Arkansas Massage Parlor Owner Charged for Trafficking Chinese Women

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said that human trafficking to the United States is part of communist China’s ‘gray zone warfare’ attacks.

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin speaks at a news conference in downtown Little Rock, Ark., on Sept. 30, 2024. Griffin's office filed a lawsuit against YouTube and parent company Alphabet, accusing it of fueling a mental health crisis among youth and being deliberately addictive. AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo

A Chinese national is facing a human trafficking charge after state law enforcement officials raided his three massage parlors, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said at a news conference on Aug. 14.

Zengguang “Gary” Liu, who is also a naturalized U.S. citizen, was arrested in Oklahoma City earlier this week, Griffin said, after agents from Griffin’s office raided Liu’s three illicit parlors—AI Massage, Magic Massage, and Diamond Massage—located in Hot Springs, Arkansas, on July 28.

During the raids, authorities seized $16,000 in cash in multiple currencies, including U.S. dollars and those of China and four other countries, Griffin said.

“We also obtained valuable information about how these establishments work and how the victims, who are forced to work as sex slaves, are being lured and transported to the United States,” he said.

Griffin said Liu “likely owned other such establishments elsewhere” in the country.

“Our raids have tied him to some of the places that we raided, and his footprint is quite significant nationally,” Griffin said.

Liu is facing two felony charges: trafficking of persons, and unauthorized use of another person’s property to facilitate certain crimes.

Chinese Women Trafficked Through Mexico

Griffin recounted how three victims—all Chinese nationals whom authorities encountered after the raids—ended up in the United States.

The first victim responded to a social media video in China promising work in the United States, although she said she didn’t know what kind of job it would be. She then spent her entire life savings to fly to Turkey, where she obtained a visa and boarded a cruise ship to Mexico. After arriving in Mexico, she walked across the southern U.S. border as “part of a caravan of migrants” a few years ago, and claimed asylum after being detained by Border Patrol. The woman was then recruited by her friend to work at an illicit massage parlor in southern California before she was sent to Hot Springs.

The second woman gave authorities an account that was almost identical to the first woman’s. The third woman said she responded to an online advertisement in China and went to Los Angeles, where she claimed asylum. She worked in Los Angeles and Seattle before being brought to Hot Springs.

“This is an organized criminal enterprise. The pattern here is clear, and it matches the intelligence and reports we have heard from federal partners and law enforcement agencies across the country,” Griffin said.

“Criminals based in China have gained a firm business foothold in the United States with illicit massage businesses. They recruit vulnerable women from China with promises of making better money in America than they can at home, and once the victims are lured here, they’re trapped and forced to work as prostitutes.”

‘Gray Zone Warfare’

Griffin described Liu as a “mid-level trafficker” in the alleged human trafficking operation, but said he’s thought to be the “highest-level person” that authorities had arrested so far.

The attorney general said he believes that Beijing is aware of this type of human trafficking but chooses not to act because it is part of its “gray zone warfare” attacks to destabilize the United States—similar to cyberattacks and enabling fentanyl production.

“I’m committed to rooting out this repulsive practice and holding these criminals accountable,” Griffin said.

In January, he launched Operation Obscured Vision to confront human trafficking in Arkansas, carrying out coordinated raids on illicit massage parlors in Harrison, Hot Springs, Jonesboro, Little Rock, Rogers, and Russellville. There were raids against similar businesses in Hot Springs in May.

In a statement issued on Aug. 14, Griffin’s office announced that search warrants had been issued for 13 illicit massage businesses, resulting in the arrest of seven individuals, including Liu. Six of those arrested are Chinese nationals, and three of them are naturalized U.S. citizens.

Arkansas authorities are still looking for two Chinese nationals, Junfang Li, 53, and Yuanbo Xi, 53, who are both believed to have fled the United States, according to the statement.

Twenty-three Chinese nationals have been identified as victims, according to Griffin’s office, and authorities have seized a total of $107,000 in cash from all of the raids.

The Epoch Times was unable to establish whether Liu had been assigned legal representation for the case.