Man pleads guilty to booking politicians and professors to brothels near Washington and Boston
MEREDITH, N.H. (AP) — A second person has pleaded guilty to helping run a high-end brothel network whose clients around Boston and Washington, D.C., included elected officials, military officers, professors and lawyers, prosecutors said Thursday.
Junmyung Lee, 31, of Dedham, Massachusetts, served primarily as the booking agent for the prostitution network, prosecutors said. He pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of conspiracy to persuade, coerce or entice people to travel interstate to engage in prostitution, and one count of money laundering. He faces up to 25 years in prison when he’s sentenced in February.
His plea comes after Han Lee, 42, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty last month to running the operation. Officials say Han Lee concealed more than $1 million in proceeds by converting the cash into money orders and other items to make it seem legitimate. She is due to be sentenced Dec. 20. James Lee, 69, of Torrance, California, was indicted on the same charges as the other two defendants.
Junmyung Lee’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Authorities have not publicly named or charged any of the more than 5,000 clients, although prosecutors say they’re committed to holding those who fueled the demand to account. Some of the clients have appealed to the highest court in Massachusetts, seeking to keep their names private.
The women who worked in the brothels were considered victims and weren’t charged, prosecutors said.
Junmyung Lee was recruited in late 2021 as the business expanded, prosecutors said, and worked for the prostitution ring for about two years. Many clients reached them through two websites, www.bostontoptenl0.com and www.browneyesgirlsva.blog.
Han Lee paid Junmyung Lee up to $8,000 cash per month to vet clients and book appointments and transport some of the women sex workers to and from the airport, they said. Junmyung Lee used some of his proceeds to buy a Corvette, authorities said.
Junmyung Lee communicated directly with customers, using different cellphones for Massachusetts and Virginia, prosecutors said. Each of the cellphones contained numbers for more than 2,800 clients and a third cellphone was never recovered, prosecutors said.
The vetting process frequently included having the men confirm their identities by sending photographs of themselves and either a photograph of their work or government-issued identification card, according to the indictment.
The operators rented high-end apartments to use as brothels, with four locations in Massachusetts and two in Virginia, prosecutors said.
The scheme raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars, with men paying about $350 to $600 per hour or more, depending on the services, according to prosecutors.