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Play for pay in Hollywood
"I'm shocked, shocked...." -Captain Louis Renault, Casablanca From The Guardian, UK A-listers nervous as woman admits running Hollywood prostitution ring Michelle Braun's plea deal is said to include handing over list of clients who paid up to $50,000 a night A Los Angeles woman has admitted running a vice ring supplying A-list celebrities with the world's most expensive sex workers. Michelle Braun, a 31-year-old mother of two, charged up to $50,000 (£30,000) for a night with one of the 70 women on her books, said to include Hollywood actors, Playboy centrefolds and top fashion models. Her clients have not been named, but they included "big names", her lawyer, Marc Nurik, told reporters inquiring after their identities. "Let's just say you'd be shocked." In return for a lighter sentence, Braun pleaded guilty in a California court to charges of operating a multimillion-dollar online prostitution ring. The plea agreement could be bad news for her client base - Braun is reported to have handed her little black book to the authorities as part of the deal. She is accused of running her online company, Global Travel Network Inc, as a front, according to court records. She is thought to have made more than £5m from the firm. Braun was caught in October 2007, when an FBI agent posed as a "Platinum club member" of the service. The agent successfully asked her to fly a woman from Los Angeles to New York. In court, Braun pleaded guilty to transporting a person between states for the purposes of prostitution, as well as to money laundering. Braun has been profiled in Rolling Stone and Details magazines, the latter calling the sex workers "the most beautiful (and expensive) pros in the business". Braun's lawyer admitted the men who used Braun's service did so to get sex. "I'm not sure people would pay money to meet a porn star and talk about Stephen Hawking's newest book," Nurik told the Daily Mail. Prosecutors said Braun charged her clients £1,000 to register with her website and see photographs of women on her books. It is said that her business took off after the arrest and subsequent imprisonment of Heidi Fleiss, who hit the headlines in 1995 when she was convicted of running a sophisticated prostitution ring. Fleiss would fly models-turned-prostitutes around the world in exchange for up to $10,000 (£4,132 at today's exchange rates). Fleiss went to prison rather than reveal the identity of her top-end clients. But Braun is reported to have co-operated with the US government, including turning over her computerised version of the little black book, in return for a light sentence. She was released from custody earlier this week and will not be sentenced until October 19, when prosecutors have recommended she be fined £20,000 and given six months of home confinement. In the meantime, her clients must wait nervously to see what information she volunteers to investigators. Speculation is rife: "The things she knows make Heidi Fleiss look like Mary Poppins," said Mark Ebner, LA journalist and author of Six Degrees of Paris Hilton. Papers filed to the court earlier this month after Braun violated her bail conditions said that she had numerous previous criminal convictions, including drugs offences, and that despite being officially unemployed since being caught in 2007, she still claimed to have monthly expenses totalling $6,700.
Goodbye, Payton
Today is Payton Hunter's retirement; tomorrow is her birthday. Happy Birthday and farewell to one of the most amazing, caring, compassionate, decent ladies I will ever know. She has made a wonderful difference in my life: thank you, luv. May the Universe bestow upon you the best it has to offer. 
(Payton loves and collects Betty Boop!)
We're not library-friendly anymore
Fortunately, my computer problems seem to be in the past. I used to have to get on-line solely via public library computers, which limited the sites I could surf, e.g., Escortblogs.net was out, but Hobbyistblogs.com was permitted. No longer. And I have found this is true in more than one library system. We're busted.
They found Dave.
Hey, it's been 15 entire weblog entries since there was any need to write about Dave Elms..."And it's Dubai, been good to know ya; Dubai, been good to know ya...." -Track- New York Times June 4, 2009, 7:11 pm Founder of Prostitution Site Is Arrested at Border By Matt RichtelThe man who helped move prostitution trafficking from the street corner to the Internet was arrested on Thursday at the Tijuana border, according to the Phoenix police. 
J. Emilio Flores for The New York Times David Elms David Elms was trying to cross into California on foot. But when he showed his passport to border patrol agents, they detained him after finding a warrant for his arrest. In February, Mr. Elms was arrested in Phoenix and charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault. He then skipped bail. The details of the assault charges have not been made public. But people briefed on the case said the charges relate to Mr. Elms's relationship with The Erotic Review, a Web site that he founded. The site allows patrons of prostitutes to rate their experiences, creating a kind of online marketplace. The popularity of the site earned it and Mr. Elms a powerful reputation in prostitution circles. Sergeant Andy Hill of the Phoenix police said that according to border patrol agents, Mr. Elms told them that after skipping bail, he fled to Toronto, then Dubai, Armenia, Iran and Mexico. "He told them he went on a long route," Sgt. Hill said. Mr. Elms remains in custody in California, where he may face additional charges there on a probation violation, Sgt. Hill said. A prosecutor in California who has been involved in an ongoing case against Mr. Elms there could not be reached for comment.
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