U.S. Department
of Justice
Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Minors
The Office regularly bring prosecutions against individuals alleged to have engaged in human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of minors. This critical work is led by experienced prosecutors in the Criminal Division’s Civil Rights Unit and in the Office’s White Plains Division. Recent work in this area includes the following:
- Sean Combs Charged With Racketeering and Sex Trafficking Offenses: In September 2024, the Office charged Sean Combs, a/k/a “Puff Daddy,” a/k/a “P. Diddy,” a/k/a “PD,” a/k/a “Love,” with racketeering, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. Between in or about 2004 and the present, Combs abused, threatened, and coerced women and others, and led a racketeering conspiracy that engaged in sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice, among other crimes. As alleged, Combs caused at least three female victims to engage in commercial sex acts using force, fraud, and coercion. These commercial sex acts included, but were not limited to, days-long sexual activity with male commercial sex workers, which Combs referred to as “Freak Offs.” Combs also committed multiple acts of violence, including kidnapping and assaults. On one occasion, Combs dangled a victim over an apartment balcony. Trial against Combs is scheduled for May 2025.
- Alexander Brothers Charged with Sex Trafficking Offenses: In December 2024, the Office charged three brothers, Alon Alexander, Oren Alexander, and Tal Alexander with sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion, and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking. As alleged in the indictment, from in or about 2010 through in or about 2021, the Alexander brothers worked together and with others to engage in sex trafficking, including by repeatedly drugging, sexually assaulting, and raping dozens of female victims. Using their wealth and connections, including Oren and Tal Alexander’s prominent positions in real estate, the Alexander brothers created and facilitated opportunities to sexually assault women. The Alexander brothers used the promise of luxury experiences, travel, and accommodations to lure and entice women to these events, and then—on multiple occasions—forcibly raped and sexually assaulted women who attended. At times, multiple men, including one or more of the Alexander brothers, participated in these sexual assaults. In many instances, the victims were drugged, and in some instances, the defendants physically restrained and held down their victims and ignored screams and explicit requests to stop.
- College Professor Jorge Ramos Pled Guilty to Human Smuggling and Possession of Child Pornography: Jorge Ramos was charged with inducing and transporting two victims to travel interstate to engage in unlawful sexual activity and with smuggling and harboring a third victim, as well as child pornography offenses. Ramos induced the victims to travel from El Salvador to the United States with promises of a better life, including educational and other opportunities. Ramos paid human smugglers to transport the victims across the U.S. border. Once they arrived at Ramos’s apartment in the Bronx, Ramos raped, sexually assaulted, and sexually abused the victims. Ramos attempted to control the victims by, among other things, ordering the victims to stay inside his apartment, attempting to isolate the victims from other people, and threatening to report the victims to immigration officials for deportation back to El Salvador. In August 2024, Ramos pled guilty to three counts of human smuggling, and to one count of possession of child pornography. As part of his plea, Ramos admitted to sexually abusing all three victims. In February 2025, Ramos was sentenced to 97 months’ imprisonment.
- Lawrence Ray Charged with Extortion, Sex Trafficking, and Other Offenses: In January 2023, Lawrence Ray, a/k/a “Lawrence Grecco,” was sentenced to 60 years in prison following his conviction at trial for extortion, sex trafficking, forced labor, and money laundering offenses. Ray used physical and psychological threats and coercion to indoctrinate and exploit a group of college students in Westchester County, as well as other victims. Ray extorted approximately $1 million from at least five victims; forced certain victims to perform unpaid labor on a family member’s North Carolina property; and caused, through force, fraud, and coercion, at least one victim to engage in commercial sex acts. His alleged tactics included sleep deprivation, psychological and sexual humiliation, verbal abuse, threats of physical violence, physical violence, threats of criminal legal action, alienating the victims from their families, and exploiting the victims’ mental health vulnerabilities. Victims made payments to Ray by draining their parents’ savings, opening credit lines, soliciting contributions from acquaintances, selling real estate ownership, and at Ray’s direction, performing unpaid labor for Ray and earning money through prostitution. His codefendant Isabella Pollack pled guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and was sentenced to 54 months in prison.
- Ghislaine Maxwell Convicted of Conspiring with Jeffrey Epstein to Sexually Abuse Minors and Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison: In June 2022, Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison for her role in conspiring to abuse minor girls with Jeffrey Epstein between 1994 and 2004. Over the course of a decade, Maxwell and Epstein worked together to identify girls, groom them, and then entice them to travel and transport them to Epstein’s properties in New York, Florida, New Mexico, and elsewhere. The girls — some of whom were as young as 14 years old — were then sexually abused, often under the guise of a “massage.” Maxwell was convicted at trial in December 2021.
- Former Obstetrician/Gynecologist Robert Hadden Convicted of Sexually Abusing Numerous Patients and Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison: In July 2023, Robert Hadden was sentenced to 20 years in prison following his conviction by a jury after a trial on charges for inducing victims to travel interstate to his medical offices in Manhattan so that he could sexually abuse them. Hadden, who practiced medicine between in or about 1987 to 2012, sexually abused dozens of patients over the course of more than two decades under the guise of purported medical examinations. To carry out the abuse, Hadden exploited the power differential inherent in the doctor-patient relationship, built rapport with victims, asked victims invasive and unprompted questions about their sexual activity, and conducted fake breast and vaginal exams.
- Former Bronx Public Charter School Teacher Pleads Guilty In Connection With Sexual Abuse Of Five Former Students: In September 2023, Jesus Concepcion, a former teacher at a public charter school in the Bronx, pled guilty to a 10-count indictment charging him in connection with the sexual abuse of five minor victims who were also his students. From 2000 until 2007, Concepcion abused his position as a teacher to induce and attempt to induce five of his students to engage in sexual acts by leading them to believe that they were in a romantic relationship with him. Concepcion engaged in sexual acts with four of the victims at multiple locations, including the school, a motel in New Jersey, and his home in New Jersey. The minor victims were as young as 12 years old at the time of the abuse. In September 2024, Concepcion was sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment.
- Urologist Darius Paduch Sentenced to Life in Prison for Sexual Abuse of Patients: In April 2023, the Office charged urologist Darius Paduch with sexually abusing male patients, including minors, while Paduch was employed at a major New York City hospital. As alleged, beginning in at least 2015, Paduch sexually abused patients in his care, under the guise of providing medical treatment. Paduch required victims to masturbate in his presence, often while viewing pornography alongside them. He also insisted on masturbating victims himself, at times grabbing their genitals without warning. Paduch further engaged in sexually explicit communications with certain victims, including sending messages that referenced his own genitalia and masturbation habits. To perpetrate the abuse, Paduch directed victims to schedule follow-up appointments, to visit his office after regular business hours, and to see him outside the hospital setting. Following a two-week jury trial, Paduch was convicted of 11 counts relating to his sexual abuse of seven victims, including five minor victims. In November 2024, Paduch was sentenced to life in prison.
- Former Private School Teacher and Private Tutor Sentenced to 25 Years In Prison for Enticement of a Child and Possession of Child Pornography: In April 2023, John Mueser, a private school teacher and private tutor, was sentenced to 25 years in prison following his conviction by a jury for inducing a 7-year-old minor whom he was tutoring to engage in sexually explicit conduct. Mueser’s phone was found to contain hundreds of images, many of which were sexually explicit, of his 7-year-old victim as well as numerous sexually explicit images and videos of other prepubescent children. The Office’s investigation also revealed that, decades earlier, In November 2024, Paduch was sentenced to life in prison.