Authorities allege Cupertino day spa was secret brothel

CUPERTINO — A South Bay couple who run a day spa in Cupertino have been criminally charged with pimping and other related crimes, after authorities alleged the business was also a secret brothel providing illicit “sexual services” to thousands of men each year.

Lin Wang, 46, and Xian Wang, 48, both San Jose residents, were charged earlier this month with crimes including pimping and pandering, money laundering, and tax and payroll fraud in connection with the reputed brothel, which the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office claims was operating as the Hummingbird Day Spa on South De Anza Boulevard.

The couple, along with manager Rui Wang, a 42-year-old Sunnyvale resident, were arrested and booked into Santa Clara County jail custody in lieu of $150,000 bail. They were all arraigned Thursday and did not enter pleas. According to discussions in court, the defendants will have to prove to a judge that any money they post for bail is derived from a legitimate source and not from their alleged crimes.

An investigation into the business was launched in March by the Human Trafficking Task Force managed by the district attorney’s office, based on community tips describing “illegal sexual activity.” The probe discovered that the spa “marketed to male customers” and aroused suspicion through the sight of a “high volume of men entering the establishment over a short period of time each day,” the DA’s office stated in a Thursday news release.

By the task force’s count, the business was attracting 30 men a day for the sexual services, with the clandestine enterprise generating $700,000 annually. By conservative estimates, that amounts to nearly 8,000 men buying sex work at the spa each year.

“There is no room in our neighborhoods for working brothels,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement.

The DA’s office also contends that the defendants underreported the spa’s payroll by more than $100,000 a year, and “funneled” the resulting profits into assorted investments and properties in San Jose and Chino Hills.

“A forensic financial analysis indicated that all three defendants engaged in collecting, concealing, and integrating illicit funds to maintain the business, fund personal finances and mortgages, and have been involved in long term pimping and pandering operations, money laundering, tax irregularities, and payroll fraud,” the DA’s office said.

When the Wangs were arrested, two women presumed to have been coerced into sex work were connected to Community Solutions, a regional nonprofit that provides an array of crisis and support services, including for people victimized by human trafficking. The criminal complaint filed against the Wangs indicates that as many as seven women were “procured” to perform sex work at the spa.

Suspected human trafficking can be reported to the county task force at 408-792-7200 or by email at [email protected]. People affected by human trafficking can call Community Solutions’ 24-hour confidential hotline at 877-363-7238.