Seized $2M to aid vics of traffickers
A new project funded by more than $2 million in forfeited bank assets seeks to help young New Yorkers escape the sex trafficking trade, the Manhattan district attorney’s office said Monday.
The child, youth and sex-trafficking intervention program — named “The Phoenix Project” — aims to help survivors as young as 12 years old and kids at high risk of falling prey to commercial sexual exploitation.
Manhattan DA Cy Vance Jr. said court proceedings don’t go far enough in combating sex trafficking and that prevention is crucial.
“Helping survivors obtain housing, health care, and education is key to putting traffickers out of business,” said Vance (inset) in a statement.
“Out of the 26 sex trafficking survivors who received services at my office last year, 23 were first trafficked when they were under 18 years old. By empowering young people to access the social services they need and deserve, the Phoenix Project aims to help prevent trafficking from occurring in the first place.”
The project will operate out of several locations citywide and aims to assist between 50 and 70 young New Yorkers ages 12 through 21, Vance added. Its board includes officials from the Administration for Children’s Services, the mayor’s office, and various community-based service providers.
Trained counselors with lived experience of sex trafficking will inform the work and mentor youths in the project.
Kids who have a history of running away, substance use disorders, multiple sexually transmitted infections, or multiple abortions are considered to be at high risk of sexual exploitation, the DA’s office said.
In December, Paul Alexander, the CEO of a charter jet company, was charged with trafficking dozens of children to pedophiles across the city. The Bronx man was busted after he offered up two little girls to an undercover officer for $100 each.
His arrest marked the first time the state attorney general charged someone under a 2018 child sex-trafficking law that removes the need for prosecutors to prove that victims under 18 weren’t willing participants.