Somaly Mam

Somaly Mam (Khmer: ម៉ម សុម៉ាលី [mɑːm somaːliː]; born 1970/71) is a Cambodian anti-trafficking advocate who focuses primarily on sex trafficking. From 1996 to 2014, Mam was involved in campaigns against sex trafficking. She set up the Somaly Mam Foundation, raised money, appeared on major television programs, and spoke at international events. After allegations of lying had appeared in The Cambodia Daily in 2012 and 2013, Newsweek ran a cover story in May 2014, claiming that Mam had fabricated stories of abuse about herself and others. After the Somaly Mam Foundation undertook its own investigation through Goodwin Procter, a Boston-based law firm, she resigned from her position, and the foundation shut down in October 2014. She moved back to live in Cambodia, before returning to the US later that year to begin new fundraising activities.