NCOSE Press Conference on the 2024 Nevada Brothel Sex Trafficking Case

Press Conference: Sex Trafficking Survivor Sues Nevada, Government Officials, and Brothels for Enabling Sex Slavery WHAT: As Nevada authorities are on the alert for potential victims of sex trafficking related to the Super Bowl LVIII being held in Las Vegas, a Nevada sex trafficking survivor has filed a lawsuit against four of Nevada’s infamous legal brothels and brothel owner/Storey County Commissioner Lance Gilman for sex trafficking her, and against their county governments, along with Nevada’s governor and attorney general, for facilitating the abuses. An online press conference with the plaintiff’s legal team will provide details about the lawsuit that asserts the defendants violated the Thirteenth Amendment’s ban on slavery and involuntary servitude and the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Nevada is the only U.S. state that permits legal brothels to exist in certain counties. Nevada’s legal brothels generate an estimated $75 million dollars per year, a figure dwarfed by the $5 billion a year Nevada’s illegal sex trade generates. Legalized prostitution increases the demand for commercial sex, and men travel to Nevada to buy sex because they (incorrectly) believe it is legal throughout the state—a fact that many anticipate to impact the amount of sex trafficking occurring around Super Bowl LVIII. The sex industry exploits this misconception with impunity by operating both legal and illegal entities that violate federal laws against debt bondage and sex trafficking, without facing any meaningful enforcement from Nevada. The press conference will outline the myriad ways that women employed by Nevada’s legal brothels can become trapped with few avenues for escape.