‘High-end brothel’ indictments ’Johns’ to face open hearings
A grand jury has agreed with federal prosecutors and indicted three people for allegedly running a network of “high-end brothels” in Greater Boston and eastern Virginia.
Prosecutors say a trio of men led by Han Lee, 41, of Cambridge, accused of running a network of “sophisticated high-end brothels” in the two metro areas. The feds contend the group operated two websites, one for each metro, promoting women for prostitution “under the guise of professional nude photo shoots, and established brothels in order to facilitate the engagement of commercial sex.”
The other two men are James Lee, 68, of Torrance, Calif., and Junmyung Lee, 30, of Dedham. None of the men are related, according to prosecutors.
“The three individuals behind these websites facilitated the movement of predominately Asian women across the United States for sex trafficking in a commercial sex ring, exploiting them in the process,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy said in November when announcing the initial charges. “This commercial sex ring was built on secrecy and exclusivity, catering to a wealthy, well-connected clientele, and business was booming. Until today.”
The men operated their network, prosecutors say, out of “high-end” apartments they rented, furnished and maintained in Cambridge and Watertown in Massachusetts and Fairfax and Tysons in Virginia.
While federal officials would in December announce that they were seeking criminal complaints against 28 alleged sex buyers, the names of those individuals have not been announced. Levy did say during his announcement that if it was a good-paying profession, “Pick a profession, they’re probably represented in this case.”
The clientele shouldn’t be difficult to figure out, however, as the websites included a “verification process” for johns to book appointments. This process, according to court documents, required that interested customers enter their full names and contact information, as well as listing their employer and a reference if they had one.
The state Supreme Judicial Court saidyesterday the show-cause hearings in Cambridge District Court for the “johns” can be open to the public, according to WCVB. Those hearings have not been set yet.
This screening process, prosecutors argue, along with allowing the women to live in the rooms when they weren’t being used “persuaded the women to work for this prostitution network because the business maintained a regular customer base of men that were adequately screened.”