A woman who reportedly ran an online prostitution ring out of her upscale Mid-Levels home had a troubled past and was forced into sex work in her younger days, her lawyer said in court Monday.
Media reported last year that the woman, Heidi Wong, 70, recruited her two domestic helpers to assist with operating the online sex service. She allegedly paid them on top of their helper salaries for answering phone calls, directing prostitutes to hotels to meet their customers, and taking up other administrative duties.
Wong and one of her helpers, Joane E. Palpal-latoc, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to live on the earnings of prostitution of others and money laundering on Monday.
Her other helper, Jeanette V. Gallego, was trialed separately last year and was handed a 10-month jail sentence after pleading guilty to one charge of conspiracy to live on the earnings of prostitution of others. She is said to have played a smaller role in the operation.
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On Monday, Wong’s lawyer said she was chased out of her home as a teenager and took up escort work to make money, and later found herself involved in prostitution. When she got older and thought her age to be unsuitable for sex work, she started the online prostitution ring to help her friends “find customers,” HK01 reported.
Wong, her lawyer added, never coerced anybody into prostitution and did not force her helpers—whose legal fees she is paying for—to assist with the operation. She also said her client has battled mental health disorders, including depression, for years.
It is understood that Wong gave her helpers an extra HK$1,000 (US$775) each month, HK01 reported.
In 2018, undercover police posing as customers found that the two Filipinos were manning online sites that offered sex in a call center-like operation, according to The Sun, a media outlet targeted at Filipinos in Hong Kong. Their employer, Wong, was also arrested. The case has been ongoing since.
About half of the prostitutes that were part of Wong’s online sex ring were from Europe, according to the lawyer. The operation earned HK$31.5 million (US$4 million) over a period of nine years, The Sun reported.
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