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AG Files Suit Against Travel Agency Offering Sex Tours ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – State Attor-ney General Eliot Spitzer is suing a travel agency that critics say offered tours to men seeking sex from prostitutes, some underage, in the Philippines, Thailand and Cambodia. Spitzer has also gotten state Su-preme Court Justice Christine Sproat in Dutchess County to issue a temporary restraining order prohibiting Big Apple Oriental Tours of Poughkeepsie and Queens from advertising or promoting sex tours in magazines and other publications, Spitzer’s office an-nounced Wednesday. The civil suit seeks to shut down Big Apple and impose financial penalties and legal costs. "The company purports to be a traditional travel agency, but through its actions promotes prostitution and the abuse of young women,’’ Spitzer said. Big Apple has been under scrutiny for years by feminists including Gloria Steinem and groups like Equality Now, which contend U.S.-originated sex tours encourage the exploitation of women and children in Asia and other regions. "Sex tourism contributes to the de-mand for trafficking of women and it is a human rights violation,’’ said Taina Bien-Aime, executive director of Equality Now. However, calls on prosecutors in New York state to move against Big Apple did not produce criminal charges. Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in 2000 that any possibly illegal acts were not occurring in New York and were thus beyond the reach of state prosecutors. The filing of a civil suit does not preclude Spitzer from seeking criminal charges against Big Apple, Spitzer spokesman Paul Larrabee said. The civil suit names the operators of Big Apple Oriental Tours, 58-year-old Douglas Allen of Poughkeepsie and 58-year-old Norman Barabash of Queens. Spitzer’s office said the company was run from private homes in both Poughkeepsie and Queens. Barabash’s lawyer Daniel A. Hoch-heiser said there is no evidence that his client or Big Apple promoted or profited from prostitution, let alone underage prostitution. "Our client has committed no acts of illegality, civil or criminal, and we’re looking forward to filing our response to their lawsuit,’’ Hochheiser said. If Spitzer had evidence that Bara-bash or Big Apple committed crimes, Hochheiser said, he would have filed criminal charges against Big Apple and "led my client out in handcuffs.’’ "As a last resort, perhaps to pacify the Equality Now organization, which is driving this case, they’ve filed this civil suit to try to put our client out of business,’’ Hochheiser said. "There are some serious First Amendment issues here.’’ Joselito Jimeno, of the Consulate General’s office of the Philippines, said Philippine officials were cooperating with Spitzer and his case against Big Apple. Jimeno noted that the Philippines created a law in May 2003 outlawing sex tours and criminalizing the use of the Internet to promote prostitution. "Legislation such as this, as well as strong and definitive actions by those countries from which tours originate, hopefully will send a clear message to those seeking to profit from the ex-ploitation of women and children,’’ Jimeno said in a statement released by Spitzer’s office. Big Apple advertised a 12-night tour of the Philippines for $2,195, with customers being promised to be taken to bars frequented by prostitutes and for Big Apple representatives to make introductions for them, said U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York. Maloney sought unsuccessfully to get former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno to move against Big Apple in 2000. "Big Apple Tours promotes prostitution around the world, actions that they know would be illegal here,’’ Ma-loney said Wednesday. "I am glad that the New York attorney general has taken action to try to put a stop to this exploitation of girls and young women.’’ The company said it offered what it called "voyages of discovery’’ since 1988.
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