Swedish minister faces prostitution claims

Jul 10, 2010 2:23 PM | By Sapa-dpa

A sex scandal is rocking the Swedish government in the run-up to general elections, with the Aftonbladet newspaper reporting – three days after his resignation – that labour minister Sven Otto Littorin once hired a prostitute.

Paying for sex has been a crime in Sweden since 1999. Proven interactions with prostitutes are punishable with fines and, in some cases, imprisonment.

The affair is all the more explosive because Littorin, 44, did not mention the paper’s allegations while announcing his resignation on Wednesday, even though he reportedly had been informed of the charges shortly before.

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Claim: Blackwater Billed US for ‘Morale Welfare Recreation’ Provided by Prostitute

Two former employees have accused Blackwater Worldwide of defrauding the government for years with phony billing, including charging for a prostitute, alcohol and spa trips.
February 11, 2010 |

The world’s oldest profession may have been subsidized by the US government during the war on terror.

“Two former employees of Blackwater Worldwide have accused the private security contractor of defrauding the government for years with phony billing, including charging for a prostitute, alcohol and spa trips,” Carol D. Leonnig reports for the Washington Post.

The article continues, “In newly unsealed court records, a husband and wife who once worked for Blackwater said they had personal knowledge of the company falsifying invoices, double-billing federal agencies and charging the government

Thai Sex Workers: APNSW Press Release for French Press

APNSW responds to the Mitterand story:

It has come to our attention that there is still continuing debate around the issue of the French Culture Minister,
Frédéric Mitterrand, and his admission that he paid for sex with male sex workers in Thailand. We have seen attacks on him from both the left and the right of French politics- attacks which we see as both homophobic and anti-sex worker.

Worse we see the racist, orientalist views of the elites on both sides of French politics who construct Thai sex workers as somehow “backward” and unable to choose what we do. In Thailand all male sex workers are referred to by the term “Nong” which means boy. We are not duped under age boys forced into “sexual slavery.” We are people in a poor country exercising our choices to live and earn money to support ourselves, our family and our country.

French culture minister denies paying for underage sex in Thailand

Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 8 October 2009 01.46 BST
Frederic Mitterrand

Frédéric Mitterrand, France’s culture minister, last night denied paying underage boys for sex in Thailand, and sought to calm a storm over his support for the film director Roman Polanski.

Both the extreme right and the Socialist party have called for his resignation over his 2005 autobiography, The Bad Life” in which he described paid encounters with “young boys” in Bangkok. It came back to haunt Mitterrand when Jean-Marie Le Pen’s Front National looked into his past following his defence of Polanski, who was arrested in Switzerland on a US warrant over a statutory rape charge concerning a 13-year-old girl and dating back to 1977.

R.I. police charities solicit donations from “spas”

06:12 PM EDT on Friday, September 18, 2009
By Lynn Arditi
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE — Raising money for charity can be tough, but Rhode Island police organizations have found one business that’s always willing to contribute.

Asian massage parlors or “spas” in Providence which police and local watch-dog groups maintain are often fronts for brothels, have for years donated to police association charities –– and conspicuously displayed their support by plastering stickers with police logos on their doors and windows.

They spread like wallpaper over the front door of a spa near a bus stop on North Main Street, in plain view of the waiting riders. At another spa on Admiral Street, police stickers decorate the plexiglass receptionist window, along with logos noting that the spa accepts all major credit cards.

Some resemble police badges with the name of a police union –– Providence, Cranston, Warwick, and Barrington, among them –– while others sport the five-pointed star trademark with the letters “FOP.”

PA: Police: Ex-Nova Dean Customer of Prostitution Ring

By TAMARA VOSTOK
Updated 3:30 PM EDT, Fri, Jul 3, 2009

Police investigating a prostitution ring in Chester County relied on two customers for information, one of whom was Mark A. Sargent—dean of Villanova University School of Law, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Police raided the Kennett Township home on November 25, 2008 after a six-week surveillance of the house, the paper reported.

Between Noon and 1 p.m., Sargent was at the home and paid a woman, C M, 32, $170 for 35 minutes of pleasure, according to a police report. Sargent saw an ad on Craigslist, was curious and responded, the report noted.

WA: Request to move judge’s prostitution, harassment trial refused

ADAM LYNN, The News Tribune
Published: 07/01/09 5:21 pm | Updated: 07/02/09 6:22 am

It looks as though Superior Court Judge Michael A. Hecht’s trial on charges of felony harassment and patronizing a prostitute will take place in Pierce County.

The judge presiding over the case rejected Hecht’s request for a change of venue Wednesday.

King County Superior Court Judge James Cayce left open the possibility of changing his mind if jury selection becomes difficult. But he said didn’t see enough evidence that Hecht’s right to a fair trial had been prejudiced by news coverage.