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Notes -
There are I think about a half dozen statutes which are pertinent at the federal level for "sex trafficking"; e.g., in the case of a minor, it's defined as illegal sex trafficking of a minor to pay a person who you know to be a minor or one you showed reckless disregard as to whether or not they were a minor for a sex act
others, for e.g., 18 USC § 2421, simply require someone pay for the transportation of a prostitute to cross state lines for the purposes of engaging in prostitution and most states have laws which define the same conduct as "sex trafficking"
Greenberg was charged with the former. The crossing state lines is required because in a bygone era long ago, the federal government had to demonstrate someone crossed state lines for a court to claim it satisfied the "commerce clause" of the constitution which allowed justifies federal government jurisdiction, but now we barely even care and "affecting interstate commerce" is enough
they don't, they almost always believe the 17 year old to be over the age of 18 for various reasons, mostly because the 17 year old doesn't mention it or she lies, but many state and federal laws do not in practice care if the person actually knows the prostitute is 17 years old
the typical tactic is for the honey-potter to find 17 year olds, give them fake ids, and then pay them to have sex which someone, and then they claim, to their horror, to find out the person was actually 17 and now you're both guilty of federal sex trafficking and subject to 10 year mandatory minimum sentences on federal trafficking
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