In January 2011, a proprietor of the brothel was sentenced to prison time in a Federal court for operating an illegal massage parlor in Seattle in addition to the legal operation in Nevada. The sentencing memorandum stated that “While on pre-trial release, [the owner of No. 1 Geisha] attempted to recruit women to work at the legal brothel in Elko ... He claimed that he needed to travel to Nevada to do repair work on his home; yet he was reported by the Elko Police Department and a confidential source that he was in Elko to recruit a ‘lessee’ and additional employees for the legal brothel.”[7] The federal government seized close to $50,000 in assets from the legal brothel in Nevada in relation to the illegal operations in California and Washington.[8]