Board mistakenly issues massage parlor a license, then imposes a $1,000 fine

After mistakenly issuing a license to a Des Moines massage parlor, state regulators have imposed a $1,000 fine against the company for doing business without a license.

A woman who answered the phone at the business on Wednesday indicated she could not comment on the state’s actions but said the massage parlor was still open for business, was still accepting clients and was open until 9 p.m. that evening as it normally is. She said she’s unsure as to the current ownership of the business.

According to the Iowa Board of Massage Therapy, Juan Xu of Flushing, New York, the owner of Asian Massage Therapy on Merle Hay Road in Des Moines, applied for an Iowa massage license on March 23, 2023, listing the Academy of Oriental Therapy as the school where she received her massage therapy education in 2014. The board issued the license four days later, on March 27, 2023.

In either September 2023 or December 2023 — board records give two conflicting dates — the board rescinded the license, stating that it should not have been issued because the Academy of Oriental Therapy was not a board-approved educational institution. The board stated the school had its certification revoked in 2015 by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork.

The Iowa license was issued due to what the board now calls “a clerical error.”

In November 2024, Xu reapplied for licensure, noting she was licensed to practice in the states of Connecticut, Texas and Virginia.

The board says that as part of her application, Xu also provided a transcript from Ranier Massage Academy, which stated that in June 2024 she had graduated from Ranier Massage Academy in Seattle, Washington.

According to both the National Certification Board and the Washington State Department of Health, Ranier does not have an approved massage therapy program, the Iowa board alleges, which is why, in February 2025, it denied Xu’s application for licensure in Iowa.

There is no internet presence for a “Ranier” Massage Academy in Seattle. There are businesses with similar names, none of which appear on the Washington State Department of Health’s list of approved schools for massage therapy.

Several weeks later, in May 2025, Xu reapplied for an Iowa massage therapist license, this time providing a transcript from American Massage Academy in Plano, Texas. Two months later, in July 2025, the board denied Xu’s application, noting that “in less than one year she completed two complete massage curriculums in two different states, which would be difficult to accomplish, if not impossible.”

Recently, the board completed an investigation of Xu’s Asian Massage Therapy and issued a report of its findings.

According to the board, investigators visited the business on Nov. 5, 2025, at a time when the board knew the business to be unlicensed. The board alleged Xu “held herself out to be a licensed massage therapist, and produced the Iowa massage therapy license” that was issued in error in 2023.

“Xu was actively servicing a customer at the time investigators visited the establishment,” the board alleges. “Xu indicated that she currently worked alone, but that ‘more girls are coming after Thanksgiving,’ and that the girls were coming from New York … An internet search of the establishment conducted by investigators revealed advertisements of the business on multiple web platforms containing suggestive language and photos of Asian women in minimal clothing.”

The board recently elected to impose a civil penalty of $1,000 against Xu and the business for practicing massage therapy without a license. Iowa Capital Dispatch was unable to reach Xu for comment Wednesday.