A Massachusetts woman pleaded guilty on Friday to running a high-end brothel network in the greater Boston area and the suburbs of Washington that served wealthy and well-connected clientele including politicians, corporate executives, lawyers and military officers.
Han Lee appeared in Boston federal court to plead guilty to charges that she conspired to persuade, induce and entice primarily Asian women to travel to Massachusetts and Virginia to engage in prostitution and committed money laundering.
She was the first to admit wrongdoing of the three individuals who prosecutors charged in November in connection with a sex ring run out of apartment complexes in Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts and Fairfax and Tysons, Virginia.
Lee, 42, faces up to 25 years in prison when she is sentenced Dec. 20. She stressed when addressing U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick that while she ran an illegal prostitution business, she did not force any women to engage in sex work.
And in this specific case, none of the workers were street-level, getting into randos cars. That doesn’t necessarily mean that all of the workers were willing participants, but I would bet that with the level of clientele involved, almost all were.
I’m curious why you assume almost all were willing participants. I’m also concerned with the use of the word “coerced”.
The promise of good money doesn’t ensure willingness, and just because workers are “street level” doesn’t mean they aren’t being exploited.