A Chicago woman admitted Wednesday running a high-end brothel known as the city’s “premier Dungeon” that apparently boasted thousands of clients and collected more than $1 million.
Jessica Nesbitt, also known as “Madame Priscilla Belle,” pleaded guilty to a prostitution conspiracy revolving around her West Side business known as Kink Extraordinaires, where her attorneys said her 9,000 clients included people holding “positions of prestige in the community, including in law enforcement and government.”
When Nesbitt was first charged in summer 2019, her attorneys insisted she ran a legal business and paid her taxes. “Fetish-based eroticism is not unlawful,” defense attorney Barry Sheppard told the Chicago Sun-Times.
But during a hearing Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly, 35-year-old Nesbitt admitted arranging for prostitution appointments with clients — and performing acts of prostitution herself — while charging rates of $300 to $1,000 per hour “depending upon the services provided.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Erika Csicsila told the judge that the conspiracy lasted from September 2010 until Jan. 11, 2017. The prosecutor said Nesbitt had multiple employees who traveled to San Diego, Miami, Las Vegas and Wisconsin to perform acts of prostitution.
Nesbitt advertised her services on her own website, kinkextraordinaires.com, as well as others like backpage.com and eros.com. Csicsila said Nesbitt used email accounts to invite clients to sex and fetish parties with names like “Black Tie Bizarre” and “Halloween Mischief.”
Nesbitt and her employees accepted more than $1 million in cash or debit, credit and gift cards, the prosecutor said.
Following Wednesday’s hearing, Sheppard told reporters that Nesbitt had “accepted full responsibility for all of her deeds.”
“She hasn’t attempted to shift blame in anyone else’s direction,” he said. “Her behavior since the inception of this case has been exemplary, and she’s going to continue on to be a valued member of society.”
Nesbitt’s sentencing hearing is set for May 3. She faces a maximum of five years in prison, but there is a disagreement among the lawyers as to how much time she should face under federal sentencing guidelines.
Prosecutors say she could face nearly three years, while her attorneys say the guidelines should call for less than two years.
Kink Extraordinaires has been described as “the premier Dungeon of Chicago.” Its website said it offered “beautiful, psychologically sophisticated Kinksters” who “play out of a private five-floor dungeon with multiple, fully equipped themed rooms.”
The business, officially known as Selective Management Enterprises Inc., was based in the 2400 block of West Augusta.
Nesbitt’s lawyers made headlines months after she was charged by writing in a court filing that “many of Ms. Nesbitt’s former clients hold positions of prestige in the community, including in law enforcement and government.”
They also wrote that many were “leaders in industry, government, and law, who have offered Ms. Nesbitt future employment opportunities.”
Nesbitt told the judge Wednesday that she now owns, and rents out, condominiums. She also said she works as a construction company’s administrative coordinator.
