A manager of sex workers who moved between Cambridge, Watertown and Virginia pleaded guilty Friday to two charges.
Han Lee, 42, of Cambridge, pleaded to one count of conspiracy to persuade, induce, entice and coerce one or more individuals to travel in interstate or foreign commerce to engage in prostitution; and one count of money laundering conspiracy. U.S. District Court Judge Julia E. Kobick scheduled sentencing for Dec. 20.
Lee was arrested and charged in November 2023 with co-defendants Junmyung Lee, 31, of Dedham, and James Lee, 69, of Torrance, California. The defendants were indicted by a federal grand jury in February.
From at least July 2020, Lee helped run an operation of “brothels” that included units in the Luxe at Alewife building at 80 Cambridgepark Drive, North Cambridge, and the Atmark, 90 Fawcett St., Cambridge Highlands, both near the Alewife MBTA station, prosecutors said. The defendants charged from $350 to upward of $600 an hour in cash depending on the services, with the cheaper end of the pay scale for a “girlfriend experience” and the higher end for sex without a condom, according to an affidavit.
According to a press release Friday from the office of the acting U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts:
To conceal the proceeds of the prostitution network, Han Lee deposited hundreds of thousands of dollars of cash proceeds into personal and third-party bank accounts and peer-to-peer transfers. Additionally, it is alleged that the defendants regularly used hundreds of thousands of dollars of the cash proceeds from the prostitution business to buy money orders (in values under an amount that would trigger reporting and identification requirements) to conceal the source of the funds. These money orders were then used to pay for rent and utilities at brothel locations in Massachusetts and Virginia.
Prosecutors have been looking to charge 28 people who may have been clients of the brothels, acting U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Joshua Levy has said. There were “a wide array of buyers” that included “politicians, high-tech and pharmaceutical executives, doctors, military officers, government contractors that possess security clearances, professors, lawyers, scientists and accountants,” Levy’s office said. Those cases became mired in questions of how public court appearances should be.
The press release Friday said Lee could face upward of 20 years in prison and owe more than $750,000; there are no mandatory minimums, a spokesperson for prosecutors said.
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