A US lady has pleaded responsible to operating a high-end intercourse racket within the higher Boston space and the suburbs of Washington that served politicians, navy officers, attorneys, and company executives.
Han Lee, 42, appeared in Boston federal court docket on Friday to plead responsible to prices that she conspired to “persuade, induce and entice” primarily Asian girls to journey to Massachusetts and Virginia to interact in prostitution and dedicated cash laundering, prosecutors stated.
The Massachusetts resident was arrested and charged in November final 12 months together with Junmyung Lee, 31, and James Lee, 69. They have been subsequently indicted by a federal grand jury in February for working the prostitution racket.
Han Lee faces as much as 25 years in jail when she is sentenced in December. She informed the choose that whereas she ran an unlawful prostitution enterprise, she didn’t power any girls to interact in intercourse work.
How They Operated The Intercourse Racket
In accordance with prosecutors, from not less than July 2020, Han Lee operated an interstate prostitution community with a number of brothels in Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, and Fairfax and Tysons, Virginia
She established the infrastructure for these brothels in a number of states for the needs of “persuading, inducing and attractive girls – primarily Asian girls – to journey to Massachusetts and Virginia to interact in prostitution,” prosecutors stated.
It’s additional alleged that Han Lee and her aides coordinated the ladies’s airline journey and transportation and permitted them to remain in a single day within the brothel places so they didn’t have to search out lodging elsewhere, subsequently attractive girls to take part of their prostitution community.
“To guard and preserve the secrecy of the enterprise and be sure that the ladies didn’t draw consideration to the prostitution work inside house buildings, Han Lee and, allegedly, her co-defendants established home guidelines for the ladies throughout their stays,” prosecutors stated.
Charged $350 To $600 For Intercourse Companies
Han Lee charged intercourse patrons $350 to $600 per hour relying on the companies and solely took money.
They allegedly marketed their prostitution community and supplied appointments with girls by way of two web sites. Each web sites presupposed to promote nude fashions for skilled images at upscale studios as a entrance for prostitution supplied by appointments.
It’s additional alleged that Han Lee maintained native brothel cellphone numbers which they used to speak with verified prospects and schedule appointments by way of textual content messages; ship prospects a “menu” of obtainable choices on the brothel, together with the ladies and sexual companies accessible and the hourly charge; and to textual content prospects instructions to the brothel’s location the place they engaged in industrial intercourse with the ladies.
To hide the proceeds of the prostitution community, Han Lee deposited a whole lot of 1000’s of {dollars} of money proceeds into private and third-party financial institution accounts and peer-to-peer transfers, prosecutors stated.
It’s also alleged that they commonly used a whole lot of 1000’s of {dollars} of the money proceeds from the prostitution enterprise to buy cash orders (in values below an quantity that will set off reporting and identification necessities) to hide the supply of the funds.
These cash orders have been then used to pay for hire and utilities at brothel places in Massachusetts and Virginia, prosecutors stated.
Her purchasers have to date not been recognized however authorities have estimated the community’s buyer base was within the a whole lot and included elected officers, pharmaceutical and know-how executives, docs, navy officers, professors, attorneys, enterprise executives, scientists and accountants.