A retired cop was charged Tuesday with running dozens of prostitution websites and pocketing millions, according to an investigation by the NYPD and the Department of Homeland Security.
Michael Rizzi was arrested Tuesday morning and arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn. He was released on a $500,000 bond and told not to have any contact with customers, escorts, employees or potential witnesses, as well as not to use any websites or email accounts of any business-related domains, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
An attorney for Rizzi could not immediately be reached for comment.
Rizzi, who also went by the first name Bruce, was charged with running 58 different websites, including alluringcompanions.com and lushplaymates.com, according to the criminal complaint.
Each website featured 25 to 30 women in “scantily clad outfits” or “occasionally topless” with a “donation” price, according to the complaint.
Clients requested Rizzi’s prostitutes for extravagant trips, including flying on a private jet to Jamaica for a five day appointment, court records showed. The prostitutes apparently charged anywhere from $400 to $2,000 per hour.
Rizzi, who retired from the NYPD in 2000 after serving nine years and collected a disability pension, would allegedly meet with potential escorts. In one instance, according to the complaint, a woman didn’t want to meet with him.
“I’m sorry darling, Google ‘escorts in NYC,’ I’m number one for a reason,” he allegedly wrote to one. “I get the most business, my girls make the most money, my clients are the wealthiest people in the world. … Been doing this 10 years never a problem.”
This was not Rizzi’s first run in with the law, according to the complaint: He pleaded guilty in for his role in a sports gambling ring in Queens in 2009. For that incident he paid a fine.
