12 Men Accused of Buying Sex in Cambridge Brothel Ring Named, Charged in Hearing

Updated March 15, 2025, at 12:44 a.m.

A Cambridge magistrate criminally charged 12 of the 28 alleged customers of a high-end brothel network that operated in parts of Cambridge and Washington D.C. suburbs at a Friday morning hearing.

Nearly 18 months after federal prosecutors first arrested three of the brothel network’s ringleaders, 12 of the 28 alleged clients were summoned to appear at the Cambridge District Court for Friday’s probable cause hearings. Cambridge police, arguing in front of a clerk-magistrate instead of a judge, made a case for charging them with paying for sex.

The charge typically does not result in jail time, even in the case of a conviction. Probable cause hearings are held only to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to file a criminal complaint. None of the men have been found guilty of a crime or gone to trial.

Clerk Magistrate Sharon S. Casey agreed to advance charges against the 12 men summoned today, issuing criminal complaints that will bring them to trial within the next several weeks.

Though all men were required to appear in-person for the Friday hearing, only 29-year-olds Mark Zhu and Jason Z. Han were present for the hearings. Han is a radiologic technologist at the Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Jason Z. Han (right), one of two defendants present at Friday’s hearing, exited the courthouse with lawyer John D. Pensa (left) after being criminally charged. Han’s arraignment is scheduled for May 16. By Mae T. Weir

Five different lawyers representing Kerry H. Wu, John J. Doran, David LaCava, Peter H. MacGillivray, Jonathan P. Lanfear, and Pinhao Chao — none of whom appeared in court — argued that Casey should either dismiss the cases or grant a year-long continuance.

Casey said that she was “not inclined” to hear arguments from the lawyers representing the 10 defendants who chose not to attend, instead advancing criminal charges shortly after hearing testimony from the Cambridge Police Department.

Boya Zhou, Yihong Zou, Pablo D. Maceira, Patrick Walsh, and their lawyers did not attend the hearings. CPD Lieutenant Jarred Cabral read the police reports for each and Casey ruled shortly after.

With criminal complaints filed, the 12 men will be summoned to return to the Cambridge District Court in the next few weeks. If they do not appear then, a warrant for their arrest can be issued.

Mark Zhu (center), one of two defendants present at Friday’s hearing, exited the courthouse with lawyer Steven C. Goldwyn (right) after being criminally charged. Zhu’s arraignment is scheduled for May 9. By Mae T. Weir

The police reports read by Cabral for each individual included text messages that detailed the schedule and nature of the visits to the brothel sites in Cambridge.

The reports revealed details of how the brothel network operated. Men would text a phone number managed by brothel operators — a “brothel phone,” according to Cabral — to arrange the details of their visits before arriving at the apartment complex where the women, referred to only by “stage names,” were located.

The texts are peppered with acronyms — for example, Cabral said many of the alleged clients paid more than $300 for a “GFE,” or a “girlfriend experience,” which he said referred to spending more than an hour with one woman who “provides a more intimate experience,” including sex acts.

In series of short text exchanges, the men would communicate when they arrived and wait for the operator of the “brothel phone” to tell them to enter through a side door, according to complaints filed by Cabral with the Cambridge District Court. The 12 men summoned in Friday’s hearing all allegedly visited the Cambridge locations of the brothel network, including several units at 90 Fawcett St.

The men did not appear to have keys to the apartments. According to Cabral, security footage obtained by CPD shows that they were let in by someone already inside.

The police reports presented to the Clerk Magistrate cited surveillance footage collected from both the first and fourth floors of 90 Fawcett Street, which showed the men entering and exiting the building at times consistent with the text exchanges with the “brothel phone.”

All 12 of the men allegedly visited the brothel multiple times between July 2020 and November 2023, when the brothel network was busted by federal authorities. The three “ringleaders” of the brothel network — a woman and two men — have all pleaded guilty in federal court, and will be sentenced over the next month.

None of the women have been named or charged. The police reports include only fake names that were used to refer to the women in the text messages.

The remaining 16 clients are scheduled to appear at probable cause hearings on March 21 and 28 at the Cambridge District Court’s satellite branch.

—Staff writer Matan H. Josephy can be reached matan.josephy@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @matanjosephy.

—Staff writer Laurel M. Shugart can be reached at laurel.shugart@thecrimson.com. Follow them on X @laurelmshugart or on Threads @laurel.shugart.