While pursuing gun traffickers in the Philippines, an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) used underage prostitutes to ensnare his targets, according to court papers filed in Los Angeles and reported by TickleTheWire.com.

The accusation came from an attorney representing one of the alleged traffickers in a federal court document filed September 17.

John Littrell, a public defender helping defendant Sergio Santiago Syjuco, wrote that an undercover FBI agent, using the alias Richard Han, spent thousands of taxpayer dollars on prostitutes in the Philippines.

Syjuco claims Littrell got the sex workers, many of whom were underage, “for himself and for defendants, and paid up to $1,600 for each group visit to a club called Area 51.

“In order to induce the defendants to participate, an undercover agent spent thousands of taxpayer dollars on prostitutes for himself and for the defendants,” Littrell wrote, according to TickletheWire. “Many of these prostitutes were likely minors. These crimes were not victimless. Indeed, only months after an undercover agent paid thousands of dollars of taxpayer money for prostitutes at a well-known brothel in Manila, the Philippine government raided the brothel, and rescued twenty under-aged girls.”

Justice Department spokeswoman Rebekah Carmichael issued a statement promising that, “We will contest the factual assumptions and legal significance of the defendant’s challenges in due course,”

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Undercover FBI Agent Accused of Using Taxpayer $$ to Pay for Prostitutes in Philippines for Himself and Defendants in Sting (by Allan Lengel, TickleTheWire.com)

Justice Dept. Issues Statement About Allegations that Undercover FBI Agent Paid for Prostitutes in Philippines for Himself and Defendants in Sting (by Allan Lengel, TickleTheWire.com)

Calif. FBI Agent Accused of Paying for Prostitutes (by Greg Risling, Associated Press)