After 24 years of operating an unlawful escort service, mother-son crime duo Margareta von Lambert and Christopher Jelavic have been busted for utilizing von Lambert’s actual property and artwork companies to launder their earnings. Von Lambert, 70, and Jelavic, 48, had been arrested on Sept. 11, a number of days after trying to constitution a flight to Brazil.
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After 24 years of operating an unlawful escort service, mother-son crime duo Margareta von Lambert and Christopher Jelavic have been busted for utilizing von Lambert’s actual property and artwork companies to launder their earnings. Von Lambert, 70, and Jelavic, 48, had been arrested on Sept. 11, a number of days after trying to constitution a flight to Brazil.
“Many investigations have been initiated on [Pretty Woman Escorts] however none have been successful at disrupting or dismantling [it],” Broward Sheriff’s Workplace Detective Jairo Barrera wrote in a 100-page arrest warrant, in keeping with The Unbiased. “Based on… intelligence gathered, and evidence obtained from records, there is reason to believe that Margareta von Lambert is using her Florida Realtor’s License to facilitate the laundering of illicit proceeds for her son, Christopher Jelavic.”
Jelavic owned and operated Fairly Lady Escort Providers, the place he offered the companies of European and South American intercourse employees for $300 to $400 per hour. The ladies labored 12-hour shifts from 6 pm to five am, the warrant mentioned, and had been underneath contracts the place they gave 45 p.c of their earnings to Jelavic.
Von Lambert helped Jelavic launder these earnings by saying the ladies labored for her at Boca Artwork Studios, which allegedly provided residence design, residence transforming, and residential gross sales companies. Von Lambert helped the escorts get actual property licenses, so their earnings may very well be deposited into Von Lambert’s checking account for obscure actual estate-related companies.
Von Lambert additionally brokered a number of luxurious actual property purchases for her son, totaling within the hundreds of thousands. Nonetheless, Von Lambert’s financial institution accounts solely confirmed fee earnings of $3,000 per quarter.
“What is noticeable when examining Margareta von Lambert’s bank accounts is the lack of financial transactions of real estate activity for an account associated with a real estate business and the lack of financial transactions of art studio activity for an account associated with an art studio business,” the warrant learn.
Jelavic’s try to buy an property in Croatia hastened authorities’ arrest efforts, as texts between the mother-son duo confirmed paranoia about police surveillance. In one of many texts, Jelavic mentioned he was experiencing “frustration and feelings of being overwhelmed” and feared he’d quickly be going “to prison for money laundering, organized crime, and other serious offenses.”
“The desire to purchase property in Croatia hints at plans to move or hide assets internationally,” the warrant learn.
Von Lambert, Jelavic and his spouse tried to go away the nation on Sept. 7; nevertheless, authorities stopped them from boarding the flight. The mom and son had been arrested 5 days later and charged with two counts of cash laundering of greater than $100,000 in a 12-month interval and deriving help from the proceeds of prostitution.
Each prices carry a $500,000 bond.
E mail Marian McPherson
