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Palm Springs- from www.mydesert.com - — A jury is expected to be seated, and opening statements may get under way [September 15th] in the trial of a man accused of running an interstate prostitution ring based out of Palm Springs.
Ofer Moses Lupovitz [pictured], 48, is charged with 180 felony counts, ranging from money-laundering to tax evasion, in connection with an reported high-dollar call girl operation that authorities busted in 2006.
Lupovitz was indicted along with six others, three of whom have been convicted. The other three remain at large.
The defendant is free on bail.
The Riverside County District Attorney's Office alleges Lupovitz and fellow Israeli national Boaz Benmoshe — who is a fugitive — ran the Elite escort service from 2002 to 2006, at one time employing as many as 200 women who provided sex for money throughout California, Arizona and Oregon.
The defendants had joint bank accounts and purchased million-dollar houses adjacent to one another on a cul-de-sac in Rancho Mirage. They set up a phone bank, using nearly 120 different numbers that prospective clients would call to make an appointment with a prostitute, prosecutors say.
All calls were routed to an office in Palm Springs, where a group of receptionists took clients' information and processed credit card transactions, according to the prosecution.
Elite charged $250 just for a girl to show up, then charged anywhere from $150 to $4,000 for an array of sex acts, court papers allege.
Authorities contend the ring's leaders retained 100 percent of the “show” fees and a third of the earnings from the hour-long sexual encounters.
The women were also expected to tip their drivers and the appointment secretaries, using whatever they pocketed from a “John,” the prosecution alleges.
“Everything was tracked, and very often Bo and Ofer would demand that the prostitute bring back her charge slips before she head home for the night,” Deputy District Attorney Kelly Sedochenkoff alleged in a trial brief.
“In fact, even the most trusted, highest-earning hookers would have to drive out of their way to deliver the slips and money at three or four in the morning instead of bringing in their earnings the next day.”
The women were part of a network based in different cities around the state and in neighboring states, according to the brief.
Elite ran advertisements in the phone book and via the Internet, Sedochenkoff said.
Authorities became aware of the operation as early as 2001, and a formal investigation was initiated in 2003. Riverside County sheriff's detectives, with the help of U.S. Secret Service agents, were able to crack the case after a series of “buy-busts,” according to court papers.
Lupovitz is only being tried on three charges — conspiracy, pimping and pandering, according to the DA's office.
The other counts remain active and may be the subject of another trial, provided there's no plea agreement.
Lupovitz's wife, Gabrel Lukow, pleaded guilty for her part in the prostitution ring, as well as Stephanie Michelle Vintrov and Melanie Smith.
The whereabouts of Lupovitz's other associates — Benmoshe, Moti Vintrov and Eliran Vintrov — are unknown.
