NYC-A Brazilian woman is accused of running a high-priced call girl ring out of her $1.2 million midtown condo – featuring a rotating cast of beauties straight from the land of sun and samba, the Daily News has learned.
Business was so brisk at the brothel allegedly run by Andrea Schwartz that prosecutors say she had the cash to put together a $350 million deal with Italian investors to buy a floor of condos in The Plaza hotel.
Schwartz, 31, admitted charging up to $1,500 for a kinky hour in the sack with two of her ever-changing stable of lovelies at her apartment at 100 W. 58th St., just a block from Central Park South, according to papers filed in Manhattan Criminal Court.
“I’ve been running this prostitution business for the last year and a half,” Schwartz, who is set to appear in court today, admitted to cops, according to an affidavit filed by Detective Patrick McGrath of the Manhattan South vice squad.
Schwartz also admitted selling cocaine to some of her cash-only clients, but insisted pleasure – not dope – was her primary product, authorities said.
“I never considered myself a drug dealer,” she allegedly told McGrath. “I just supply coke to my clients.”
Schwartz, who took English language classes at Fordham University, is also charged with laundering millions in profits from the sex ring.
She portrayed herself as a savvy businesswoman who used proceeds from the oldest profession to fund big-bucks investment in high-end real estate.
“All the money I make in prostitution, I put in the bank, and I’m using the money to pay off the mortgage on my place,” she allegedly told cops.
She was arrested June 1 with two other women, Marta Nogrega, 37, and Minatee Park, 29, after cops raided her apartment in the Windsor Park luxury condominium. All were hit with prostitution and drug charges.
A fourth defendant, Claudia DeCastro [pictured], was arrested yesterday outside the same address, authorities said.
“She’d bring up girls [from Brazil] … and in one month they could make enough to go home and buy their parents a house,” said a source close to the case.
At Schwartz’s arraignment, prosecutor John McConnell argued successfully against bail, citing the Plaza deal as evidence Schwartz had the means to flee. He said Schwartz carried Brazilian, Italian and U.S. passports.
She admitted making at least $1.5 million in prostitution profits since 2001, officials said.
Real estate records show she made about $500,000 in profit when she sold a co-op apartment in Chelsea in 2002.
Despite the admissions, her defense lawyer, Andrew Hoffman, said yesterday that Schwartz “vigorously disputes the allegations. We’ll ultimately establish our innocence at trial.”
Doormen at her condo noticed Schwartz was always traveling back and forth to Brazil – from where cops said she often returned with new recruits.
“She had a lot of visitors … mostly Brazilian women,” one doorman said, who added Schwartz went on shopping forays to Victoria’s Secret. “We figured they were probably family.”
A parade of undercover vice squad cops went to the apartment looking for sex and drugs, and were promised both for hefty fees, officials said.
Schwartz showed them pictures of hookers and quoted prices up to $1,500 for a threesome with two women.
It cost $700 for sex with one of her hookers, though she charged more for her services, authorities said.