A national advocacy group and a Nevada lawyer have filed a sweeping federal lawsuit aimed at convincing a judge the nation’s only legal brothels are dens of illegal sex trafficking and unconstitutional slavery.
The case filed Friday in Las Vegas by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation names the governor, state attorney general and city and county officials as defendants, along with a brothel in Nye County and hip-hop music figure Jamal “Mally Mall” Rashid.
Rashid, 46, is serving a 33-month federal prison term after pleading guilty to operating a prostitution business disguised as a Las Vegas escort enterprise. Attorneys who represented him in that case did not immediately respond to a message about the lawsuit.
Representatives of Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak, state Attorney General Aaron Ford, Las Vegas and Clark County declined to comment. Officials in Nye County and the Chicken Ranch brothel in Pahrump did not immediately respond to messages.
The lawsuit seeks to abolish Nevada’s legal prostitution statutes as unconstitutional and a violation of federal anti-trafficking laws. It asks the court to order reimbursement to victims of “all profits and unjust enrichment obtained as a result.”
Plaintiffs Angela Williams and Jane Doe claim they were defrauded and coerced for years in Nevada’s legal sex industry, including escort agencies, strip clubs and the brothel about 60 miles outside Las Vegas.
The lawsuit alleges they amounted to indentured servants in violation of the 13th Amendment ban on slavery.
“Nevada does not enforce its limited regulation of prostitution, permitting de facto prostitution to exist through escort bureaus and entertainment by referral service, failing to implement or enforce laws limiting prostitution advertising and failing to prevent the resultant debt bondage in legal brothels,” the lawsuit declares.
The Associated Press generally does not name people who say they have been victims of sexual crimes, but Williams’ Reno-based attorney, Jason Guinasso, has said she gave consent to be named in lawsuits and news reports.