Defendants in high-end brothel case seek plea deal, court documents show

Boston, MA – November 8: Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy walks away from a press conference after announcing that three people had been arrested for operating a high-end brothel. (Matt Stone/Boston Herald)

The three defendants accused of “running sophisticated high-end brothels” are in the middle of plea negotiations, according to court filings.

The trio was arrested last November for allegedly operating brothels outside Boston and Washington, D.C. and, according to court filings, are negotiating to ease the potential penalty they face.

“The parties engaged in advocacy discussions, including analyzes of the guidelines. A trial of all defendants would require up to ten days,” U.S. Magistrate Judge David Hennessy wrote in court documents released this week.

Defendants James Lee, 68, of Torrance, California; Junmyung Lee, 30, of Dedham; and the brothel's alleged boss, Han Lee, 41, of Cambridge — neither of whom is related — faces maximum penalties, including decades in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines if convicted. found guilty.

All three are charged with conspiracy to coerce and induce travel to engage in illegal sexual activity and money laundering, according to charging documents.

The men were indicted by a grand jury in February, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts, after it was alleged that “since at least July 2020, the defendants operated an interstate prostitution ring with multiple brothels in Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, as well as Fairfax and Tysons, Virginia.

“It is alleged that the defendants collectively established the brothel infrastructure in several states, which they used to persuade, entice and entice women – primarily Asian women – to travel to Massachusetts and Virginia to engage in prostitution,” the U.S. Attorney wrote.

According to the Justice Department, the defendants allegedly sold sexual services to “elected officials, high-tech and pharmaceutical executives, doctors, military officers, government contractors with security clearances, professors, lawyers.”

The names of the alleged clients involved in the case have not been released while their lawyers fight to maintain their anonymity.

Hennessy, in his most recent filing, also said the U.S. government produced evidence in the case on March 5 and May 30. The judge called both productions “voluminous” and said he expects the government to provide more evidence to the court. in the future.

An interim status conference on the case is scheduled for July 18 at 9:30 a.m. at the Donohue Federal Building in Worcester.