What to Know Ahead of the Cambridge Brothel Hearings

More than a year ago, three individuals were arrested for allegedly operating a network of high-end brothels spanning the Greater Boston Area and eastern Virginia.

Now, after all three alleged ringleaders have pleaded guilty in federal court, the spotlight is shifting to the network’s alleged clients. The 28 implicated individuals — including elected officials and professors — are preparing for probable cause hearings the month in the Cambridge District Court.

“Pick a profession,” said then-U.S. Attorney Josha Levy said in a 2023 press conference when the original arrests were announced. “They’re probably represented in this case.”

Though probable cause hearings are typically private, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the hearings for the alleged clients must be public after a protracted court battle, in which media outlets like the Boston Globe and WBUR argued that open hearings would be in the public interest.

The probable cause hearings — scheduled for March 14, 21, and 28 — will disclose the identities of the alleged customers for the first time, as the judge reviews evidence to determine whether the case will move to the Superior Court.

Here’s what you need to know about the case ahead of next Friday’s hearing.

What Is the Brothel Network?

Han Lee, Junmyung Lee, and James Lee were arrested in November 2023 and charged by federal prosecutors with operating “sophisticated high-end brothels in greater Boston and eastern Virginia,” with locations in Cambridge and Watertown, Mass., as well as Fairfax and Tysons, Virginia. The three were indicted by a grand jury in February 2024.

The brothel network was active from at least July 2020 to November 2023, according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts.

According to prosecutors, the three persuaded and induced mostly Asian women to travel to Massachusetts and Virginia “to engage in prostitution.”

In addition to renting “high-end apartment complexes” as locations for the brothels, prosecutors charged the three defendants with advertising the network online, using two professional nude photography websites as fronts for prostitution.

James Lee was also charged with money laundering for illegally obtaining more than $580,000 in Covid-19 relief funds that were used to support the brothel network, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley’s office.

James Lee fraudulently applied for the funds using the names of businesses that did not exist. To support the loan applications, he submitted fake tax documents in the name of the third party and a lease between himself and his fake identity.

In an attempt to hide the money earned from the brothel network, the three conspirators deposited hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash into bank accounts. Prosecutors also wrote that conspirators simultaneously used money orders to pay for rent and maintenance expenses at the apartments where the brothels were housed.

Han Lee is set to be sentenced on March 19. Junmyung Lee and James Lee will be sentenced at the end of April.

All three defendants face one count of conspiracy to coerce the women “to travel in interstate or foreign commerce to engage in prostitution,” which carries a five-year prison sentence and up to a $250,000 fine. The three also all face one count of money laundering, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $500,000 or twice the amount laundered, whichever is greater.

James Lee is also charged with one count of wire fraud, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the loss from the scheme, whichever is greater.

Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

With all charges combined, the defendants face at least 25 years in prison and up to $1 million in fines.

Who Are the Clients?

The identities of the clients are not public — yet.

Probable cause hearings, which will decide whether there is enough evidence to charge the network’s clients with crimes, will be open to the public and held throughout March in the Cambridge District Court. Those hearings will offer the first public glimpse of who may be charged with paying for sex through the network.

Though prosecutors have not released the names of the clients, the U.S. Attorney’s office wrote in a November 2023 press release the list of alleged sex-buyers includes “elected officials, high tech and pharmaceutical executives, doctors, military officers, government contractors that possess security clearances, professors, attorneys, scientists and accountants, among others.”

Probable cause hearings are a process unique to Massachusettts, and have previously come under scrutiny by media outlets as opaque. The Boston Globe filed a 2018 lawsuit with the Supreme Judicial Court for increased transparency in the process — leading the SJC to issue sweeping changes mandating increased data collection at the hearings.

The Globe petitioned the SJC Magistrate in 2024 to open the hearings of the alleged clients to the press, arguing that the public has a right to know their identities.

The SJC first ruled in February 2024 that conducting the hearings in public “promotes transparency, accountability, and public confidence.”

But lawyers for many of the alleged clients appealed, arguing that the reputations of the accused would be damaged if a hearing were held in public even if they did not end up being charged with crimes.

The SJC ruled again last November in favor of public hearings, writing that closed-door hearings for the alleged sex-buyers could bring concerns of “potential favoritism and bias.”

The probable cause hearings will be open to the public and the media at the Cambridge District Court on a first-come first-serve basis.

—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.