Man pleads guilty to sex trafficking vulnerable woman, controlling her with drugs
A depraved man pleaded guilty to sex trafficking a vulnerable woman for nearly a year, using her addiction to keep her under his control, the Manhattan District Attorney's office announced.
Between Jan. 1 and Oct. 31, 2025, Winston Williams forced the victim into prostitution by leading her to believe she was continually in his 'debt' for supplying her with drugs — and telling her he would subtract the cost from money she made turning tricks, according to court documents.
'Winston Williams kept a woman trapped in a cycle of drugs and debts while lining his pockets,' Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg said in a statement.
'Traffickers target vulnerable New Yorkers all too often, as this defendant did by specifically seeking out someone with substance use disorders,' he added.
In addition to forcing the victim into sex work to pay down phony 'debts,' Williams, 42, used other methods to control his victim, including physically abusing her, controlling her access to money and food, and taking away her phone and government identification, the DA's office said.
Winston trafficked the victim across the city, forcing her to have sex for money in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. He pleaded guilty on Tuesday in New York State Supreme Court to sex trafficking and stalking.
He's expected to be sentenced June 10 to between 5-15 years in state prison.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
‘Fox & Friends' Host Freaks Out About Musk's ‘Crazy' Trump War: ‘What Are You Doing?!'
Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade struggled to comprehend just how badly President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's bubbling feud dramatically escalated during Thursday's back-and-forth. 'The Epstein file thing was way over the top and just crazy—to say that Trump was in the Epstein files. I mean, what are you doing?' Kilmeade said Friday morning. 'Sometimes when people get drunk, they do crazy things. But this is a total escalation.' The simmering tensions between Trump and Musk reached a very public boiling point as the pair exchanged a series of threats and attacks on social media. This included Trump saying Musk went 'crazy' over his plan to remove an electric vehicle (EV) mandate from his One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and suggesting the 'easiest way to save' billions of dollars from the budget would be to terminate the government subsidies that Musk's tech companies receive. Musk retaliated in a series of posts on X, including claiming, 'Without me, Trump would have lost the election,' and reposting calls for the president to be impeached and replaced with JD Vance. Musk also suggested Trump's sweeping tariffs will cause the U.S. to fall into a recession before dropping the 'really big bomb' that escalated the feud even further. 'Trump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public,' Musk wrote. Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire financier, died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting federal sex-trafficking charges. He was known for having a series of high-profile friends, such as former President Bill Clinton and Britain's Prince Andrew. Epstein and Trump were at the very least acquaintances, with the pair sometimes hanging out together at the president's Mar-a-Lago resort in the 1990s. In a 2002 interview with New York magazine, Trump praised Epstein as a 'terrific guy' he had known for 15 years. 'He's a lot of fun to be with,' Trump said. 'It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.' The Justice Department has vowed to release files related to Epstein. So far, Attorney General Pam Bondi has only authorized the release of documents 'previously leaked but never released in a formal capacity' by the government in February. There is no evidence Trump was connected to or aware of Epstein's crimes, with the pair said to have fallen out over a Palm Beach real estate deal in 2004. Discussing the bust-up between Trump and Musk, Kilmeade suggested that the tech billionaire's opposition to Trump's mega bill shows he doesn't know how to achieve compromise in politics. 'He doesn't understand that Donald Trump has to make [Republican Congressman] Mike Lawler happy in New York, and he's got to make every conservative congressman in Texas happy,' Kilmeade said. 'He's got to conduct an orchestra where the bassoon is having a fight with the oboe and the trumpets don't like the saxophone. All Trump has to do is get the song done. And what Musk does is say, 'If I don't agree with the saxophone and the oboe, I don't want to play.''
Bloomberg
35 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Paul Weiss Loses Ex-US Attorney Damian Williams After Trump Deal
A former federal prosecutor who joined Paul Weiss in the month leading up to President Trump's second term left for Jenner & Block. New York-based partner Damian Williams will co-chair Jenner's litigation department and investigations, compliance and defense practice, according to the firm's announcement on Friday. He leaves a firm that struck a controversial deal with the Trump administration to avoid punitive sanctions to a firm that sued Trump to block a similar attack.
CNN
40 minutes ago
- CNN
Hunter Biden drops lawsuit against Fox News
Hunter Biden on Friday dropped a lawsuit against Fox News that accused the right-wing network of unlawfully airing sexually explicit images of him. This is the second time Hunter Biden has filed and then voluntarily dismissed a lawsuit against Fox News. The cases stemmed from a 2022 digital miniseries that featured a dramatized 'mock trial' against Hunter Biden about his overseas financial dealings. Lawyers for former President Joe Biden's son claimed Fox News violated 'revenge porn' laws and defamed him. They did not explain in court filings why they dropped the case, though they recently lost an effort to move the case from federal to New York state court. CNN has reached out to Hunter Biden's lawyers seeking comment. In a statement sent to CNN, a Fox News Media spokesperson said, 'We are pleased to move on now that Hunter Biden has finally voluntarily withdrawn this meritless case which proved to be nothing more than a politically motivated stunt.' Get Reliable Sources newsletter Sign up here to receive Reliable Sources with Brian Stelter in your inbox. The Fox series highlighted Hunter Biden's lucrative business deals in Ukraine and China, which he pursued his father was vice president. It also delved into his admitted struggles with drug abuse and alcoholism. The program also featured some intimate images of Hunter Biden with various women, which appeared to originate from his infamous laptop. After he threatened a lawsuit in April 2024, the miniseries was taken down from the Fox Nation streaming site. He sued Fox anyway last summer, dropped the case after a few weeks, filed a new lawsuit in October, and dropped that case on Friday. In a court filing, his lawyers said he was dropping the case 'with prejudice,' meaning he can't file it again. Hunter Biden was convicted last year on federal gun charges and pleaded guilty to tax crimes related to his overseas deals. However, he was never accused of illegally lobbying the US government on behalf of his foreign clients, as was portrayed in the Fox miniseries. Before he could be sentenced — and potentially sent to prison — his father issued a full pardon in December, despite repeatedly pledging that he would not grant any clemency.
