Eric Holder Reminds DOJ Employees to Stop Hiring Prostitutes

Attorney General Eric Holder had a friendly reminder for Justice Department employees before the weekend: don’t solicit prostitutes.

In a letter released to all department staff on Friday, Holder wrote that he “want[ed] to reiterate to all Department personnel, including attorneys and law enforcement officers, that they are prohibited from soliciting, procuring, or accepting commercial sex.”

Holder wrote that, despite prostitution being legal in parts of Nevada and abroad, department employees are expected to refrain, “not simply because it invites extortion, blackmail, and leaks of sensitive or classified information, but also because it undermines the Department’s efforts to eradicate the scourge of human trafficking.”

The letter follows a report from the DOJ’s internal oversight office released last month that contains allegations of sexual misconduct at a number of agencies within the Department of Justice.

The report contained specific allegations that ten agents within the Drug Enforcement Agency hired sex workers overseas for parties at an agent’s “quarters,” leased for him by the U.S. government. According to the Washington Post, these parties took place in Colombia.

Also included in the report are accusations from Colombian officials of DEA agents “frequent[ing]” a brothel and receiving money, gifts, and weapons from drug cartel members.

Seven of the ten agents accused of attending the parties admitted to their involvement, and the DEA imposed penalties of between two and ten-day suspensions.

As an excuse for his actions, one DEA agent told investigators that prostitution is “considered a part of the local culture” — Holder dismissed this line of reasoning outright in his letter.

“Regardless of whether prostitution is legal or tolerated in a particular jurisdiction,” he wrote, “soliciting prostitutes creates a greater demand for human trafficking victims and a consequent increase in…commercial sex slavery.”

The Justice Department’s report followed 2012 allegations of Secret Service agents, who are technically housed within the Department of Homeland Security, soliciting prostitutes in Colombia.

The Washington Post reported that one Secret Service agent told federal investigators that he was referred to a prostitute via an informal party hosted by agents from the DEA.