A man has been sentenced in the Auckland District Court today after pleading guilty to charges of aiding and abetting illegal sex workers.
Immigration New Zealand received anonymous tip-offs in 2019 that Michael James Sloan and another man were facilitating Brazilian women working in the sex industry while on temporary entry class visas.
Sloan and his co-defendant pleaded guilty to a representative charge of aiding and abetting individuals to breach conditions of their visas.
He was sentenced to 10 months home detention, while his co-defendant to be sentenced in April.
The men acted as booking agents for the 15 Brazilian sex workers, and arranged advertising and handled customer communication for the women.
The work was conducted out of motels across the central North Island.
James Friend, national manager immigration investigations for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, said today's ruling was the result of several years' work by immigration officials and hopes the sentence acts as a deterrent for people looking to make money off migrants.
"While there was no indication of worker exploitation in this case, the fact remains that visa conditions were breached," Friend said.
"The women came to New Zealand on temporary entry class visas which are predominately used for short stays such as family visits, tourism, specific work or short study stints.
"Instead, the two individuals facilitated the women to breach their visa conditions and work illegally while they were here."
Friend said it is a condition of every temporary entry class visa that the visa holder can not provide commercial sexual services in New Zealand.
"These conditions are important because migrants who come to New Zealand on temporary entry class visas and do work in the commercial sex industry are vulnerable to exploitation either from their employers or customers, and they are highly unlikely to make a complaint to the authorities."
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