FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CRT

TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 2006 (202) 514-2007

WWW.USDOJ.GOV TDD (202) 514-1888

Former Nightclub Owner Admits

Forcing Young Korean Women to
Work Against Their Will
WASHINGTON – The Justice Department today announced that Sung Bum Chang,
the former owner of a Dallas nightclub known as “Club Wa,” pleaded guilty to
forced labor charges. Chang’s wife, Hyang Kyung Chang, pleaded guilty to aiding
and abetting the employment of unlawful aliens. While operating Club Wa, Chang
used an international human-smuggling network to bring young South Korean
women into the United States. After smugglers brought the victims to him in Dallas,
Chang forced them to work as club hostesses.

Chang pleaded guilty to charges of Conspiracy and Forced Labor in violation 18

U.S.C. § 1589, which prohibits using physical restraint or threats of serious harm to
obtain another person’s labor. As part of his plea, Chang admitted that he required at
least five victims to live at his residence and work as hostesses at Club Wa six to
seven nights a week. The victims were required to entertain customers at the club so
that the customers would buy more liquor. Chang held the victims’ passports and
warned them that they were not allowed to leave until they paid their smuggling
debt to him. Chang further restricted the victims’ freedom of movement by
monitoring them with a video surveillance system inside his home and business and
by placing employees as guards at the exits. One of the victims, desperate to be free
from the conditions imposed on her, escaped from the Chang house by leaping from
a second story window and fleeing with the help of an anonymous person.

“Human trafficking is a moral evil that is nothing less than modern-day slavery,”
said Wan J. Kim, Assistant Attorney for the Civil Rights Division. “The Justice
Department is committed to aggressively investigating and prosecuting those who
perpetrate these reprehensible crimes.”

“This 21st century form of involuntary servitude is most insidious,” said Richard B.
Roper, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas. “We, in law enforcement,
will continue to aggressively pursue those who exploit and prey on vulnerable
immigrants who come to our shores seeking a better life.”

Chang agreed that his conduct violated federal law. The maximum penalty for such
violations is 25 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for
Sept. 19, 2006.

The government’s case is being prosecuted jointly by the Civil Rights Division and
the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas. The case was
investigated by Special Agents from the Dallas Office of U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement.

In the last five fiscal years, the Department’s Civil Rights Division, in conjunction
with U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, increased by 871 percent the number of sex
trafficking cases prosecuted as compared with the previous five years. And, with
four months remaining in the current fiscal year, the Department has already
convicted more trafficking defendants this year than in any other single year on
record. In March 2006, the Justice Department issued a comprehensive report
summarizing our anti-trafficking accomplishments, which can be found online at:
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/crim/trafficking_report_2006.pdf.

###

06-366