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Human Trafficking at Sundance?
I’ll chalk this one up to something I never considered…
According to KSL, the Utah Attorney General’s Office went undercover at parties and red carpet events at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. What were they looking for? Human Trafficking. The Attorney General’s office defines human trafficking as “a modern-day form of slavery involving the illegal trade of people for exploitation or commercial gain. Traffickers use force, fraud, or coercion to lure their victims and force them into labor or commercial sexual exploitation.”
KSL says that the investigators didn’t find anything specific but “when it comes to the human trafficking element, we gained a lot of intelligence this year. We’re going to build a better game plan for next year. We do know there are some signs of human trafficking during Sundance,” said Nate Mutter, section chief for the attorney general’s public corruption unit. Next year they say they are going to try to attend more high end parties where it may take more cash to receive an invite.
Attorney General Sean Reyes did make it clear that human trafficking isn’t something specific to Sundance but that the activity often accompanies large scale events around the country.
To me, it all seems like something out of HBO’s True Detective, where high rollers are willing to pay to get WHATEVER they want. I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising that those types of people come to Park City for one of the biggest film festivals in the world. It’s unfortunate that it happens anywhere. It’s especially unfortunate that something that Park City depends upon seems to have such a seedy underbelly.
Parkrag
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4 Comments
But, um, they didn’t find anything. Right? So we don’t actually have any evidence that there’s any human trafficking happening.
I don’t think this is worth of pearl clutching just yet.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not worried about my family going to a movie and ending up in Cartagena as indentured servants (or worse). I just didn’t know things like this POTENTIALLY happened at something like Sundance.
We do know the investigators saw “signs” of human trafficking at Sundance (according to quotes), so next year they are beefing up efforts. Now, I do wonder if that is an AG who knows something or an AG who is taking a flyer, hoping to hit the ball out of park, and be Governor some day.
Either way, I wouldn’t say I’m clutching at my pearls… more like I’m just standing back watching and saying…. “This is really messed up.”
I would tend not to give the cops in UT the benefit of the doubt on this sort of thing. Their investigation was a bust, so they… ask for more money to go to a bigger party next year? Am I the only one who finds that ridiculous?
The Attorney General’s Office wouldn’t be investigating without leads. After everything coming out about Hollywood now days, in hindsight four years later does this article really sound so far fetched? Does it really surprise you that a gathering of fame, power, and money would have this kind of exploitation happening? A woman I know wasn’t “kidnapped” at Park City but rather was born into a community that sold their girls from a young age to various wealthy buyers. Some of her most harrowing experiences were at Sundance. It was hearing her story that prompted me to search online for more information and this small article from four years ago is almost all I could find. That’s what’s ridiculous.
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