A married couple has been arrested in Long Island for allegedly laundering money from their high-end prostitution service that shuttled escorts from New York City to locations around the world, prosecutors said.
The couple, both in their 40s, ran a service called Aphrodite Companions, based in Massapequa. They used some of the money earned by the women to pay for a home in Florida, prosecutors said.
According to a criminal complaint in federal court, the couple has been investigated since July 2012 for operating the escort service from their home. Prosecutors say they earned hundreds of thousands of dollars from prostitution, and used a website to advertise various prostitutes and list their schedules and availability, along with hourly rates.
The women were classified by category, including "Sun Girl," "Moon Girl" and "Sun Goddess," which correlated to their rates.
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In an email allegedly sent by the Aphrodite service to a woman applying to be one of their prostitutes, the service stated: "We dont need trash girls or drug girls or girls that arent GFE," a term that refers to prostitutes willing to provide a "girlfriend experience" of kissing and cuddling.
Prosecutors said the women paid a portion of their earnings to the service, often 30 to 40 percent of their total, and would typically pay by cash deposits and wire transfers to accounts allegedly controlled by the couple. The women were ordered to make those deposits within one day of being paid.
A string of emails obtained by investigators through a warrant also shows Aphrodite arranging to fly prostitutes to Miami for a party with "a group of politicians, lawyers and many other important businessmen" who were "looking for companions." Another email referred to a businessman from London seeking a prostitute to accompany him to South Africa for a week, to be paid $3,000 per day.
The couple bought a home in Boca Raton, Fla.,in 2008 and is paying off the mortgage with some of the proceeds earned from running Aphrodite, according to the complaint.
They are charged with money laundering and promotion of prostitution.
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