Human trafficker who forced men to have sex 18-20 hours a day sentenced to 11 years

Andrew Vass, a 25-year-old Hungarian man, was sentenced to more than a decade in prison for his part in an elaborate human trafficking operation.

Vass and two others lured young men from Hungary to the United States under false pretenses then forced them have sex on webcams and prostitute themselves to strangers for up to 20 hours a day for months on end.

According to court documents, Vass started the operation back in 2012. He found desperate Hungarian men on social media sites and offer to fly them to New York for legitimate work. The victims “believed they would only be in New York for a few months to make tens of thousands of dollars before returning to their homeland and their families,” Homeland Security Investigations agent Melissa Pavlikowski wrote in an arrest warrant.

But once the men arrived, they were not given any of these promises. Instead, Vass locked them in a cramped, one-bedroom apartment and forced them to perform sex acts for the majority of the day. At one point, as many as 8 men shared the apartment together. He allowed them four to six hours of sleep each night before throwing them back into the bed with strangers. These men were not paid, but Vass and his accomplices raked in around $40,000 per person each month.

“Their traffickers used various techniques to keep them enslaved, including isolating them from others, withholding their travel and identification documents and using financial manipulation to keep them in constant debt,” Pavlikowski said.

A 24-year-old Hungarian man, testified that Vass and his henchmen threatened to kill his family if he didn’t have sex with men around the clock. He also noted that Vass would use extra food and cigarettes as rewards for his victims who “slept with enough johns.” Those who didn’t meet their quota were threatened with a sword.

“I was under their control, all day, all night,” a second victim added in a written statement read to the court. “They used me like I was a machine. They sold me to strangers. I was not allowed to be tired. I was not allowed to be sad.”

Though Vass faced a possible 155 years in prison, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Richard Hersch sentenced him to just 11 years.

“I know very well that I am culpable,” Vass told the court. “After I do my time, I would like to start a new clean life and I’m asking for God’s help and I pray every day for forgiveness.”

His other two cohorts, Viktor Berki and Gabor Acs, are still awaiting trial.