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Hundreds of women may have fallen prey to an alleged New York sex trafficker — who lured some victims through bogus online ads for waitressing gigs — in a sprawling operation that dates back a decade, federal investigators said Tuesday.

The accused madam, Ysenni Gomez, allegedly targeted newly arrived Spanish-speaking immigrants to ensnare in forced prostitution in Westchester County and the Bronx.

Gomez, 39, was charged in the Southern District of New York earlier this month with sex trafficking by means of force and a related interstate commerce crime in connection to one alleged victim, an undocumented Venezuelan woman, according to a criminal complaint against her.

Authorities are seeking other potential victims — with the FBI saying Tuesday that “hundreds” of women of unknown ages may have been trafficked by the alleged ringleader.

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A Central American human smuggler spoke exclusively and anonymously to investigative journalist Sara Carter about his illicit trade and the true state of the U.S.-Mexico border, which he suggested is controlled by Mexican cartels and not either government at this point.

Carter told Fox News the trafficker voluntarily agreed to the interview in part because even with his role in the open border crisis, he is uncomfortable with the plight of foreign children being smuggled into the United States.

“I am the guy who takes people to the U.S. – immigrants, to be exact,” the man told Sara Carter.

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Many adolescents consider staying up late a rite of passage into adulthood. While burning the midnight oil can be fun occasionally, new research out of Spain warns that poor sleep habits among teens increases their risk of becoming overweight or obese.

More specifically, teens sleeping less than eight hours nightly are more likely to be overweight or obese in comparison to their more well-rested peers. Similarly, “shorter sleepers” are also more likely “to have a combination of other unhealthy characteristics” including excess fat around the waist, high blood pressure, and abnormal blood lipid or glucose levels

The FBI is trying to unmask a prolific Instagram extortionist who posed as a Californian woman and tricked at least 30 teenage boys and young men into sending nude images, only to be told the photos would be shared with their families and friends unless they paid a given sum. In one case, an 18-year-old from Ventura County, California, gave over $1,500 in Apple gift cards to the blackmailer and subsequently took his own life, according to a previously unreported court filing obtained by Forbes.

The scammer has been carrying out the sextortion campaign since May of last year and their identity is not yet known. They’ve been particularly aggressive in pursuing payment from victims, in one case threatening violence against a 19-year-old and his family. The scammer also hacked into at least two victims’ Instagram accounts, telling them to hand over passwords to stop their photos from being shared, according to the FBI. The victims told police they tried to get their accounts back but were unsuccessful. Both were unavailable when checked by Forbes.

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• Led by the success of TikTok, every major US tech company is creating short form video features.
• Reels is now 25% of time spent on Instagram and YouTube Shorts has 1.5 billion watchers.
• Monetizing short video poses a problem for platforms, creators and advertisers, top analysts said

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CHICAGO (WLS) — The federal trial against R&B star R. Kelly went into its second week at the Dirksen Federal Building.

On Monday, a woman who said she lied years ago testified against him.

Kelly, already convicted in a New York court for racketeering and sex trafficking, is accused of creating child pornography and trying to escape prosecution by paying off the victim and her family.

SEE ALSO | R. Kelly jury views graphic videos of alleged sexual encounters with a minor

In 2008, Kelly was tried and acquitted for child pornography in a Cook County case. In that trial, the teenager in a video did not cooperate with prosecutors.

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