Manager and Enforcer of Queens-Based Sex Trafficking Ring Convicted of Felony Charges Including Assault In-Aid-Of Racketeering and Hobbs Act Robbery

A federal jury in Brooklyn yesterday returned guilty verdicts on all counts against Siyang Chen and Yichu Chen in connection with their roles in a Queens-based sex trafficking and prostitution ring.  The jury convicted Siyang Chen of sex trafficking conspiracy, several assaults in-aid-of racketeering and Hobbs Act robbery conspiracy.  The jury convicted Yichu Chen of the robbery and assault of a sex worker in Centreville, Virginia on September 15, 2020.  The verdict followed a month-long trial before United States District Judge Eric N. Vitaliano.  Prior to the trial, on September 27, 2024, Siyang Chen pleaded guilty to nine counts in the superseding indictment, including racketeering conspiracy and assaults in-aid-of racketeering, and, during trial, on October 22, 2024, to an additional count of assault in-aid-of racketeering.  With this verdict Siyang Chen has now been convicted on all counts in the superseding indictment with which he was charged.  When sentenced, Siyang Chen faces up to life in prison and Yichu Chen faces up to 20 years in prison.

Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; James E. Dennehy, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI); and Thomas G. Donlon, Interim Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD), announced the verdict.

“The trial evidence provided a behind-the-scenes view of the horrific machinations of a sex trafficking organization in all its inhumanity and violence motivated by greed,” stated United States Attorney Peace. “This verdict is a victory for justice and for the victims who were subjected to brutal beatings and degrading treatment at the hands of the defendants.  My Office will stand by the brave victims who assisted prosecutors and law enforcement in holding the perpetrators accountable.”

Mr. Peace expressed his thanks to the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Nebraska, the Oklahoma City and Manchester field offices of the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, and United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  In addition, local police departments across the United States provided invaluable assistance, including the Beaverton (Oregon) Police Department, the Michigan State Police, the Missouri Highway Patrol, the Oklahoma City (Oklahoma) Police Department, the Omaha (Nebraska) Police Department, the Overland Park (Kansas) Police Department, the Portland (Oregon) Police Department, the Southfield (Michigan) Police Department and the Troy (Michigan) Police Department.

“For three years, Siyang Chen managed a national sex trafficking operation designed to establish a monopoly over their victimized workers through organized attacks, effected by Yichu Chen, among others, to terrorize potential defectors and competitors. This ruthless enterprise ordered brutal assaults with physical restraints and various blunt instruments to maintain its tyrannical control.  May this conviction emphasize the FBI’s intolerance of the systemic use of violence and serve as a deterrent to those who employ such horrific measures to increase profits,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Dennehy.
                        
“This verdict delivers a modicum of justice to the courageous survivors who endured unconscionable treatment at the hands of these men, who have now been convicted of operating a brutal interstate sex trafficking and prostitution enterprise,” stated NYPD Interim Commissioner Donlon. “The NYPD, along with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners, will continue to hold accountable those who seek to profit from the abuse and exploitation of others.”

As proven at trial, between April 2019 and September 2021, defendant Siyang Chen helped lead a nationwide prostitution business that trafficked women.  Members of the organization directed and carried out violent attacks on commercial sex workers to protect the enterprise’s turf and deter the victims from working for rival organizations or independently.  Siyang Chen was a manager of the criminal enterprise, who advised the organization on strategies to improve profits, including by using violence—and specifically, by targeting and attacking sex workers.  The victims of the organization were subjected to extreme brutality.  Evidence admitted at trial demonstrated that members of the organization zip-tied the victims’ hands and viciously beat them with breaker bars, hammers, wrenches, and other blunt objects, leaving the victims bloody, terrified, and, in many cases, seriously injured.

Siyang Chen planned and participated in robberies and assaults across several states.  WeChat messages shared among members of the ring graphically depicted violence that occurred during the assaults.  Videos of the assaults were circulated to senior members of the enterprise to show that the beatings were sufficiently severe and to sex workers to cultivate an atmosphere of fear.  The videos showed victims screaming, struggling while they were bound, bleeding and being beaten with hammers and other blunt weapons.  Siyang Chen commented in a message about a planned attack: “beat to the death [] at least 4 fractures ... Tell the girl not allowed back will hit again coming back.”  He made clear that his message to sex workers was, “Fuck off if you don’t want to die.”

Yichu Chen was part of the organization’s “hit team.” Specifically, acting at Siyan Chen’s direction, Yichu Chen was recruited to beat a woman who was engaging in commercial sex work for a rival prostitution business at a location in Centreville, Virginia. Siyang Chen instructed Yichu Chen how to zip-tie the woman’s wrists behind her back and, subsequently, Yichu Chen beat her with a metal breaker bar.  Yichu Chen robbed the victim of money and a cell phone.  Members of the organization paid Yichu Chen an additional $400 for carrying out the attack, which a member of the organization contemporaneously described as a “super severe” beating.   

Ten co-defendants charged in the superseding indictment have pleaded guilty to various charges for their roles in the organization, including its boss and Siyang Chen’s wife, Rong Rong Xu, and are currently awaiting sentencing.  Four others that committed crimes at the enterprise’s direction have been convicted in related cases and are awaiting sentencing.

The government’s case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Organized Crime and Gangs and Civil Rights Sections.  Assistant United States Attorneys Matthew R. Galeotti, Sophia M. Suarez and Stephanie Pak are in charge of the prosecution, with the assistance of Paralegal Specialist Anna November.

The Defendants: 

SIYANG CHEN
Age: 35
Queens, New York 

YICHU CHEN (also known as “Ban Ban”)
Age: 22
Queens, New York 

Defendants Who Previously Pleaded Guilty:

RONG RONG XU (also known as “Eleanor”)
Age: 31
Queens, New York

YUAN YUAN CHEN
Age: 31
Queens, New York

BO JIANG
Age: 29
Queens, New York 

MEIZHEN SONG (also known as “Die Die”)
Age: 25
Dallas, Texas 

JIARUN YAN (also known as “Raymond Yan” and “Mike”)
Age: 31
Queens, New York 

JILONG YU
Age: 26
Dallas, Texas 

CARLOS CURY
Age: 43
Queens, New York 

ZERONG TANG
Age: 26
Queens, New York

E.D.N.Y. Docket No.: 22-CR-158 (S-1) (ENV)