WASHINGTON, DC (January 30, 2020) – The National Center on Sexual Exploitation Law Center has filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division, seeking damages against Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, Inc., Choice Hotels International, Inc. and G6 Hospitality, LLC., for facilitating and profiting from the sex trafficking of a minor. The plaintiff, B.M., was 16 years old when her trafficking began at the Defendant hotels in 2014 and lasted for years.
“Corporations must not be allowed to profit from repeated and commercialized rape of children. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation Law is seeking damages on behalf of the plaintiff, who was forced to perform sex acts with 10-20 men a day in rooms rented by her traffickers at Super 8, Clarion Inn, and Motel 6 for two years starting at age 16. We are seeking some degree of justice for this survivor of child sex trafficking, though we can never undo the immense harm she suffered,” said Benjamin Bull, general counsel for the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.
“These hotels willingly ignored numerous signs of the plaintiff’s sexual abuse, and in doing so, knowingly collaborated with her traffickers. For instance, one of the plaintiff’s traffickers had a personal relationship with the front desk employee at the Motel 6, and through this, the trafficker was able to secure a room in the back of the hotel, and be notified when law enforcement officials were on or hear the premises.
“Through hotel staff and employees, these hotels should have known that the plaintiff was being trafficked for sex due to, but not limited to: large amounts of used condoms, empty lube bottles, and other sex-related items in the hotel room; payments for the rooms in cash; the plaintiff’s physical appearance (malnourished, bruised, beaten); a continuous procession of older men entering and leaving the plaintiff’s room; and excessive requests for sheets, cleaning supplies, room service.
“Corporations can’t go to jail, and the only way to hold them accountable is damages and attorney’s fees. It’s clear that the defendants financially benefited from the paid sexual assault of the child, and other sex trafficking victims like her. These hotels developed and maintained business models that attract and foster the commercial sex market for traffickers and buyers alike. The Defendant hotels failed to take any steps to alert the authorities, properly intervene in the situation, or take reasonable security steps to improve awareness of sex trafficking and/or prevent sexual exploitation on their properties.
“Our hope is that this lawsuit serves notice to prevent any future sex trafficking from taking place at these hotels and others, and to ensure that the hotel industry is held to account,” Bull concluded.
The National Center on Sexual Exploitation has repeatedly called on hotel chains to address issues of sexual exploitation that are rampant in this industry through its No Vacancy Campaign.
