Broker Earns 200 Million Yen by Forcing 300 Women into Prostitution: Shocking Tactics Revealed

Pretending to be tourists

A member of the scouting group “Ambitious,” based in Osaka, Eiwan Chung (40), was arrested by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police on February 12th on suspicion of violating the Employment Security Act for arranging women to work at American brothels.

“Chung approached a 24-year-old woman on the streets of Osaka in February 2023, saying, ‘You’re beautiful. I can introduce you to jobs at a cabaret club or even AV,’ and exchanged contact information. The woman, who expressed an interest in working abroad, was told, ‘I can introduce you to work overseas,’ and was introduced to members of a broker group,” said a reporter from a national newspaper’s social section.

The broker group later arranged for the woman to work at a brothel in the United States. At that time, they provided detailed instructions: “Because it’s getting harder to enter the U.S., make sure not to pack skin products or lotions. Emphasize that it’s a trip for tourism, and make a note of the tourist spots in advance so you can declare them at customs.”

“The risk of being identified is low in overseas sex work, and due to the weak yen, women can earn several times more than in Japan. In this case, the woman was offered accommodation with meals. She arrived in the U.S. in April 2023, checked into a hotel in Washington, D.C. based on the address given by the broker, and began engaging in sex acts with male clients who visited her hotel room.

The woman communicated with the brothel using a Chinese-based social media platform, repeatedly engaging in prostitution. Most of the clients were Chinese men living in Washington, D.C., and at times, she had over 10 clients a day. Within a month of arriving in the U.S., she had serviced over 200 clients, earning nearly 9.6 million yen.” (The same reporter)

“It’s all beyond me” or “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Of the 9.6 million yen, half, 4.8 million yen, was paid to the woman, and the remaining amount was split between the US brothel and the Japanese broker group. Ambitious received 15% of the amount that the Japanese broker group received as a scouting fee.

“The members of the broker group who facilitated the women’s entry into US brothels were arrested by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police in April of last year. At that time, Zheng was placed on a nationwide wanted list. Since 2021, the broker group had facilitated about 300 Japanese women into prostitution rings in countries like the US, Australia, and Canada, earning nearly 200 million yen.

When the woman Zheng recruited went to the US, the Department of Homeland Security contacted the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, reporting that Japanese women were being repeatedly denied entry into the US due to suspected prostitution-related travel. They also provided information about related job recruitment sites, which led to the identification of domestic brokers’ involvement. The reality of Japanese women being involved in overseas prostitution continued to come to light” (investigative sources).

Zheng has denied the charges during police questioning, stating, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”