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Case 1:19-cr-00490-RMB Document 20 Filed 07/16/19 Page 17 of 24 17 j782epsC kjc 1 day. They can't leave or else their families are threatened. 2 This is dreadful conduct. 3 I remember an occasion when the Attorney General Eric 4 Holder and I think Director Comey had a press conference 5 establishing this as a law enforcement priority. Every 6 sensible person in the world would think that this is the exact 7 right thing law enforcement should do. 8 This is not this case. There was no violence. There 9 was no coercion. There was no intimidation. There is no 10 deception. The bottom line, if you take a fair look at the 1] Facts of this case as alleged and in the record, you may come 12 to the conclusion there was prostitution involved and maybe a 13 lot of it, but that doesn't mean that the person involved is a 14 pedophile, a rapist or, heaven knows, a trafficker. Just -- 15 THE COURT: Well, if the women involved were under 18, 16 isn't that rape? 17 MR. WEINGARTEN: My understanding -- 18 THE COURT: Legally they are incapable of consent, are 19 they not? 20 MR. WEINGARTEN: Well, it could be statutory rape. 21 But what am talking about is trafficking and why the 22 statute was passed, and obviously the statute was passed to 23 protect women from the horrors that occur in such settings, and 24 that is light years removed to what happened in this case. 25 So what about bond? I would suggest that the SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300 DOJ-OGR-00000422