Brown Trafficked Two Women, Including His Wife, Using Extreme Violence

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., announced the trial conviction of CURTIS BROWN, 63, for trafficking two women, including his wife and mother of his child, in a brutally violent prostitution operation over the course of more than a decade. On August 11, 2026, BROWN was convicted by a New York State Supreme Court jury of two counts of Sex Trafficking, as well as Criminal Contempt in the Second Degree, Perjury in the First Degree, and Intimidating a Victim or Witness in the Third Degree, among other charges. He is expected to be sentenced on September 10, 2026.

“For more than a decade, Curtis Brown profited from this extremely controlling, coercive, and violent operation,” said District Attorney Bragg. “With explicit rules and brutal punishments for perceived slights, he forcibly trafficked at least two women, including his wife, the mother of his child. After his arrest, he threatened to kill her if she testified, on top of committing perjury by repeatedly lying about his actions. Thank you to the members of the jury for their careful consideration of this very difficult case, and to the brave survivors who took the stand to secure justice for his years of abuse.” 

As proven at trial, between March 2008 and April 2019, BROWN ran a prostitution operation which involved forcibly sex trafficking two women, including a woman he later married. BROWN set specific rules that his victims had to follow. For example, BROWN prohibited the women from giving their phone numbers to any of their patrons because he wanted complete control over the money they made. BROWN set a $3,500 weekly quota for each of the women. He also set a work schedule, requiring that they dance at a strip club during the day, and that they work in prostitution during the night, from 7:00 p.m. until 7:00 a.m. 

BROWN used systematic and brutal violence to ensure that the women followed his rules. He repeatedly threatened them with guns, including two he called “Click” and “Clack.” On one occasion, when his wife gave her phone number to a patron, BROWN broke her leg with a metal bar. He punished women who failed to meet their quotas, including using what he called “reach for the sky,” where they had to remove all of their clothing and reach for the ceiling while he beat them with a belt, and what he called “freeze out,” where immediately after showering, they were forced to stand naked in front of an AC or fan for extended periods of time.

BROWN required each of the women to be tattooed with his alias, “Wise,” as well as the year in which she began working for him. For instance, BROWN’s wife was tattooed with the name “Wise” above the words “since 2008,” the year he forced her into prostitution. He controlled their appearances and clothing and required at least two of the women to get breast implants. He observed and recorded ‘dates’ through pen cameras and monitored their texts and calls.

On one occasion, BROWN’s wife tried to leave BROWN, but he found her, and she returned. When she did so, as punishment, BROWN forced her to disrobe and lie down on a bed before sexually assaulting her with a pole. In 2017, while pregnant with their child, she stayed with her family until she was again persuaded to return. BROWN stabbed her with a knife in her stomach, threatening, in substance, to cut the baby from her body. Her baby was born in April 2018, and she began to record many of BROWN’s violent acts. On April 5, 2019, BROWN assaulted her when she did not meet his quota and broke her phone. A neighbor called the police, and BROWN was arrested.

Later that year, BROWN attempted to stop his wife from continuing with the prosecution by handing her a note, written by him but purportedly in her voice, saying in substance that she would no longer participate and invoking the fifth amendment.

On April 4, 2020, after posting bail, BROWN approached his wife outside of her home, in front of their toddler, and threatened, in substance, to kill her if she did not stop cooperating with the prosecution. She escaped by running into a nearby store, where an employee immediately called the police. BROWN was later arrested and remanded. Afterward, while testifying in the Grand Jury, BROWN committed perjury by lying about multiple aspects of his violent operation.

Executive Assistant D.A. Justin McNabney (Chief of the Special Victims Division) and Assistant D.A. Meaghan Dunigan handled the prosecution of this case, with the assistance of Senior Investigators Ariela DaSilva and Sean Ryan and Investigative Analysts Emma MacPhee, Jacqueline Karp, Leila Jiadi, and Margaret Murphy. Former Human Trafficking Clinical Director Melissa Martinez-Valdes provided valuable support.

Defendant Information

CURTIS BROWN

Brooklyn, NY

Convicted:

• Sex Trafficking, a class B felony, two counts
• Perjury in the First Degree, a class D felony, three counts
• Promoting Prostitution in the Third Degree, a class D felony, one count
• Criminal Contempt in the Second Degree, a class E felony, one count
• Tampering with a Witness in the Third Degree, a class E felony, one count
• Intimidating a Victim or Witness in the Third Degree, a class E felony, one count
• Endangering the Welfare of a Child, a class A misdemeanor, one count

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