PRESCOTT DOCTOR FACING FEDERAL CRIMINAL CHARGES UNDER THE “MANN ACT”

FORMER PRESCOTT DOCTOR HOJAT ASKARI IS FACING FEDERAL CHARGES ON ACCUSATIONS OF PAYING CHICAGO ENTREPRENEUR IMAN BAMBOOYANI TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN 2018 TO FINANCE THE OUT OF STATE TRAVEL AND OTHER EXPENSES OF WOMEN FOR HIGH-PAID TRYSTS. ASKARI ALSO WAS CHARGED WITH LYING TO FBI AGENTS WHEN HE DENIED HAVING MET THE WOMEN FOR SEX.

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE REPORTS THAT BOTH ASKARI AND BAMBOOYANI PLEADED NOT GUILTY TO THE CHARGES DURING AN ARRAIGNMENT THURSDAY BEFORE U.S. MAGISTRATE JUDGE JEFFREY GILBERT, WHO ORDERED THEM EACH RELEASED ON A $100,000 APPEARANCE BOND THAT DID NOT REQUIRE THEM TO POST ANY CASH.

IN ADDITION TO THE APPEARANCE BOND, ASKARI’S WIFE AGREED TO SERVE AS HIS THIRD-PARTY CUSTODIAN AT THEIR SECOND HOME IN BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA.

THE 10-PAGE INDICTMENT IN BAMBOOYANI’S CASE ALLEGED THAT BETWEEN JANUARY AND MAY 2018, BAMBOOYANI ARRANGED FOR FOUR WOMEN TO TRAVEL TO VARIOUS STATES TO HAVE SEX IN EXCHANGE FOR MONEY WITH BAMBOOYANI, ASKARI AND OTHERS.

IN ADDITION TO PAYING THE WOMEN CASH FOR SEX, BAMBOOYANI AND ASKARI ALLEGEDLY ARRANGED FOR THEIR TRAVEL AND LODGING IN SEVERAL CITIES, INCLUDING PHOENIX.

ASKARI ALLEGEDLY WROTE A NUMBER OF CHECKS FROM HIS BUSINESS BANK ACCOUNT FOR AS MUCH AS $6,000 AFTER EACH OF THE TRIPS. FBI AGENTS CONFRONTED ASKARI AND SHOWED HIM PHOTOS OF SOME OF THE WOMEN AND ASKED ABOUT THE PAYMENTS. THE INDICTMENT ALLEGED ASKARI LIED WHEN HE “DENIED HAVING SEX WITH ANY OF THE WOMEN INTRODUCED TO HIM BY BAMBOOYANI.”

THE INDICTMENT WAS A RELATIVELY RARE INVOCATION OF THE MANN ACT, WHICH MAKES IT A FEDERAL CRIME TO INDUCE ANYONE TO TRAVEL OVER STATE LINES FOR SEXUAL PURPOSES.