Essex County Man Sentenced to 210 Months in Prison for Sex Trafficking Offenses

Press Release

TRENTON, N.J. - An Essex County, New Jersey, man was sentenced to 210 months in prison on charges of sex trafficking and prostitution-related offenses, U.S. Attorney Alina Habba announced.

Amin Sharif, 50, of Newark, was convicted by a jury in July 2024 of one count of attempted transportation of a victim with intent to engage in prostitution, one count of sex trafficking of a minor, one count of use of an interstate facility to promote unlawful activity, one count of transporting a victim with intent to engage in prostitution, and one count of persuading a victim to travel to engage in prostitution, following an eight-day trial before U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp in Trenton federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and the evidence at trial:

In January 2021, the Federal Bureau of Investigation began investigating Sharif for sex trafficking offenses. Sharif recruited four females, including one minor victim, from states across the country-New York, Pennsylvania, Idaho, and Utah. Sharif used multiple social media accounts and assumed aliases and false identities to recruit and entice victims. He made promises of housing stability, payment of bills and living expenses, and promises that the victims could make up to thousands of dollars per day by working for him. Sharif advertised the minor victim online, offering her for 32 sexual services.

Sharif was previously convicted of transporting a minor to engage in prostitution in federal court and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Shipp sentenced Sharif to 20 years of supervised release.

"Amin Sharif is a dangerous sex offender who has repeatedly preyed on vulnerable young women and minors in our society. The Court's sentence will prevent Sharif from harming additional victims and will send a strong signal to would-be traffickers that sex trafficking will not be tolerated in the District of New Jersey and will result in serious sentences."

-U.S. Attorney Alina Habba

"Disguised with multiple names and social media profiles, and promising help financially, Sharif instead sexually exploited his victims for his own monetary gain. Sharif ignored the physical and psychological trauma he was causing these vulnerable women and minors. FBI Newark Special Agents, Analysts, and Task Force Officers will stop at nothing to get heinous criminals off the streets, phones, and computers from where they lurk and put them behind bars where they belong," stated FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Terence G. Reilly.

U.S. Attorney Habba credited special agents of the FBI Newark Field Office, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Terence G. Reilly, with the investigation leading to this sentencing. She also thanked the FBI's Rochester, New York Office and the Dansville Police Department for their assistance.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Farhana C. Melo and Chelsea D. Coleman of the Criminal Division in Newark.

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Defense counsel: Laurie M. Fierro Esq., Kinnelon, New Jersey; Mary F. Khellah, North Bergen, New Jersey

Updated April 17, 2025