LiangLiang Guo, LiangLiang Guo, Conspiracy to Use Interstate Facilities to Promote Prostitution, New York 2018

BUFFALO, N.Y. – A multi-state prostitution business has been dismantled after two of its key players pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges.

LiangLiang Guo, 31, and Chengqi Li, 28, both of Flushing, NY, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo to conspiracy to use interstate facilities to promote prostitution and to transport individuals in interstate commerce with intent that such individuals would engage in prostitution.

The charges carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Guo and Li are scheduled to be sentenced on March 19, 2018, and April 9, 2018, respectively.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth R. Moellering, the defendants were part of a prostitution business that sent female victims to cities and states across the Eastern United States to engage in commercial sex acts. Li posted advertisements on Backpage.com to set up meetings between clients and prostitutes, while Guo acted as a driver for the business, driving the females to hotels where they would engage in commercial sex acts.

“By their guilty pleas, the defendants admitted that theirs was a business plan which linked their bottom line to their ability to promote and facilitate the sexual exploitation of their workers,” noted U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy. “These felony convictions represent the just return that defendants have earned for investing themselves in such a morally bankrupt venture.”

The investigation into the prostitution business was conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, the Tonawanda Police Department, the New York Police Department, the South Portland, Maine Police Department, and the Fairview Township Police Department.