A woman from St Albans who ran a brothel has been ordered to pay £67,840 under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Rita Solanki, 40, from Lattimore Road in St Albans, was sentenced at Luton Crown Court in March this year for managing a brothel and money laundering offences. She had pleaded guilty and was given nine months imprisonment.
On Friday, November 2 the case was back at Luton Crown Court for the confiscation hearing.
The brothel was run from a flat in Old Watford Road in Bricket Wood, where workers were based and would pay Solanki a cut of their earnings.
Officers executed warrants at Solanki’s home address and the rented flat during September 2009, where they found evidence relating to the running of a brothel.
Detective Inspector Ian Butler, from Hertfordshire Constabulary’s Economic Crime Unit, said: “This is a positive result and testament to the hard work of officers involved both in the criminal and financial investigations.”
He added: “Organised prostitution of this kind, where other women are recruited and organisers of the brothel exploit them by taking a cut of the money, is a heinous and appalling crime.
“Very often those involved in running the brothel or reaping the benefits are making money from others’ misery – preying on vulnerable people in society who are desperate to earn money and, in some cases, coercing them into prostitution.
“It also creates issues of anti-social behaviour and community tensions for neighbours whose lives are blighted in the areas where the brothels are based.
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