This will be the second legal procedure against the man, who has arranged New York tours for many high-profile performing artists from Russia.
Trachtenberg, his wife Viktoria Ilyina, and fellow countryman Sergei Malchikov were arrested in Brooklyn in August 2002. They allegedly masterminded scams for Russian girls to get entry visas into the States and be hired as dancers by striptease clubs in New Jersey, and would take away a greater part of the girls' wages, threatening to harm their relatives back in Russia, should they dare protest. Trachtenberg and Ilyina, now under house arrest, have been maintaining their innocence all along whereas Malchikov has recently admitted to complicity and struck a collaboration deal with the Prosecution.
In both cases, proceedings against Trachtenberg and accomplices have been launched by New Jersey Attorney Leslie Schwarz. The name of the Russian girl representing the injured party has not been disclosed thus far.
According to the indictment, Trachtenberg and the co-defendants brought her into the States as a member of "an internationally acclaimed group," but offered her a job in a striptease club instead. She was supposed to pay them $200 per day from her earnings.
The girl proved unable to earn a sufficient amount at the striptease club and was therefore coerced into prostitution. When she announced her intention to leave Trachtenberg, the impresario said she would have to pay 5,000 dollars in compensation money, otherwise her Russia-based relatives would be facing consequences.
Trachtenberg flatly denies any wrongdoing. He has told RIA Novosti that he helped the girl get a job at a striptease club and that he once offered her some money for her mother's medical needs.
