Prosecutors are seeking charges against more than two dozen customers who paid money for sex at “sophisticated, high-end brothels” in the Boston area.
A federal investigation last month uncovered a multi-state prostitution network allegedly led by suspects Han Lee, 41, and Junmyung Lee, 30, of Massachusetts, and James Lee, 68, of California.
The defendants are charged at the federal level with conspiracy to coerce and entice to travel to engage in illegal sexual activity for allegedly operating multiple brothels in Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, as well as in Fairfax and Tysons, Virginia.
On Monday, prosecutors filed a complaint against 28 patrons who allegedly paid for memberships and upwards of $600 for every hour of prostitution services.
The “commercial sex-buyers” reportedly included elected officials, high-tech and pharmaceutical executives, doctors, military officers, government contractors that possess security clearances, professors, attorneys, scientists and accountants, among others.
The names of the suspects will not be released until the Cambridge District Court finds probable cause to proceed with the criminal case.
“If probable cause is established and criminal charges are issued by the Court, referrals will then be made to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office,” Acting United States Attorney Joshua Levy said, per WCBV.
It is alleged that since July 2020, the defendants collectively established the infrastructure for brothels in multiple states which they used to persuade, induce and entice women – primarily Asian women – to travel to Massachusetts and Virginia to engage in prostitution.
According to the DOJ, the trio rented “high-end apartment complexes” as locations to house the brothels. The apartments were regularly furnished and maintained. The monthly rent fees for the locations were up to $3,664.
They communicated with their clientele via text messages, offering a “menu” of the women, the sexual services available and the hourly rates, according to authorities. Prices for appointments ranged from $350 to $600 per hour, depending on the services and were paid in cash.
Han Lee allegedly concealed over $1m in proceeds by “purchasing structured money orders, making cash deposits into known US bank accounts, and engaging in various bank and peer-to-peer account transfers.”
The prostitution network was allegedly advertised by the defendants on two websites – bostonopten10.com and browneyesgirlsva.blog.
The websites listed the “height, weight and bust size” of women available for appointments and depicted nude and/or semi-nude photographs of each. Regular updates on the women, and those “coming soon” were provided, the DOJ said.
“I believe there are potentially hundreds of yet to be identified customers that may include other professional disciplines not included in the list above,” the affidavit read. “As detailed below, the customers or sex buyers described within this affidavit are not named. I do not do this for purposes of maintaining their anonymity, but instead do so because our investigation into their involvement in prostitution is active and ongoing.”
