Two South Florida residents accused of operating a nationwide prostitution ring through an escort website are facing money laundering charges, authorities announced Thursday.
Brandon Martin, 42, and Tameko Lindo, 38, of Parkland, are both charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and two counts of money laundering, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
Authorities said the pair ran Flawlessescorts.com, an online prostitution service that dates back to 2014 and arranged for escorts to travel throughout the United States.
"In just under four years, these defendants are alleged to have secured more than three thousand hotel bookings to use in the furtherance of their prostitution scheme," said Angel M. Melendez, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations.
According to a federal complaint, the website contains photos of the escorts, who are "often partially dressed or nude and often posed in sexually explicit positions." The website also displays each escort's schedule, including the city in which she is available, hourly rate, and a description of her that includes height, weight, bust and hip measurements.
Martin and Lindo required escorts to follow certain protocols when traveling on behalf of the website, including an expectation that each escort would see a minimum of seven clients per day, authorities said. They also had to travel with multiple outfits and lingerie, including "nurse outfits, school girl outfit" and a "large amount of adult [s]upplies," the complaint said.
The escorts had to deposit the money they earned in a number of personal and corporate bank accounts that were controlled by Martin and Lindo, officials said. The pair paid more than $180,000 to advertise for the website and pay expenses of individual escorts, authorities said.
Local
"Members of HSI's El Dorado Task Force were able to follow the money, tracking the advertising funds, payments and movement of dollars to locate the perpetrators," U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said in a statement.
Martin and Lindo appeared in federal court in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday. Attorney information wasn't available.
