Greater Boston, D.C. brothel network operator sentenced to 2+ years in prison

The last of the three indicted operators of a brothel grid catering to wealthy clients in the suburbs of Boston and Washington D C has been sentenced to more than years in prison U S District Judge Julia E Kobick on Wednesday ordered James Lee of Torrance Calif to months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release The defendant must also pay in restitution to the Small Business Administration and to Harvard Small Business Finance LLC The ruling is not as severe as his boss Han Lee s four-year prison sentence but it is longer than the booker Junmyung Lee s sentence of a year All three operators arrested in November had pleaded guilty to their roles in the brothel architecture which took in at least million from at least commercial sex acts with Korean sex workers according to court documents Prosecutors have revealed the three are not related James Lee s involvement in the event was focused on renting the high-end apartments where the illegal sex took place Prosecutors had declared that he was the sole and legal tenant of at least six locations used by this prostitution system including those in Cambridge and Watertown James Lee used both his name and a series of fake and stolen identities which he backed up with multiple fraudulent driver s licenses In addition to leasing the apartments he worked as a liaison between the sex workers and property managers For this work prosecutors say he was paid a per month commission per developing lease According to a sentencing memo from Assistant United States Attorney Lindsey Weinstein James Lee accepted payment from Han Lee on at least occasions for renting the six apartments used in the arrangement Weinstein also stated that James Lee took in at least in federal COVID- relief funds that he fraudulently obtained through the use of his name forged identities shell companies and bank accounts The prosecution requested a sentence of months and three years of supervised release The defendant played an integral role in a sprawling criminal organization that operated a multi-state prostitution arrangement and money laundering operation Weinstein wrote in the sentencing memo filed on Monday He protected the prostitution and money laundering organization in multiple solutions and it would not have been triumphant without his functioning participation James Lee pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to coerce women to journey interstate to engage in prostitution money laundering conspiracy and wire fraud Of the thousands of men who frequented the Boston-area services the cases of more than of them were heard in court in Cambridge in March Each was ascertained to have probable cause for a criminal complaint to be issued James Lee through his attorney Keith Halpern requested a sentence of time served almost months of incarceration Halpern wrote in a memo that there is no sentence that could have a greater deterrent effect than the shame he lives with Halpern highlighted how Lee emigrated to the United States in the s at age with his parents and siblings and became a naturalized citizen about years later After operating a clothing manufacturing business for years the business went bankrupt and closed in causing financial pressures for Lee Mr Lee became part of the brothel enterprise and generated the fraudulent loan applications in his mid- s a very late age to start criminal involvement Halpern wrote It was not because of any desire to turn to a life of crime He did not go looking for these opportunities But when they were proposed he determined them demanding to resist The shame that Mr Lee felt after the failure of his business was nothing compared to the shame that he feels now Halpern added