A young woman’s shocking story of exploitation reveals how a vulnerable teen was manipulated into a life she never chose, generating eye-watering profits for those who controlled her
A vulnerable teenager was forced into prostitution at just 16, earning her pimps a staggering £470,000 in a single year. Jasmine, now 20, has bravely spoken out about her harrowing ordeal at the hands of a ruthless trio who exploited her from morning till night.
At the age of 16, Jasmine, from Grenoble, France, was under the control of two men and a woman who forced her into prostitution. As a young and influenceable teen, Jasmine met the trio in February 2022.
At the time, Jasmine had been placed in foster care and did not have any close family. “No parents, in foster care, nothing at all,” she recalled.
As per French news outlet Midi Libre, Jasmine said: “I was smoking cannabis. One day, I went to [a French location] to buy some.
“A bloke came over and spoke to me. I think he then followed me back to my foster home.”
She subsequently began a romantic relationship with the man and was forced to move to Lyon. Her new pimps went on to advertise Jasmine online as a 23-year-old woman, Midi Libre reported.
Jasmine was reportedly forced to move from one short-term rental flat to another across the entire south-east of the country for a full year. The at-the-time teen saw clients from morning till night, “up to 20 or 30 a day”.
She was reportedly given just enough cash to feed her cannabis habit, smoking up to 15 joints a day.
Meanwhile, investigators later uncovered that Jasmine’s sexual exploitation was lining her pimps’ pockets, raking in a staggering €540,000 (£460,000) in just one year.
Jasmine said: “If, for example, I declined a client because he stank, I was told: ‘You’ll do it anyway and shut your mouth.’
“And if the client wasn’t satisfied, they would hit me.” In the summer of 2022, Jasmine reportedly managed to escape her captors and reported them to the authorities.
The three individuals were subsequently convicted of aggravated pimping by the Grenoble Criminal Court and handed prison sentences of up to six years.
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.