FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CRT

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, (202) 514-2007

2006 TDD (202) 514-1888
WWW.USDOJ.GOV

Nightclub Owner Sentenced to 10

Years for
Forcing Women to Work as Hostesses
WASHINGTON – The Justice Department today announced that Sung Bum Chang,
a Korean American man who owned and operated the nightclub, “Club Wa,” in
Dallas was sentenced to 10 years in prison for forcing young Korean women to
work as club hostesses. He was ordered to pay $37,000 in restitution to the victims.
On June 12, 2006, Chang pleaded guilty to one count of forced labor and one count
of conspiracy to commit forced labor.

“Sung Bum Chang imported innocent young women from South Korea and forced
them to work at Club Wa under terrible conditions of fear and violence,” said Wan
J. Kim, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “Today’s
sentencings demonstrate the Justice Department’s unprecedented commitment to
aggressively prosecute these human trafficking cases.”

“Today’s sentences should resonate loud and clear throughout our immigrant
community. We, in law enforcement, will continue to aggressively pursue those who
exploit and prey on vulnerable immigrants who come to America’s shores seeking a
better life,” said Richard B. Roper, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas.
“I am grateful to the Attorney General for choosing the Dallas-For Worth area to
receive $1.35 million in federal grant funding so that we may continue to enhance
our human trafficking programs by identifying and assisting victims of human
trafficking and apprehending and prosecuting those engaged in trafficking
offenses.”

“The Changs have demonstrated the depravity common in human smugglers and
human traffickers,” said John Chakwin, special agent-in-charge of the Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Investigations in Dallas. “They have
shown that human slavery is an ugly crime not just relegated to the pages of history.
It exists in the 21st Century, and in the cities and suburbs of America. Our ICE
agents are committed to bringing such criminals to justice. I hope Changs’ victims
receive some solace with today’s sentencings, which end a long ICE and law
enforcement cooperative investigation.”
Chang utilized a smuggling network that recruited young women in South Korea
with promises of good jobs in the United States. Chang paid the victims’ smuggling
debts, took the women’s passports, and told them they could not leave until they had
paid off their debts to him. Chang forced the victims to live in the upper floor of his
home, where he restrained their freedom by monitoring them inside the home with
interior surveillance cameras and by posting a Club Wa employee at the front door
of the home as a guard. Chang required the women to work six nights a week
drinking with customers, often until they became sick or passed out. Chang
threatened to “sell” the women to other clubs if they disobeyed. One victim escaped
the Chang home by leaping from a second-story bathroom window and fleeing with
the help of a local pastor, who later reported the case to local authorities.

Human trafficking prosecutions are a top priority of the Department. In the last six
fiscal years, the Civil Rights Division, in conjunction with U.S. Attorneys’ Offices,
has increased by six-fold the number of human trafficking cases filed in court,
quadrupled the number of defendants charged, and tripled the number of defendants
convicted. In 2006, the Department obtained a record number of convictions in
human trafficking prosecutions.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Saldana and Civil Rights
Division Trial Attorney J. Evans Rice III. The case was investigated by the Dallas
Office of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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