FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CRT

TUESDAY, JULY 18, 2006 (202) 514-2007

WWW.USDOJ.GOV TDD (202) 514-1888

Brothel Owner Sentenced to 10 Years

for Coercing
Korean Aliens into Prostitution
WASHINGTON – Korean madam Mi Na Malcolm was sentenced today to 10 years
in prison for her role in the ownership and operation of three Korean brothels in
Dallas, Texas, the Justice Department announced today. Malcolm was further
ordered to pay $460,000 to her victims. The court previously found that Malcolm
had harbored young Korean women, coerced them into prostitution, and laundered
the proceeds of the prostitution.

“Today’s sentence sends a loud and clear message that those individuals who abuse
the most helpless and vulnerable members of our society will be aggressively
investigated, swiftly prosecuted, and firmly punished,” said Wan J. Kim, Assistant
Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

“Mi Na Malcolm preyed upon some of society’s most vulnerable individuals –

frightened runaways and illegal immigrants trapped in a cycle of violence,
prostitution and forced labor,” said United States Attorney for the Northern District
of Texas Richard Roper. “The sentence imposed upon Malcolm today for her brutal
crime and assault on human dignity should serve as a warning to any who would
traffic in and harbor illegal aliens – you will be found and you will pay the price.”

On March 3, 2006, Malcolm pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to harbor

aliens for prostitution, one count of harboring illegal aliens for financial gain, and
bulk cash smuggling. In her plea agreement, Malcolm admitted that she paid the
victims’ debts to human smugglers, took their passports, and told them they could
not leave until they had paid off their debts to her. Malcolm then forced the victims
to live and work at one of her three brothels in order to pay off their debts to her
and for her own profit. Malcolm directed the victims to work as prostitutes for six
to seven days a week. Many of the victims were forced to be available for sex
twenty-four hours a day. Malcolm monitored the victims’ movements in person,
through an escort, and through a video surveillance system inside one of the
brothels.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Saldana and Department
of Justice Trial Attorney J. Evans Rice III of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal
Section. The case was investigated by Special Agents from the Dallas Office of
United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, has made Civil Rights a top priority of the
Department. In the last five fiscal years, the Civil Rights Division, in conjunction
with U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, has quadrupled the number of trafficking
investigations, tripled the number of defendants charged, and doubled the number of
defendants convicted. Between fiscal years 2001 and 2005, federal prosecutors
charged 189 defendants with sex trafficking, an increase of more than 450 percent
over the number of defendants charged during the previous five years. With two
months remaining in the current fiscal year, the Department already has set a record
by convicting more trafficking defendants than in any other single year on record.

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