- Prosecutors in Massachusetts and Virginia uncovered a high-end brothel operation targeting clientele such as politicians, executives and military officers. Three suspects were arrested, and one, Han Lee, was sentenced to four years in prison.
- Prominent individuals, including biotech leaders, engineers and politicians, lost a court challenge to keep their names private, with the court allowing their identities to be released to the public.
- Cambridge City Council Member Paul Toner, named among the brothel’s clientele, apologized during a council meeting but insisted on his right to due process rather than stepping down.
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The bust of a high-end brothel network in Massachusetts and Virginia has led to names of prominent customers who are now reportedly looking to keep their identities from being made public.
The U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts announced in November the arrest of three people for operating “sophisticated high-end brothels” in the Boston area and eastern Virginia.
Prosecutors say Han Lee, James Lee and Junmyung Lee rented high-end apartment complexes as their brothel locations. The suspects allegedly paid thousands of dollars a month in rent and advertised themselves as professional photographers. Han Lee pleaded guilty in March and was sentenced to four years in prison.
The DA’s office said the business required extensive information from potential clientele, including “a form providing their full names, email address, phone number, employer and reference if they had one.”
Who was among the clientele?
The district attorney’s office described the brothels’ clientele as “politicians, high-tech and pharmaceutical executives, doctors, military officers, government contractors that possess security clearances, professors, lawyers, scientists and accountants.”
As hearings for the three defendants went on, names of the customers began to come out. The Wall St. Journal reports “dozens” of prominent residents of the Boston area lost a court challenge to keep their identities from being released to the public. The paper said the men told the court that they “face adverse and embarrassing collateral consequences if their name and image are published.”
The court didn’t buy that argument, allowing their names to go public. Included in the batches of released names are the head of a local biotech firm focused on novel cancer therapies, an MIT-trained engineer who invented a desalination technique, and a local politician.
Local politician wants due process
One name released was that of Cambridge, Massachusettes, City Council Member Paul Toner. On March 24, Toner apologized in a council meeting. He did not say he would step down, but rather that he is entitled to due process.
