A mother-daughter duo was busted for running a Brooklyn prostitution ring out of several massage parlors that exploited women desperate for cash, authorities said Wednesday.
Taya Benayun, 59, and Vladilina Benaun, 37, of Brighton Beach, were charged with sex trafficking, labor trafficking and promoting prostitution after they forced a woman to engage in sexual conduct for money and promoted the prostitution of another woman, according to Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.
“These defendants allegedly coerced and abused a vulnerable woman during a difficult time in her life, while running multiple illicit massage parlors in numerous locations in Brooklyn,” Gonzalez said. “I am fully committed to investigating and prosecuting this type of abhorrent trafficking, to protect victims and to fight against all exploitation of women.”
Gonzalez said one of the victims, a 23-year-old woman, needed to raise money for her ill father, and was referred to the mother and daughter by a friend in January 2024.
She was forced to work from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. six days a week and was required to split her prostitution profits 50/50 with her new bosses. The victim worked out of alleged massage parlors at 2281 McDonald Ave. and 1204 Coney Island Ave., officials said.
Authorities began investigating after a series of community complaints about the McDonald Ave. location in Gravesend, officials said.
Gonzalez said the woman’s father died in June 2024, and after that the victim became ill and could not work.
While she was in the hospital recovering, Benayun and Benaun called and texted her incessantly, plus threatened to report her to the authorities, officials said. They also allegedly threatened her and a friend of hers with physical violence.
The victim eventually returned to work because of the alleged threats and was afraid to leave, officials said.
Months later, a 20-year-old woman began working for the duo at two locations after answering an ad for a massage parlor employee in a Russian-language newspaper. She told authorities she split her earnings with them 50/50, too, and that surveillance cameras monitored her and multiple other women working at the places at all times.
Benayun and Benaun were each ordered held on $150,000 cash bail or $300,000 bond and ordered to return to court on Feb. 11.
