The trial of a prostitution network operating throughout France opened on Monday before the Bordeaux Criminal Court. Two Chinese sisters are accused of pimping and nine landlords of having rented their apartments hosting the passes of prostitutes. For four days, the defendants will have to answer for aggravated pimping committed in an organized gang.
The two pimping sisters as well as the husband of one of them will also have to answer in particular for trafficking in human beings in an organized gang, aggravated money laundering and participation in a criminal association.
The organizer domiciled in Creuse
The case begins with an anonymous testimony in January 2020 denouncing an incessant coming and going in an apartment in downtown Montauban (Tarn-et-Garonne). The departmental security police intervene in the rented accommodation and discover two Chinese nationals registered on an escort website.
After a long work of surveillance and telephone tapping, the investigators of the Specialized Interregional Jurisdiction (Jirs) of Bordeaux go back to the main organizer, Yan Hu, 47 years old. From her house in a hamlet near La Souterraine (Creuse), this mother posted advertisements on an escort website, rented accommodation in the provinces on platforms such as Airbnb, organized trips and acted as a switchboard operator with customers by setting prices and meeting places.
The network installed in 17 cities
After having previously worked for other networks, “the boss” had set up her own business in 2019 and then brought her sister Xiuqin Hu from China, two years her junior and domiciled in Clichy (Hauts-de-Seine) to assist her. in his lucrative business, rotating in 17 medium-sized towns in the territory.
They watched and timed a dozen prostitutes, often middle-aged and speaking poor French, who then paid them half of their earnings. The investigators discovered more than 46,000 euros in small bills at the Creuse residence and nearly 40,000 euros in the Paris suburbs. Part of the cash was then transferred to accounts in China. On Monday, the two women were assisted by a translator at the hearing.
Despite the incriminating elements, the husband of Yan Hu, a carpenter, has always denied having knowledge of the pimping activities of his wife, whom he thought was a switchboard operator for women practicing only traditional Chinese massages.
Justice accuses the owners of the apartments transformed into brothels of having closed their eyes knowingly. The requisitions and pleadings are expected on Wednesday, the judgment on Thursday.