organizations," the AP went on. "Eleven men who were arrested were part of an online network that included websites where customers rated the women and posted details to help facilitate the prostitution, he said."

This seedy, sordid narrative hangs on the tack that the women on TRB were unwilling participants in prostitution. That's the only way the site—a marketing venue meets social-network that was highly valued by independent sex workers—becomes a "sex trafficking site," old-fashioned escort-agencies become "human trafficking organizations," and women clearly exhibiting agency in what they're doing become "prostituted persons" and "victims." It's how men whose words display more respect for sex workers than I've even seen from law enforcement get accused of being their oppressors.

And it's how a group of men whose activity consists of nothingmore than posting words online can find themselves legally liable for felony crimes and tried in the court of public-opinion for promoting "sexual slavery."

This is the second chapter of a three-part piece exploring this Washington-state "sex trafficking" bust. The first part looked at alleged leaders of the criminal enterprise and how tales of an organized, diabolical, cross-country ring couldn't be more wrong. We'll continue in that vein here, focusing on the men of The League.

'Nobody Pays for Trafficking'

In a January 7, 2016, case summary signed by King County Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Val Richey, "The League" is described as "an exclusive group of men dedicated to the commercial sexual exploitation of women, particularly foreign women brought into the United States for prostitution purposes." The group is accused of