HPD
Wei Li: The Los Angeles resident is brought to the islands to face racketeering charges.
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A man who Honolulu Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro says brought women to Hawaii and the mainland from China to work as prostitutes in massage parlors is in custody at Oahu Community Correctional Center.
Honolulu police arrested Wei Li at Honolulu Airport when he arrived Friday after being extradited from California. Li was scheduled to be arraigned in state court this morning. His bail is $200,000.
An Oahu grand jury in June 2015 indicted him on racketeering charges for operating or owning an illegal prostitution business. Authorities in California arrested him in April. He had been fighting extradition since then. Li, 42, lists a Los Angeles address as his residence.
Li’s co-defendant, Biyu Situ, owner of the now-defunct Mayflower Massage parlor, turned herself in to authorities in June and is free on $100,000 bail. She also is charged with racketeering for operating an illegal prostitution business. Her trial in state court is scheduled for November.
Situ is also facing federal charges for allegedly trying to bribe a U.S. Department of Homeland Security investigator to protect her business from law enforcement raids and to help her gain U.S. citizenship. Her trial on the federal charges is scheduled for November in U.S. District Court.
The state indictment against Li and Situ was the first in Kaneshiro’s latest strategy of using state racketeering laws to crack down on prostitution. He has since secured other racketeering indictments against the owners and operators of two other Honolulu massage parlors.