A four-year prison sentence was issued Wednesday to Han Lee, 42, of Cambridge, a manager of sex workers who moved between Cambridge, Watertown and Virginia.
U.S. District Court Judge Julia E. Kobick issued a sentence in federal court in Boston that included one year of supervised release after the prison time. The defendant was also ordered pay $5.4 million and restitution in an amount to be determined at a later date.
Lee pleaded guilty in September after being arrested and charged in November 2023 with co-defendants Junmyung Lee, 31, of Dedham, and James Lee, 69, of Torrance, California, as running “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 operation was in place from at least July 2020.
Scott Lauer, Lee’s appointed attorney, pointed out to The Boston Globe that his client was a sex worker herself who arranged the system to benefit the women, who “typically kept more than half of the money” and could turn down work as they wished, the Globe wrote.
“There is a world of difference between Ms. Lee – a sex worker herself – and a pimp (or madam) who enriches themselves at the expense of those performing the work,“ Lauer wrote to the Globe. ”The commercial sex workers in this case were well treated and well compensated.”
The prosecutors don’t recognize the distinction, a law enforcement representative told Cambridge Day in February 2024, and adheres only to rule that a person “who is bought and sold is a victim of human trafficking.” They described the work as a “high-end brothel” network. It took place in Cambridge in newer buildings in relatively industrial settings rented for prices typical for the area. The defendants charged customers from $350 to upward of $600 an hour in cash.
Lee’s sentence is the result of her pleading guilty 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.
Prosecutors have been looking to charge 28 people – some identified in court Friday – 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.
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