Us Travel Agencies Indicted For Sex Tours

[george]

Travel Agencies Indicted for 'Sex Tours'

NEW YORK: --Two operators of a New York travel agency have been indicted for organizing ``sex tours'' to Southeast Asia, the first such case involving a United States-based company, the state attorney general said Monday.

Douglas Allen, 59, and Norman Barabash, 58, were charged with felony and misdemeanor counts of promoting prostitution in their operation of Big Apple Oriental Tours, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said.

Spitzer accused the men of using the business to solicit customers for prostitution rings operating in the Philippines and Thailand.

``These defendants claimed to be operating a traditional travel agency. It is far from that,'' Spitzer said. He said the travel agency's actions ``led to the systematic exploitation and suppression of young women.''

Allen and Barabash pleaded innocent to the charges on Feb. 27. If convicted, they could face up to seven years in prison.

Barabash's lawyer, Daniel A. Hochheiser, said the case is weak and the indictment is politically motivated.

``At the end of the day, the allegations in the indictment will be exposed as the product of a politician seeking higher office, a prosecution witness who gets paid to deceive people for a living and a private-interest group with an agenda,'' Hochheiser said.

Charges were brought following an undercover investigation by the Statewide Organized Crime Task Force.

According to a separate civil lawsuit brought by Spitzer in 2003, Big Apple Oriental Tours conducted an aggressive marketing campaign that included videos, a Web site, brochures and customer testimonials.

A brochure promised ``unforgettable adventure vacations for single men to paradise,'' according to Paul Larrabee, a spokesman for Spitzer.

Investigators reported the agency arranged business trips for clients to the Philippines and Thailand, where they were introduced to guides who led them to night clubs. There, fees were negotiated for sexual acts. The trips cost about $2,500 for seven to 10 days.

No listing could be found for the travel agency. The company was run from Allen's Poughkeepsie home and Barabash's home in the New York City borough of Queens, Spitzer said.

--AP 2004-03-23

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Travel Agencies Indicted for 'Sex Tours'

NEW YORK: --Two operators of a New York travel agency have been indicted for organizing ``sex tours'' to Southeast Asia, the first such case involving a United States-based company, the state attorney general said Monday.

Douglas Allen, 59, and Norman Barabash, 58, were charged with felony and misdemeanor counts of promoting prostitution in their operation of Big Apple Oriental Tours, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said.

Spitzer accused the men of using the business to solicit customers for prostitution rings operating in the Philippines and Thailand.

``These defendants claimed to be operating a traditional travel agency. It is far from that,'' Spitzer said. He said the travel agency's actions ``led to the systematic exploitation and suppression of young women.''

Allen and Barabash pleaded innocent to the charges on Feb. 27. If convicted, they could face up to seven years in prison.

Barabash's lawyer, Daniel A. Hochheiser, said the case is weak and the indictment is politically motivated.

``At the end of the day, the allegations in the indictment will be exposed as the product of a politician seeking higher office, a prosecution witness who gets paid to deceive people for a living and a private-interest group with an agenda,'' Hochheiser said.

Charges were brought following an undercover investigation by the Statewide Organized Crime Task Force.

According to a separate civil lawsuit brought by Spitzer in 2003, Big Apple Oriental Tours conducted an aggressive marketing campaign that included videos, a Web site, brochures and customer testimonials.

A brochure promised ``unforgettable adventure vacations for single men to paradise,'' according to Paul Larrabee, a spokesman for Spitzer.

Investigators reported the agency arranged business trips for clients to the Philippines and Thailand, where they were introduced to guides who led them to night clubs. There, fees were negotiated for sexual acts. The trips cost about $2,500 for seven to 10 days.

No listing could be found for the travel agency. The company was run from Allen's Poughkeepsie home and Barabash's home in the New York City borough of Queens, Spitzer said.

--AP 2004-03-23

" ..............vacations for single men to paradise " It does sound as though they are offering more than a Temple Tour,

[netkoala]

Clearly when i was in high school, thinking how great it would be to one day go and have WILD SEX in asia when i could afford it , other people were thinking something different.

In fact in NY is seems there were people thinking that when they grew up they would have 4 divorces and amass a personal fortune.

Gee, ban alcohol, not sex, if anything.

This story reads like political correctness gone crazy.

Asia is not like the rest of the world and the rest of the world is boring as C**P.

Economic prosperity is coming and very real and unstoppable, why does the world have to be vanilla.

I've heard in Africa they talk to each other, sopmething you never see in NY.

This travel agency was doing something wrong ?

Perhaps this is part of a buy American campaign.

NY does have prostitutes, right ?

And what about the white women that work as prostitutes in Asia/Japan ?

Perhaps that is just a personal choice.

Personal choice and right to make a living ought not be outlawed.

If NY'ers do not want to marry travellers to Asia, they should start putting marks on doorways as a warning system.

[britmaveric]

Only assumption this must be related to children - usually the case when they crack down on Travel Agencies like this.

[britmaveric]

Norman Barabash readily acknowledges his company, Big Apple Oriental Tours, arranges trips for men in the United States to go to Angeles City in the Philippines. While the area is well known for prostitution, Mr. Barabash insists his tours are not about sex. They're about romance.

In fact, he claims that one-quarter of his clientele end up marrying what his advertising calls one of the "approximately 400 lovely, marriage-minded Oriental ladies" at their disposal during their stay.

But to critics, Barabash's business is nothing more than a thinly veiled front to promote prostitution overseas. The women are not consenting adults, they argue, but are forced by economic deprIvation into Asia's dark, sleazy bar scene where they can be bought for as little as $24 a night. "This isn't about romance. This is about getting as much sex as you can as cheaply as possible," says Ken Franzblau, a lawyer with the international women's rights group, Equality Now, which is based in New York.

In a new strategy designed to attack the demand side of the international sex trade, women's and children's rights groups are targeting some 25 companies in the US that organize "sex tours" overseas and the people who go on them. Some activists are pressuring local prosecutors to go after tour operators. They're also working to get laws passed that would make sex tourism illegal nationally. Others are trying to educate airlines, travel agents, and the public about the brutal nature of the trade.

http://search.csmonitor.com/durable/1999/01/15/p2s2.htm

[britmaveric]

Seems its an Anti-Prostitution Agenda by some Women's Groups. This goes back years and years.

[marto]

http://search.csmonitor.com/durable/1999/01/15/p2s2.htm

FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 1999

But to critics, Barabash's business is nothing more than a thinly veiled front to promote prostitution overseas. The women are not consenting adults, they argue, but are forced by economic deprIvation into Asia's dark, sleazy bar scene where they can be bought for as little as $24 a night. "This isn't about romance. This is about getting as much sex as you can as cheaply as possible," says Ken Franzblau, a lawyer with the international women's rights group, Equality Now, which is based in New York.

In a new strategy designed to attack the demand side of the international sex trade, women's and children's rights groups are targeting some 25 companies in the US that organize "sex tours" overseas and the people who go on them. Some activists are pressuring local prosecutors to go after tour operators. They're also working to get laws passed that would make sex tourism illegal nationally. Others are trying to educate airlines, travel agents, and the public about the brutal nature of the trade.

States really act too fast. And they also organize "last flight pilot courses"....

So - the meaning of this post is...? btw we are 2004...

[britmaveric]

Meaning=this Travel Agency has been targeted for almost a decade!

[parryhandy]

these people live in cloud cuckoo land.How does taking away the only source of real income these women may have improve their rights ? Id love to introduce these organisations leaders to say a 100 such women and see what happens when they explain what they are doing .Pound to a penny they would need bodyguards.

Making the trade illegal and sweeping it under the carpet only makes it more brutal . L ook at Thailand , you could hardly describe the bar girl scene as brutal , because of its openness the girls are treated very well on the whole.Organisations like this just makes things worse.

[thailien8]

Travel Agencies Indicted for 'Sex Tours'

NEW YORK: --Two operators of a New York travel agency have been indicted for organizing ``sex tours'' to Southeast Asia, the first such case involving a United States-based company, the state attorney general said Monday.

Douglas Allen, 59, and Norman Barabash, 58, were charged with felony and misdemeanor counts of promoting prostitution in their operation of Big Apple Oriental Tours, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said.

Spitzer accused the men of using the business to solicit customers for prostitution rings operating in the Philippines and Thailand.

``These defendants claimed to be operating a traditional travel agency. It is far from that,'' Spitzer said. He said the travel agency's actions ``led to the systematic exploitation and suppression of young women.''

Allen and Barabash pleaded innocent to the charges on Feb. 27. If convicted, they could face up to seven years in prison.

Barabash's lawyer, Daniel A. Hochheiser, said the case is weak and the indictment is politically motivated.

``At the end of the day, the allegations in the indictment will be exposed as the product of a politician seeking higher office, a prosecution witness who gets paid to deceive people for a living and a private-interest group with an agenda,'' Hochheiser said.

Charges were brought following an undercover investigation by the Statewide Organized Crime Task Force.

According to a separate civil lawsuit brought by Spitzer in 2003, Big Apple Oriental Tours conducted an aggressive marketing campaign that included videos, a Web site, brochures and customer testimonials.

A brochure promised ``unforgettable adventure vacations for single men to paradise,'' according to Paul Larrabee, a spokesman for Spitzer.

Investigators reported the agency arranged business trips for clients to the Philippines and Thailand, where they were introduced to guides who led them to night clubs. There, fees were negotiated for sexual acts. The trips cost about $2,500 for seven to 10 days.

No listing could be found for the travel agency. The company was run from Allen's Poughkeepsie home and Barabash's home in the New York City borough of Queens, Spitzer said.

--AP 2004-03-23

" ..............vacations for single men to paradise " It does sound as though they are offering more than a Temple Tour,

They paved Paradise and they put up a parking lot

[mango head]

Personal choice and right to make a living ought not be outlawed.

Only if it doesn't involve underage children or brings harm to another person.