CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Probable cause hearings for 28 “wealthy and well-connected” men accused of being customers of an interstate commercial sex ring that ran high-end brothels in two Massachusetts communities are slated to begin in a Cambridge courtroom on Friday.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in November that the hearings would be public. The hearings will take place in Cambridge District Court.
The attorneys for the Boston-area “John Does” identified in the black books of the sophisticated interstate high-end brothel network have desperately tried to keep their identities private, arguing that revealing their names violates their privacy.
In 2023, then-acting Boston U.S. Attorney Josh Levy said the clientele of the brothels included politicians, big pharma executives, government contractors with security clearances, professors, lawyers, accountants, and scientists.
Probable cause hearings in the high-profile brothel case are scheduled on March 14, March 21 and March 28, Cambridge District Court Clerk-Magistrate Sharon Shelfer Casey said in a statement. No continuances will be granted, absent extraordinary circumstances.
The hearings will start promptly at 10 a.m. in the Cambridge District Court. Media cameras will be allowed inside the courtroom.
If probable cause is not found, complaint applications will not be made public. If probable cause is found, they will be processed as usual by the court and will be made public, the clerk magistrate said.
A pair of Boston-based media outlets had filed to view criminal complaints against the alleged clients of a prostitution ring, however, the SJC also sided with the clerk’s decision to keep the complaints sealed until the first show-cause hearings are held in Cambridge District Court.
In November 2023, authorities arrested Han Lee, Junmyung Lee, and James Lee on charges of running a commercial sex network in Watertown, Cambridge, and Virginia, where buyers paid up to $600 per hour for a wide array of advertised sex acts.
All three have since pleaded guilty to the charges.
Prosecutors said the three charged sex buyers a premium price for appointments with women advertised on their websites. Buyers paid anywhere from $350 to upwards of $600 per hour for sex, depending on the services. They paid in cash.
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, prosecutors said. Hundreds of thousands of dollars from these proceeds were used to buy money orders 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 said.
Websites advertising nude models for professional photography at upscale studios served as a front for the prostitution ring, prosecutors said.
Investigators searched and seized the domain names for the websites after obtaining search warrants that were executed in November 2023.
Each website had a verification process for interested sex buyers to become eligible for appointment bookings, prosecutors said.
Clients were required to complete a form providing their full names, email addresses, phone numbers, employers, and references if they had one.
The clerk magistrate’s initial decision was issued on Dec. 21, 2023, but it was met with a slew of appeals.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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