Nine Venezuelan nationals have pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from a sex trafficking organization that lured vulnerable Venezuelan women to the United States with false promises of employment before forcing them into prostitution to repay inflated smuggling debts, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

According to court documents, the organization recruited women in Venezuela, arranged for their illegal entry into the United States and sent them to Nashville, Tennessee, where they were told they owed large debts for their transportation.

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