Seattle Man Preyed On Women With Promise Of HBO Fame: Verdict

SEATTLE, WA - David D. Delay lured young women to Seattle, promising to cast them in a nonexistent HBO documentary. Once they got here, he manipulated them into becoming prostitutes, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Delay, 51, was found guilty in U.S. District Court in Seattle Monday of 17 felonies including conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking through force, fraud, and coercion.

Delay targeted teenagers and women in their early 20s, according to the Justice Department. He sent the women photos of himself in front of an HBO office and screenshots of fake bank accounts as proof that he was a successful filmmaker. Delay also made the women sign contracts, which he then used to threaten them when they tried to leave him, according to the Justice Department.

Delay isolated and manipulated the women, according to prosecutors: he threatened to distribute lewd video of them if they tried to leave, or sue them for breach of contract.

“This defendant preyed on vulnerable teenagers and young women, exploiting them for his own profit and sexual gratification, with no regard for their humanity,” said Acting Attorney General John Gore of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in a press release.

Delay will be sentenced Feb. 2 and is facing life in prison.

Photo: In this photo taken Feb. 27, 2017, a poster on the wall of The Genesis Project, a drop-in center for victims of sex trafficking in SeaTac, Wash., refers victims to a similar program at different location. A measure passed last week in the Washington state Senate could rewrite current law to make it easier for victims of trafficking to vacate prostitution convictions.

Photo via Ted S. Warren/Associated Press