Michail McKen, Sex Trafficking, New York 2022

Grimy Times Exclusive: Michail McKen, a notorious sex trafficker from Long Island, New York, has been convicted of two counts of sex trafficking by force and two counts of interstate prostitution.

A federal jury in Central Islip delivered the guilty verdict, which followed a six-day trial before United States District Judge Joan M. Azrack.

McKen, a pimp with a three-year history of coercion and manipulation, used violence and threats of violence to control multiple women, forcing them into commercial sex acts for his own profit.

The sex trafficking operation, which spanned across the country, including Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Kentucky, Alabama, and Oregon, saw McKen recruit victims through social media and then cause them to travel to Long Island to engage in commercial sex acts in hotels and other locations.

McKen’s victims suffered from drug addiction, and he would maintain leverage over them by forcing them to engage in commercial sex acts in exchange for a rationed supply of opioids that would prevent them from going through complete withdrawal.

When he is sentenced, McKen faces a mandatory minimum term of 15 years in prison and up to life in prison.

Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, praised the efforts of the Arizona Desert Hawk Violent Crime Task Force, the FBI’s Baltimore and Richmond Field Offices, and the Henrico County, Virginia, Police Division for their assistance on the case.

The government’s case is being handled by the Criminal Section of the Office’s Long Island Division, with Assistant United States Attorneys Megan E. Farrell and Samantha Alessi leading the prosecution.

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