| --Thursday, July 03, 2008--
David Lord denies prostitution charges
 Director David Crawford, whose alias in the porn industry is David Lord, said in a statement released today that his recent arrest on charges of staging a sham marriage has nothing to do with prostitution, as has (allegedly) been reported elsewhere.
According to the Associated Press Crawford, 37, married the Hungarian Agnes Jeges in 2003 and two years later applied for a green card for her. Routine investigation by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service revealed that Crawford and Veges, who is alleged to have worked in a Sherman Oaks brothel, did not live together.
Crawford is charged with perjury for having lied on Jeges' immigration application. If convicted he faces five years in prison. Jeges would serve ten years if convicted for making false statements.
Having once been married to a Hungarian myself, I agree that it was a sham.
Jennifer Silliman, deputy special agent in charge of the ICE office in Los Angeles, said her agency investigated the legitimacy of the Crawford/Jeges marriage on a tip.
Everyone I know who knows Lord likes him, but I guess I don't know the type of people who ratted him out. Apparently there have been reports that the director, who has worked for a number of companies, was "linked to a prostitution ring" and he denies this, as does Jeges deny she is or was a prostitute.
"Those statements are false and have absolutely no merit," Lord said in a statement. So not only did someone drop a dime to the federales about his marriage to Jeges, but there have also been reports he's linked with illegal prostitution. Someone is pulling out all the stops.
Crawford's attorney could not be reached at press time, but I do wonder why a porn director facing federal charges in one matter would make an effort to distance himself from something he is not charged with, unless there is a risk of being charged with more crimes.
I have known several people involved in sham marriages and it really does seem like a victimless crime, especially when compared to the large number of legitimate but loveless marriages.
Lord was released from jail on his own recognizance yesterday.
Above: image from Lord's Pinks
 Pinks
Previously: Pinks review on Fleshbot; Surewood arraigned on eight charges
See also: L.A. porn director charged with staging sham marriage (sfgate via AP)Labels: david lord, Hungary, legal, prosties
posted by Gram the Man
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--Sunday, September 30, 2007--
Hungarian prostitutes to emulate Radio Shack
 ...by providing receipts.
Hungary's tax authority will allow sex workers (or Budaprosties) to apply for permits and pay taxes on their earnings, adding legitimacy to an occupation that is already quasi-legal but not part of the Hungarian tax base.
Opponents say this move will allow Hungary to capitalize on human trafficking without improving conditions for sex workers. It also doesn't address how johns might declare "Fellatio Services" on their taxes.
Read the full article after the gap.
Hungary Gives Permits to Prostitutes
By PABLO GORONDI, Associated Press Writer
Monday, September 24, 2007
(09-24) 14:29 PDT BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) --
In an effort to bring prostitutes into the legal
economy, officials said Monday that Hungary will allow
sex workers to apply for an entrepreneur's permit ˜ a
move that could generate government revenues from an
industry worth an estimated $1 billion annually.
Human rights groups often have criticized European
Union member Hungary for legalizing prostitution ˜
which has been fully allowed under certain conditions
since 1999. Opponents say legalization does not help
prostitutes.
The permits allow prostitutes to give receipts to
customers and become part of the legal economy by
paying taxes and making social security contributions,
said Agnes Foldi, head of the Hungarian Prostitutes'
Interest Protection Association.
Hungary's sex industry ˜ including prostitution and
the production of pornographic materials ˜ generates
an estimated $1 billion annually, said Agnes Bakonyi,
the spokeswoman of Hungary's tax authority APEH.
"It is one of the leading sectors of the shadow
economy," Bakonyi said. "With this project, APEH is
trying to help a group of professionals, in what is
called the world's oldest profession, who have never
paid taxes in their life."
Prostitutes in Hungary, can work legally only within
certain zones ˜ distant from schools and churches ˜
and must get regular medical checkups. Pimping and
bordellos are banned.
Prostitution is legal in most of the EU with a few
exceptions such as Ireland, where it is banned. The
Netherlands has legislation comparable to Hungary's,
where prostitution has a similar status to other jobs.
Foldi said about 20 prostitutes already had been
issued permits and more than 500 had applied to attend
counseling sessions organized around the country with
the help of APEH on issues such as financial planning
and accounting, as well as legal matters.
"Our aim is to make sex work become accepted as any
other job," Foldi said. "Prostitutes come from the
poorest sectors of society ... and it's very hard for
them to, for example, get a loan to buy their own
home."
Foldi's group received a grant of $86,000 from the
government's National Development Plan, which includes
EU funds, to advise prostitutes on the licenses.
"It is important for us to have as many participants
as possible," Foldi said, adding that there are about
7,000-9,000 full-time prostitutes in Hungary, rising
to as many as 20,000 during the summer tourist season.
One of the prostitutes who already has been granted a
permit said she applied for it in an effort to improve
her future and self-image.
"From now on, no one will be able to ask me where I
got the money to buy my house or my car," said Rebeka,
who would not give her last name. "Now we are also
part of a taxpaying group and we too are making a
contribution to society."
Hungary is a signatory of the 1950 United Nations
convention for the suppression of human trafficking
and prostitution. But officials claimed the program
did not go against the spirit of the convention
because even though prostitutes would now be able to
get licenses, the government would not keep a separate
registry of them.
Critics say many prostitutes in western Europe are
foreigners often lured there under false pretenses.
They link prostitution to human trafficking.
Human Rights groups have said legalization and
decriminalization of prostitution and the sex industry
does nothing to address the violence of prostitution
and does not help prostitutes.
Janice Raymond of the U.S.-based Coalition Against
Trafficking in Women said by issuing entrepreneurial
permits to prostitutes, Hungary is violating its
international treaty obligations under the U.N.
convention. She said countries such as Hungary that
have ratified the convention agree not to regulate
prostitution or subject women to any administrative
controls such as registration and taxation.
"Hungary is not issuing entrepreneurial permits to aid
the women in prostitution but rather to increase the
state coffers with the additional taxes to be gained,"
Raymond told The Associated Press by e-mail. Previously: Hookers have no sense of humor; Memoirs of a Madam
See also: Hungary gives permits to prostitutes (sfgate)Labels: Hungary, news, prosties
posted by Gram the Man
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--Tuesday, February 20, 2007--
Hungary on Bush presidency: "We've got that beat"
 As you know, it is impossible for something to be sexually attractive until it turns 18. The lone exception is this Jagermeister dispenser here in the office.
A Parliament minister in Hungary, which is one of the most prolific porn producers in Europe, has inserted language into a draft of the larger penal code that would make it legal for Hungarians to make pornographic material with teens between 14 and 17, provided the teens are not related to or in the care of the pornographer and the material is not for commercial use.
"If we consider people 14 years of age to be mature enough to consent to sexual acts, then the chance to make picture recordings of this ... can also be allowed," Hungarian Justice Minister Jozsef Petretei said.
Detractors, most of them sputteringly incredulous that the state was even considering this, were able at least to say that the measure would create "a waiting room for prostitution".
This is my opinion, but I would assume that for such a proposal to be made - by the Justice Minister, no less - that porn involving 14-17-year-olds (if not younger) is already being produced to such an extent that the state feels the only way it can be controlled is to legalize and regulate it.
If the age of consent is 14 in that country, the idea of privately-held images of people acting out that consent shouldn't be shocking. After all, it's done that way here.
In the United States, it is illegal to shoot porn with a person under age 18 (and discussing this with a person under 18 is considered pandering), though the age of consent in many states is 17 or 16 (and, in the case of South Carolina, a very Hungarian 14). It is also my assumption that 18, the age of consent in porn groves Florida and California, is what determined the age of porn consent.
Can you imagine what wuld happen if it became legal to shoot 17-year-olds in the United States? Every copy of Barely Legal would spontaneously turn into a MILF title.
Many people in the adult industry believe that the age of porn consent should be 21. They argue that potential performers need a few years of having normal sex so that they aren't put on the fast track to rectal prolapse without having had a little time to figure out what their options really are.
I know plenty of mature and capable 18-21-year-olds, but I agree with this. It's arbitrary and in its arbitrariness unfair (and I know plenty of 30-year-old performers who are just as mature as an 18-year-old), but a waiting period between the age of consent and the age of one's first filmed gangbang is a smart idea.
In Hungary, Minister Petretei's portion of the draft will be voted on next week. It is hard not to make value judgments about this, despite the obvious trump card of having an age of consent that assumes maturity at 14. It's easy to imagine the malt shops and arcades of Budapest filling with newly-minted cameramen who just last week were pedophiles.
Previously: Glenn Beck: What's wrong with America; Report: Internet profitable; Why Johnny can't read; Girl, he be eating your pants; R. Kelly's brother: "I believe I can't lie"
See also: Hungary may legalize porn involving 14- to 17-year-olds for home use (usatoday)
Labels: commentary, Europe, Hungary, news
posted by Gram the Man
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