Two women who claim they were forced into sex trafficking have filed a lawsuit against Nevada officials and others over the state’s lax prostitution laws.
The suit alleges that more than one-third of roughly $14 million in revenue generated from illegal prostitution in the United States was collected in Las Vegas, citing a 2021 report. Legal brothels generate an estimated $75 million a year in Nevada, which in turn collects 9 percent in tax revenue.
“Nevada’s legal prostitution system has inherently contributed to the sex trafficking of these plaintiffs for both the benefit of sex buyers who flock to Nevada and for the profit of Nevada and its tourism industry,” Christen Price, senior legal counsel at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, said in a news release about the lawsuit. “The plaintiffs were subjected to violence, threats, and other forms of control by sex trade profiteers, which is precisely what the Thirteenth Amendment forbids. Ultimately, these Nevada defendants must be held accountable for enabling this abuse.”
Source: Nevada prostitution target of federal lawsuit | Las Vegas Review-Journal