How Human Traffickers Make Money

Jim is the head of a human trafficking organization. He is an attorney with five paralegals under him at his law firm. In addition to this he has two pimps in five states who work for him, so ten all together. Each pimp has five girls. Each girl is sold on Friday and Saturday night to at least two men per night for about $500/each, $2000/weekend x 50. That’s $100,000 in two nights! Since Jim is the leader, each pimp sends him 60%, so he makes $60,000/week. If a pimp decides to sell a girl he typically makes $40,000. That’s a $16,000 bonus in Jim’s pocket.
This is an illustration of what human trafficking can look like over a year.
Jim
Pimp A
Girl 1 $104,000
Girl 2 $104,000 (Sold for $35,000)
Girl 3 $104,000
Girl 4 $104,000
Girl 5 $104,000 (Sold for $50,000)
Pimp B
Girl 1 $104,000 (Sold for $75,000)
Girl 2 $104,000
Girl 3 $104,000 (Sold for $35,000)
Girl 4 $104,000
Girl 5 $104,000 (Sold for $50,000)
Pimp C
Girl 1 $104,000
Girl 2 $104,000
Girl 3 $104,000 (Sold for $35,000)
Girl 4 $104,000
Girl 5 $104,000
Pimp D
Girl 1 $104,000 (Sold for $75,000)
Girl 2 $104,000
Girl 3 $104,000 (Sold for $35,000)
Girl 4 $104,000
Girl 5 $104,000 (Sold for $50,000)
Pimp E
Girl 1 $104,000
Girl 2 $104,000 (Sold for $35,000)
Girl 3 $104,000
Girl 4 $104,000
Girl 5 $104,000 (Sold for $50,000)
Pimp F
Girl 1 $104,000
Girl 2 $104,000
Girl 3 $104,000 (Sold for $35,000)
Girl 4 $104,000
Girl 5 $104,000
Pimp G
Girl 1 $104,000 (Sold for $75,000)
Girl 2 $104,000
Girl 3 $104,000 (Sold for $100,000)
Girl 4 $104,000
Girl 5 $104,000 (Sold for $50,000)
Pimp H
Girl 1 $104,000
Girl 2 $104,000 (Sold for $35,000)
Girl 3 $104,000
Girl 4 $104,000
Girl 5 $104,000 (Sold for $50,000)
Pimp J
Girl 1 $104,000
Girl 2 $104,000 (Sold for $100,000)
Girl 3 $104,000
Girl 4 $104,000
Girl 5 $104,000 (sold for $25,000)
Pimp K
Girl 1 $104,000 (Sold for $100,000)
Girl 2 $104,000
Girl 3 $104,000 (Sold for $35,000)
Girl 4 $104,000
Girl 5 $104,000 (Sold for $60,000)
That’s $5,200,000 just from the girls “working”. Jim’s cut is $2,080,000. The total profit from selling 22 women is $1,190,000. His “bonus” is $476,000. Jim is making $2,556,000. Jim is not coercing or selling these women himself, he’s paying ten men to do it for him and making an enormous profit. The problem is that if his pimps get caught they go to jail, but unless they tell the police who they work for, Jim continues walk free. Hiring new pimps who traffick new women.
Unfortunately, Jim could be anyone and more than likely his pimps also have employees who “recruit” new girls and women (typically another woman) as well as drive them around (typically a man). None of the victims will ever hear about Jim.