Yesterday, former fishing tour operator Richard Schair made public a criminal investigation by a federal grand jury into his and ex-wife Amelia’s alleged involvement with child sex tourism in Brazil.

Schair filed a pro se motion in the Gainesville, Georgia federal court to “stay” or stop a civil complaint brought against him by four Brazilian girls who allege he caused them, while underage, to engage in commercial sex acts with his North American fishing clients.

Their unprecedented complaint was coordinated by Equality Now, an international humanitarian group dedicated to fighting the sexual abuse and exploitation of women and girls with pro bono legal assistance provided by the Atlanta law firm of King and Spalding.

The complaint was filed to enforce civil remedies provided by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), describing the girls as victims of sex trafficking, with one as young as twelve.

Schair’s motion to stay “is a private counterpart to two ongoing criminal actions,” including prosecution by the Brazilian Public Ministry and Grand Jury FGJ 08-304 (MIA) out of Miami, Florida. It is not yet clear if the foreign prosecution is admissible in support of the stay.

Schair’s motion includes a copy of the original Brazilian charging document and documents from the Miami Grand Jury, including a target letter sent to Schair’s ex-wife on December 16, 2010. This request from Assistant US Attorney Marlene Rodriguez asks Amelia to talk with agents because “according to information that ICE and FBI supplied, Ms. Schair was involved with a company and/or an individual who may have engaged in child sex tourism in Brazil.”   

Other grand jury documents include a subpoena to testify, issued to Schair’s former fishing company Wet-A-Line Tours in July, 2009.

An attachment asks for:

• The Schair’s travel records from January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2008
• Photographs of all customers
• Electronic communication, files and contact information regarding all individual customers, corporate entity customers and subcontracted travel agencies

The other document is a request from the Brazilian Federal Ministry to a Federal Judge in the Amazon district asking for the prosecution of Richard W. Schair and five others. The request alleges that from 2005 to 2007, Schair’s fishing trips aboard the Amazon Santana “engaged in the illegal activities of sexual exploitation of minors, taking financial advantage of the prostitution of minors.” The request spells out the charges for which Schair was indicted, including:

• Sexual Exploitation of Minors
• Rape
• Facilitation of Prostitution
• Ruffianism
• Domestic trafficking of people

“Brazilian Girls Sue Richard Schair for Sex Trafficking” explains more about the girls' historic complaint.

“Brazil Prosecutes Schair & Co for Running House of Prostitution” explains more about this unprecedented multi-national human trafficking prosecution.

This is the second time Schair has made public criminal proceedings against him while trying to avoid prosecution. He filed an application for habeas corpus in June 2009, asking the Brazilian federal judge in charge of his indictment to drop all charges against him. This request made public his indictment after a federal police report itemized the charges for which he was originally indicted.  The Brazilian judge rejected Schair’s request, stating his case had no merit.

 “Brazilian Child Sex Tourism Resource and Timeline” explains:

This resource provides links to nine articles that document four different cases involving Atlanta real estate salesman and former fishing tour operator, Richard W. Schair.

The articles detail three legal challenges that totally blew up in his face.

1) Schair sued a business rival after alleging that he provided prostitutes for his fishing customers. As evidence mounted against him, Schair then paid his rival $15,000 to settle out of court. A witness list for the defense named 19 Jesters who were expected to testify about their first hand knowledge of minor prostitution, prostitution and drug use while on one of Schair’s fishing trips.

2) Schair’s failed request for habeas corpus made public his indictment by the Brazilian Federal Police for rape, using minors for prostitution and violating indigenous rights.

3) Schair sued Newsvine.com after I reported his indictment. He immediately withdrew his complaint after Newsvine attorneys moved the case from district court to federal court.

Schair first came to my attention after I published “Jesters Exposed,” the first ever article about the Shriners’ secret sub-group, the Royal Order of Jesters, currently under investigation for sex trafficking, prostitution and child sex tourism.

It has been confirmed that investigators have interviewed the Jesters about their trip/s to Brazil. It has yet to be determined if any of them have been called to testify before the grand jury.

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