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You are reading this in the worst moment of your life, or someone you love is. Maybe you escaped a room at the Red Carpet Inn on Dumfries Road and you are still shaking when you close your eyes. Maybe your son, your daughter, your sister, your mother, your partner went into that place and never came home the same. Maybe you are reading this from a hospital room where a loved one is on a ventilator after a fentanyl-laced pill purchased from a hand that operated out of that same third floor. Maybe the police just told you what was really going on behind that door, and you are holding a phone trying to find out who can be held responsible.
Whoever you are, you did not bring this on yourself. The federal government has now charged five people, including the married couple who ran the operation through their company Kosha LLC, with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances including fentanyl, and the criminal case is proceeding in the Eastern District of Virginia. The federal prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said it plainly for the public record:
“Drug trafficking and sex trafficking devastate communities by exploiting vulnerable individuals and fueling violence and addiction. Our office is committed to dismantling criminal enterprises that profit from human suffering. Working alongside our law enforcement partners, we will continue to hold offenders accountable and disrupt the cycles of exploitation that threaten our communities.”
That statement describes the criminal case. What it does not describe, and what no news story describes, is the civil case that belongs to you. The motel operators can be sued by you in your own civil case, separately from the criminal prosecution, and the damages that can be recovered, in your name, with your own lawyer at your side, are substantial. The law was written for exactly this situation. At Attorney911 — The Manginello Law Firm, PLLC, we represent trafficking survivors and the families of overdose victims in civil cases against hotel operators, motels, rooming houses, and the corporate shells that run them. This page is the complete roadmap of what you can do, how long you have, what evidence to save tonight, what compensation is real, and how we fight for you with no fee unless we win.
The call to us is free. The consultation is confidential. We work nights, weekends, and holidays because the people who run these operations do not stop, and neither do we. You can reach a live person on our 24/7 line at 1-888-ATTY-911 (1-888-288-9911).
The Civil Door That Opens to Every Victim: 18 U.S.C. § 1595
Federal law gives trafficking survivors a private right of action that goes beyond the people who did the trafficking. The statute is 18 U.S.C. § 1595(a), part of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), and it reads:
“An individual who is a victim of a violation of this chapter may bring a civil action against the perpetrator (or whoever knowingly benefits, or attempts or conspires to benefit, financially or by receiving anything of value from participation in a venture which that person knew or should have known has engaged in an act in violation of this chapter) in an appropriate district court of the United States and may recover damages and reasonable attorneys fees.”
That statute is the spine of your case. You do not have to prove the motel operators personally trafficked you or personally sold you the drugs. You have to prove they knowingly benefited from a venture they knew, or should have known, was engaged in trafficking. A motel operator who took cash from the room, who knew or should have known what was happening in the rooms above, and who continued to take the money is a beneficiary under this statute. Kosha LLC, the company through which the Sharmas held the lease, is the entity. The Sharmas are the individuals. The property owner, if different from the operators, is a separate defendant under Virginia premises law. The pockets are layered, and the law reaches all of them.
The TVPRA’s clock is 10 years from when the cause of action arose under 18 U.S.C. § 1595(c), and if you were a minor at the time, 10 years after your 18th birthday. A child trafficked at 14 can sue until age 28. That window is closed to most people, but the law is clear that the question of when the cause of action “arose” can turn on when the victim was able to connect the harm to the operation, not the first day the harm occurred. Civil discovery rules and equitable tolling can preserve your right to sue even past the headline deadline, but every month you wait makes the proof harder. We send the preservation letter the day you call.
The FOSTA-SESTA Backdoor: How the Internet Gets Pulled In
If any of the trafficking or drug transactions were arranged, advertised, solicited, or facilitated through a website, an app, a social media platform, or a backpage-style classified listing, the federal Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA-SESTA, Pub. L. 115-164, signed April 11, 2018) carved a hole in the long-standing Section 230 communications-immunity shield. Under 47 U.S.C. § 230(e)(5), a civil claim brought under 18 U.S.C. § 1595 based on conduct that constitutes a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1591 (sex trafficking) is not barred by Section 230. The website, the booking platform, the encrypted chat app, the personals site, the ad board — each can be pulled into the case if the trafficking was routed through it.
Under 18 U.S.C. § 2421A, the same federal law created a new criminal offense for anyone who owns, manages, or operates an interactive computer service with the intent to promote or facilitate the prostitution of another person. The aggravated version of that offense (facilitating the prostitution of five or more persons, or reckless disregard that the conduct contributed to sex trafficking) carries up to 25 years in federal prison. The civil case rides alongside the criminal one, and the FOSTA carve-out is the door.
Every Defendant the Civil Case Can Reach
The federal criminal complaint names five people and one company. The civil case can reach more. The “shell game” is the name for the practice of hiding the real money behind layers of corporations and individuals, and the law is designed to pierce every layer. Here is who we name as defendants in a civil case arising from the Red Carpet Inn operation.
The Operating Defendants: Kosha Sharma and Tarun Sharma
The married couple ran the motel through Kosha LLC and are the central individual defendants. They are alleged in the federal criminal complaint to have taken a direct cut of the profits of the prostitution and drug distribution. In the civil case, the allegations that matter are these: (1) they owned or controlled the business; (2) they had authority over who rented the rooms, who cleaned the rooms, and what happened in the rooms; (3) they received the money; and (4) they knew, or should have known, what was happening on the third floor of their own property. The Sharmas are liable under both the federal TVPRA and Virginia Code § 8.01-42.1 for knowingly benefiting from a venture they knew, or should have known, was engaged in trafficking.
The Corporate Defendant: Kosha LLC
Kosha LLC is the entity that leased and operated the motel. The LLC does not shield the Sharmas from personal liability, and the LLC is itself liable as the operator. A civil judgment against Kosha LLC can reach the LLC’s bank accounts, its insurance, its real-property and equipment assets, and any distributions the Sharmas have taken from it. Discovery in the civil case will pull the LLC’s operating agreement, its tax returns, its bank statements, its insurance policies, and its ledger of room revenue. That paperwork is how we trace the money.
The Property Owner
If a different person or entity holds the fee simple title to the Red Carpet Inn land and building, and the Sharmas were only tenants or operators, the property owner is a separate defendant under Virginia premises-liability law. The owner has a duty to anyone lawfully on the property to use reasonable care to keep the premises safe from foreseeable harm. The owner also cannot delegate the duty to a lessee to run a safe operation, and a property owner who knew, or should have known, that the lessee was operating a trafficking venture or a drug house can be pulled into the civil case under theories of negligent entrustment, negligent security, and Virginia common-law premises liability.
The Franchisor or Brand Owner (if any)
The “Red Carpet Inn” name is sometimes a brand, not just a single building. If the Red Carpet Inn is part of a chain, a brand, or a reservation network, the franchisor or brand parent is an additional defendant in some trafficking and drug-house cases. The federal appellate case law on franchisor liability for sex trafficking at branded hotels is split. Some circuits have held that a remote franchisor who did not control the day-to-day operation cannot be held liable on a beneficiary theory. Other courts have held that a franchisor that received a cut of room revenue, set brand standards, controlled the reservation system, and exercised meaningful operational control over a property can be held liable. The brand parent is a potential defendant whose liability is fact-intensive and venue-specific.
Third Parties Who Booked, Advertised, or Facilitated
If any portion of the trafficking or drug distribution was advertised or arranged online, on a classifieds platform, on a social media channel, or through a backpage-style service, the FOSTA carve-out to Section 230 allows the website or platform to be named as a defendant. This is a developing area of civil liability, and it is one we evaluate in every trafficking case where there is a digital footprint.
The Civil Co-Conspirators
Piercing the corporate veil, holding individuals personally liable for the actions of an LLC, and identifying alter-ego relationships between related entities are all tools Virginia courts use to reach the actual money when defendants try to hide it. Discovery in a case like this routinely reveals bank accounts in the names of family members, related LLCs that own the cars and the second property, and cash transactions that never went through the LLC’s books. We follow the money.
The Evidence Clock: What Records Exist, Who Holds Them, and How Fast They Disappear
A civil case is won or lost on the records. The federal investigation has already pulled many of the records, but the civil case has its own evidence demands, and the records we need can vanish on a clock that is already running. Here is the complete inventory of records we demand the day you call.
Hotel Records: The Property Management System, Folios, and Key-Card Logs
The Red Carpet Inn, like every motel, runs a property management system that records every guest check-in, every room assignment, every key-card swipe, every payment, every housekeeping service call, every maintenance request, and every complaint. The folio record for each room shows the date, the length of stay, the form of payment, the occupant, and any notes the desk staff added. The key-card access log shows who entered the room and when. The housekeeping log shows which rooms were cleaned, which were skipped, and the reason for skipping. The complaint log shows what was reported to the front desk and how it was handled. These records are the spine of the constructive-knowledge case. They prove who came and went, who paid, who stayed, and what the staff saw. Industry practice is to retain these records for a limited period, often less than a year. The preservation letter goes out the day you call us. We do not wait.
Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) Footage
The Red Carpet Inn is alleged in the federal criminal complaint to have been the site of a multi-year operation on the third floor. CCTV footage from the hallways, the lobby, the parking lot, and the exterior exists, or existed. There is no federal statute mandating how long a motel keeps CCTV. Industry practice is to overwrite on a rolling loop, commonly 14 to 30 days, sometimes less. Footage that would show who entered the room, who exited, who came and went, and who the desk staff handed keys to can be legally erased in weeks. The federal criminal investigation has preserved some of this footage as evidence. Our civil preservation demand is independent of the criminal case and goes out the day you call.
Police Call-for-Service and Incident History
The Prince William County Police Department, the Dumfries Police District, and the Virginia State Police all have records of calls to the Red Carpet Inn. These include routine calls, noise complaints, drug complaints, missing-person reports, runaway reports, domestic-disturbance calls, and any other law-enforcement contact. A multi-year operation on the third floor generated calls. We pull them all. We also pull the CAD (Computer-Aided Dispatch) logs and the incident reports.
Federal Investigative File
The FBI and Prince William County Police Department have an investigative file on the Red Carpet Inn operation. The criminal complaint is public, but the full investigative file is not. Through the civil discovery process and, in some cases, through the Crime Victims’ Rights Act, we can obtain records the federal government collected. The federal agents interviewed witnesses, they pulled surveillance, they executed search warrants, and they documented the operation. That paperwork is part of the discovery in your civil case.
The Operators’ Own Records: The LLC’s Books, the Operators’ Tax Returns, the Insurance Policies
We demand the LLC’s operating agreement, the LLC’s general-ledger accounting, the LLC’s bank statements, the LLC’s tax returns, the LLC’s insurance policies, and the personal financial records of the Sharmas to the extent allowed by Virginia discovery rules. The money trail is the case. The room revenue, the cash, the distributions to the Sharmas, the insurance coverage that should have paid for the harm, and the LLC’s history of complaints are all discoverable in the civil case.
Drug-Specific Records: Toxicology, Pharmacy, and Medical Examiner Records
If your case involves a fentanyl or cocaine overdose, the toxicology report from the medical examiner, the pharmacy records of the decedent, the medical records from the hospital, and the autopsy report are all evidence. In a death case, the federal indictment’s allegations about fentanyl distribution become the predicate for a civil case that the operators sold the drug or knowingly allowed the drug to be sold from their property. Discovery in the criminal case has pulled the buy records, the surveillance, the cash seizures, and the lab analysis. We pursue every one of these in the civil case.
The Cellphone Records, the Texts, the Direct Messages
The operators and the participants communicated by phone and by message. Through the federal grand-jury process and the criminal-case discovery, communications records exist. In a civil case, we can subpoena relevant communications from the carriers and the platforms. We do this early. Cellphone records can be purged, and the window to preserve them closes quickly.
The bottom line on evidence: the day you call, we send the preservation letter. We notify every potential defendant, every third-party records holder, and every carrier that records exist, that they must be preserved, and that the destruction of those records after notice is the basis for an adverse-inference jury instruction at trial. We move fast because the records do not.
What a Civil Case Looks Like Step by Step
A trafficking or drug-overdose civil case is not a single event. It is a process. Here is what the process looks like from your side.
Step One: The Free Consultation
You call us. The call is free. The call is confidential. The call is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We listen to what happened. We answer your questions. We tell you honestly whether we believe we can help. There is no obligation. If you are not ready to talk yet, we wait until you are. You can reach us at 1-888-ATTY-911 (1-888-288-9911) or through our contact page.
Step Two: The Investigation and the Preservation Letter
Once you retain us, we begin the investigation. The same day, we send the preservation letter to every potential defendant, every records holder, and every third party who has relevant evidence. We pull the federal criminal complaint. We pull the police reports. We begin the medical-records collection. We identify and consult treating physicians. We retain a forensic economist. We retain a life-care planner if the case warrants it. We begin building the damages case in parallel with the liability case.
Step Three: The Filing of the Civil Complaint
We file the civil complaint in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (federal court, Alexandria Division, which covers Prince William County) or in the Circuit Court for Prince William County, depending on the optimal forum for your case. The complaint names the Sharmas individually, Kosha LLC, the property owner if a different entity, the brand or franchisor if the Red Carpet Inn is part of a chain, and any third-party facilitators whose conduct contributed to the harm. The complaint pleads the federal TVPRA claim, the Virginia Code § 8.01-42.1 trafficking claim, the Virginia premises-liability claim, the negligent-security claim, the negligent-entrustment claim, the wrongful-death claim if the harm was fatal, the survival claim, and the conspiracy claim.
Step Four: Discovery
Discovery is where the case is won or lost. We issue subpoenas. We take depositions. We demand the LLC’s books, the operators’ bank records, the insurance policies, the police call-for-service history, the federal investigative file, the medical records, the employment records, the pharmacy records, and the cellphone records. We depose the Sharmas under oath. We depose the LLC’s representative. We depose the insurance adjuster. We depose the police officers who executed the raid. We retain expert witnesses in human trafficking, drug distribution, premises security, forensic economics, life-care planning, and forensic psychiatry. The defense resists at every step, and we use the federal and Virginia discovery rules to compel production.
Step Five: Resolution
Most civil cases resolve before trial. The combination of a strong federal investigative record, the preservation of key evidence, well-pleaded claims, and a credible threat of trial drives settlement. The settlement is your recovery. It is paid by the defendants and their insurance carriers. It is structured to give you the compensation the law allows. If the case does not settle, we take it to a jury in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia or in the Circuit Court for Prince William County, and we let the jury decide.
The Civil Case and the Criminal Case: Two Tracks, One Goal
It is important to understand that the federal criminal case and your civil case are two different proceedings, on two different tracks, in two different forums, with two different burdens of proof and two different outcomes.
The federal criminal case is United States v. Kosha Sharma, Tarun Sharma, Margo Waldon Pierce, Joshua Roderick, and Rashard Perrish Smith, in the Eastern District of Virginia, prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The burden of proof is beyond a reasonable doubt. The outcome is a verdict of guilty or not guilty, and a sentence measured in years of federal prison. The criminal case is brought by the government on behalf of the public. The criminal case is not your case.
Your civil case is your case. It is brought in your name, by your lawyer, on your behalf. The burden of proof is more likely than not, which is lower than the criminal burden. The outcome is a verdict for or against you, and damages measured in dollars. The civil case is brought by you for yourself. The civil case is your case.
The two cases inform each other. A criminal conviction in the federal case is powerful evidence in the civil case. A guilty plea is powerful evidence. A federal sentencing finding that the operators knew and profited is powerful evidence. The criminal case also creates discovery opportunities that the civil case can use. The federal investigative file, the federal grand-jury transcripts (where accessible), the federal wiretap records (where accessible), the federal search-warrant returns, the federal lab analysis, and the federal agents’ testimony are all available in the civil case through proper channels. The criminal case is the public record of what happened. The civil case is the financial recovery for the victim.
You do not have to wait for the criminal case to conclude to file your civil case. In fact, the prudent course is to file the civil case as soon as the preservation letter goes out, because the civil case has its own clock and its own discovery. The criminal case may take a year or two to reach a verdict. The civil case moves on its own schedule, and the longer you wait, the harder it is to preserve evidence, locate witnesses, and prove the case.
What You Should Do Right Now: A Practical Roadmap
If you or a loved one has been a victim of the Red Carpet Inn operation, here is the practical roadmap. You do not have to do all of this. You do not have to do it in this order. But the roadmap is what we will work through together.
Save everything. Save any text messages, emails, voicemails, photographs, social-media messages, receipts, ticket stubs, written notes, journal entries, medical records, prescription records, pharmacy records, mental-health records, school records, employment records, and any other document or communication that relates to the Red Carpet Inn, to the Sharmas, to Kosha LLC, to any of the defendants, to the events in question, to the drugs, to the trafficking, or to the harm. Save them in a folder. Take photographs of the physical items. Back up the digital items to a cloud service you control.
Write down what you remember. Write down the dates, the times, the locations, the names, the descriptions, the conversations, the events, and the details. The human memory fades. The earlier the record, the more accurate. Do not worry about grammar. Do not worry about completeness. Get it down while it is fresh.
Do not speak to the defendants, the insurance adjusters, the investigators, or the media without our involvement. Anything you say to the defendants can be used against you. Anything you say to the insurance adjuster will be on a recorded statement. Anything you say to the media will be in the public record. Refer all inquiries to us. We handle communications with the insurance company. We handle communications with the defense lawyers. We handle communications with the press.
Do not sign anything. Do not sign a release. Do not sign a settlement. Do not sign an authorization to release records. Do not cash any check from an insurance company. Do not agree to an interview. Do not agree to a medical examination by anyone other than your own treating physician. If a document is presented to you, photograph it and send it to us. We will tell you what to do.
Preserve your medical care. Continue seeing your treating physicians. Continue your therapy. Continue your medication. Continue your treatment. The medical record is the proof of the harm. Gaps in treatment are the defense’s favorite argument. Stay in care. Document every appointment. Save every record.
Call us. The call is free. The consultation is confidential. The number is 1-888-ATTY-911 (1-888-288-9911). We answer 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. We have a live person on the line. We do not use answering services. We have a Spanish-speaking attorney on the team. Hablamos Español. We do not get paid unless we win your case. The sooner you call, the sooner we can send the preservation letter, the sooner we can lock down the evidence, the sooner we can begin the investigation, and the sooner we can file the civil case to protect your rights.
Why We Fight These Cases
We have been doing this work for a long time. We have represented survivors of catastrophic injury. We have represented families who lost loved ones. We have held trucking companies, refineries, nursing homes, and other corporate defendants accountable. We have taken cases to verdict. We have recovered millions of dollars for our clients. We have also turned down cases we did not believe in, because the firm has a reputation and we protect it.
Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes.
The Red Carpet Inn case is a case we believe in. The federal indictment alleges a multi-year trafficking and drug-distribution operation. The victims are real. The operators are named. The LLC is on the public record. The property is in Prince William County. The records exist, and the preservation letter can be on its way to the defendants within hours of your call. The civil case can be filed in the proper court this week. The witnesses can be interviewed. The experts can be retained. The discovery can be served. The case can move.
You do not have to do this alone. You do not have to wait until the criminal case is over. You do not have to wait until you are “ready.” The evidence clock is running, and the longer you wait, the harder the case becomes. The law is on your side. The federal government has already done the first part of the work for you by charging the operators. Our job is to do the rest.
Call us. The consultation is free. The case is on a contingency fee. No fee unless we win. We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We have a live person on the line. We have a Spanish-speaking attorney on the team. Hablamos Español. We have decades of trial experience. We have the resources, the experts, and the determination to take this case the distance.
The number is 1-888-ATTY-911 (1-888-288-9911).
Or visit our contact page and a member of our team will reach back to you within hours.
We are ready to fight for you. The federal government has done its part. Now it is our turn.
This page provides general legal information about civil claims available to victims of sex trafficking and to families of overdose victims in the wake of the federal criminal case involving the Red Carpet Inn in Dumfries, Prince William County, Virginia. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. The federal indictment and the statements of public officials referenced in this page are matters of public record. The information on this page is current as of the publication date and may be updated as the criminal and civil cases progress. Statutes of limitations, deadlines, and legal procedures are fact-specific, and the application of the law to your case requires a complete consultation with a licensed attorney. Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes. Contingency fee representation: no fee unless we win. Free, confidential consultation available 24/7 at 1-888-ATTY-911. Hablamos Español.