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A Florida man and his mother ran a sprawling prostitution ring for nearly 25 years, laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars through various front companies and real estate purchases. Police arrested them as they allegedly prepared to flee the country. An affidavit states that Margareta von Lambert used her realtor's license to facilitate money laundering for her son, Christopher Jelavic.
Many escorts working for the mother-son team were registered as real estate agents with valid licenses. Jelavic and von Lambert were arrested on September 11 and 12, respectively, after Jelavic bought plane tickets to Brazil in the middle of the night. They are detained on felony charges of money laundering and deriving support from prostitution.
The investigation found that Pretty Woman Escorts, their primary company, offered Latin American and European women for $300-$400 an hour. The business was hidden behind a front company, Boca Art Studios. A law enforcement review of von Lambert's bank accounts showed large deposits from Boca, as well as money coming in from Social Security.
Police inserted an undercover operative into the business, who got a firsthand view of what was happening behind the scenes. Von Lambert advertised herself as a real estate broker and artist on her website, but employment records showed Jelavic had an income of only $3,000 per quarter despite purchasing millions of dollars worth of real estate.
Detectives obtained records in a trash pull that showed proof of prostitution activities being run out of a front company by Jelavic and von Lambert. They also found a list of customers' names and contacts, along with the services they booked, during a 4 a.m. trash pull at one of Pretty Woman's dispatch locations.
Jelavic expressed deep frustration and stress to his mother about his ongoing issues with his business, citing feelings of being overwhelmed after 25 years. He also told one of his workers that he was very upset with an escort-in-training who had accidentally sent a mass text to all of Pretty Woman's clients.
A Broward County detective confirmed that Pretty Woman was still operating as usual, requesting an escort who "provided full service." Jelavic and von Lambert did not know their communications were being monitored by authorities, who included several of their conversations in the affidavit. They are scheduled to be arraigned on October 2.
