Donald Trump associate Tevfik Arif charged with running prostitution ring aboard

10/3/2010 4:57:54 PM

A business partner of Donald Trump was charged late Friday for his role in pimping out Eastern European models for decadent sex parties aboard a Turkish yacht.

Turkish prosecutors hit Tevfik Arif, 57, and five others with charges related to organizing a criminal gang, prostitution and human trafficking, according to media reports.

Details of the charges were not revealed because prosecutors had not drawn up an indictment. The six suspects remained in custody pending a trial, according to the reports.

The arrests came after police Tuesday raided the Savarona, a 450-foot luxury yacht moored off the coast of the city Antalya. It followed a seven-month probe into the alleged international prostitution ring.

During the raid, police rounded up nine Russian and Ukranian models - two of whom were minors - and the wealthy businessmen who allegedly shelled out $3,000 to $10,000 for the trysts. The women were deported to their homelands.

Arif, who heads the New York-based firm Bayrock Group, denied the charges and claimed he was entertaining friends, according to Turkish news agency Anatolia.

The Kazakh national co-developed the Trump SoHo, Trump International Hotel and Tower in Fort Lauderdale and the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Phoenix.

Trump has refused to comment about the arrest.

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