in suburban Washington, on a warrant, records show.

At a detention hearing last week in federal court in Chicago, the couple, dressed in jail clothes, listened to the proceedings through a Telugu interpreter.

Attorney Molly Armour, who represents the accused, told the judge she had been trying to find a place for the couple to live so they could be freed on bail but that so far she had been unsuccessful.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria Valdez ordered them to remain in custody for the time being. The couple’s two school-age children, meanwhile, are in the custody of child welfare officials in Virginia.

Tollywood, the Telugu film industry, is one of the oldest and busiest in India.