A Queens man helped his wife run a brutal interstate sex trafficking operation that sent goons to terrorize and brutally beat women working for their competitors — and videotape the attacks to intimidate their own sex workers to remain loyal, a federal jury found.
A jury convicted Siyang Chen, 35, of sex trafficking conspiracy, racketeering assault and robbery on Monday after a monthlong trial in Brooklyn Federal Court.
One of the trafficking ring’s enforcers, Yichu “Ban Ban” Chen, 22, of Queens was also convicted at the trial. He was found guilty of the robbery and assault of a sex worker in Virginia.
“Siyang tricked his way into the hotel room of women who worked for other sex traffickers where he zip-tied and violently beat the women with weapons,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Pak said in her opening argument. “He also robbed the women of their cash, cell phones and IDs. And when he couldn’t do it himself, Siyang paid other enforcers to do the job for him.”
The sex trafficking ring recruited women from China who lacked legal status in the U.S., then sent them from New York to hotels and apartments across the country to work as prostitutes from 2019 to 2021, according to prosecutors.
Siyang Chen’s wife, Rong Rong Xu, ran the show, while he acted as the operation’s manager.
The feds linked more than a dozen assaults across the country to the ring’s brutal enforcers, and jurors saw horrific videos of the attacks and heard from a cooperating witness who helped deliver a dozen beatings.
“Siyang traveled across the country where he zip-tied sex workers and brutally beat them with rolling pins and his fists,” Pak said. “Later, Siyang and his wife ordered increasingly severe beatings in which enforcers used hammers to break bones. Siyang left a trail of bloodied and beaten women across the country.”
She added, “They blasted videos and photos of women zip-tied, covered in blood, and turning purple as they were being choked to deter competition, to instill fear, and to send a clear message to their own sex workers: Stay in line or else this could be you.”
The enforcer, Yichu Chen, was paid $400 to beat one woman with a metal bar at Siyang Chen’s instruction and rob her cash and cell phone.
Siyang Chen’s lawyer, Ethan Van Buren, argued that his client had already pleaded guilty to several charges in the case, and admitted to taking part in the business and assaults — but maintained that the beatings were only meant to fight off their rivals, not to exert control over their own workers.
Van Buren cast Chen’s wife as the mastermind, and said he was “unfortunately pulled into this world.”
“They were simply trying to protect their illegal business, remove competitors, and grow their profits through the means available to them. Unfortunately, this is a brutal business, and Rong Rong was a ruthless businesswoman,” Van Buren said.
But the jury didn’t buy that explanation.
“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,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said Tuesday. “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.”
Fourteen other defendants charged in connection with the trafficking ring, including Chen’s wife, have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
Siyang Chen faces up to life in prison, while Yichu Chen faces up to 20 years when they’re sentenced at a later date. up to 20 years in prison.