Patrice Eileen Wilowski-Mevorah, a 53-year-old Tampa woman, has been sentenced to five years and three months in federal prison for her involvement in a money laundering conspiracy in connection with an international enterprise that operated subscription-based sexually exploitative ‘child modeling’ websites.
According to court documents, Wilowski-Mevorah laundered at least $2.3 million for the Newstar Enterprise, an internet-based business aimed at for-profit sexual exploitation of vulnerable children under the guise of ‘child modeling,’ through a collection of websites called the Newstar Websites.
Wilowski-Mevorah joined the Newstar Enterprise around 2009 and fraudulently opened payment-processing accounts and bank accounts under the pretense of a phony jewelry company. For 10 years, she routinely used the phony company’s accounts to conceal criminal proceeds from the Newstar Websites and transfer those proceeds back to principal members of the Newstar Enterprise.
The Newstar Enterprise, which was founded around 2005, built, maintained, hosted, and operated the Newstar Websites on servers in the United States and abroad. To populate the Newstar Websites with content, Newstar Enterprise members sourced, enticed, solicited, and recruited males and females under the age of 18, some of whom were prepubescent, to use as ‘child models’ for the Newstar Websites.
Using the recruited child-victims, the Newstar Enterprise produced more than 4.6 million sexualized images and videos to distribute and sell on the Newstar Websites. Some of those images and videos, though non-nude, depicted minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. For example, images and videos sold on the Newstar Websites depicted children as young as 6 years old in sexual and provocative poses.
Wilowski-Mevorah pleaded guilty on July 6, 2021. The court also ordered her to forfeit $236,410.70.
The Newstar Enterprise maintained a membership list for subscribers and customers of the Newstar Websites, who originated from 101 nations across the world. Images in the websites’ galleries were freely available to the public to preview, but greater access and more content required purchasing a subscription. The sale of purported ‘child modeling’ content on the Newstar Websites generated more than $9.4 million during the course of the conspiracy.
Tampa, Florida – July 6, 2021. Defendant: Patrice Eileen Wilowski-Mevorah. Charges: Money laundering conspiracy. Sentence: 5 years and 3 months in federal prison. Forfeiture: $236,410.70.
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Key Facts
- State: Florida
- Category: Sex Crimes|Cybercrime|Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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