A network of pimps from Lyon has just been dismantled by the gendarmerie, real estate and large sums of money have been seized.
The case began in early January 2019, when an investigator from the Lyon Gendarmerie Research Section, specialized in the fight against cybercrime, spotted “during one of his patrols on the web” two sites offering connections with prostitutes.
Most of the meetings were fixed in private apartments, rented on occasion. The investigations made it possible to identify two distinct and structured networks of procuring in the Rhône-Alpes region, one in Grenoble (38) and the other in the Lyon region.
The two cases are separate and dealt with separately. The purely Grenoble file was processed at the end of January by the Lyon Research Section and the Grenoble Interministerial Research Group. A first phase of arrests led to the indictment with placement under judicial control of four individuals and the seizure of 837,000 euros including 9 real estate.
But the Lyon file, it has just known its outcome, at least in terms of the investigation.
On the rogatory commission of an investigating judge, an operation was launched on May 31, 2022, still under the leadership of the research section of the Lyon gendarmerie and the Lyon Interministerial Research Group, to which the “heritage” component investigation has been entrusted.
Three pimps from the same family, including two women, all involved in this structured criminal network are arrested. About ten prostitutes were auditioned and confirmed the facts of aggravated pimping, making it possible to establish the importance of this particularly lucrative activity.
The three people are accused of having made premises available to prostitutes, for a fee, and of having occasionally had a role in welcoming customers or cleaning the apartments. They obviously did not manage the recruitment and logistics of prostitutes.
Nine places of prostitution are thus located in the 3rd, 6th and 7th arrondissements of Lyon, in Villeurbanne and in Oullins. The study of the heritage of the assets held by the pimps, confirms that the illicit activity is directly at the origin of their personal enrichment, for several years, each of the apartments was rented at the level of 500€ per week.
The three pimps arrested were indicted, two of them were remanded in custody and the last was placed under judicial supervision.
A total of 4 properties, those whose loans had expired, were seized. At the same time, the courts sequestrated 60,000 euros in cash and 340,000 euros in bank accounts.
It is now up to the judicial court to pronounce a possible confiscation of these assets held thanks to an illegal activity.