A woman accused of using Tysons and Merrifield apartments as part of a “high-end brothel network” on the East Coast will spend the next four years in federal prison.
Federal prosecutors alleged that Han Lee, 42, of Massachusetts, “led one of the most successful prostitution networks on the east coast of the United States.”
Lee’s 48-month sentence, handed down by a federal judge in Boston on Wednesday (March 19), also requires her to forfeit nearly $5.5 million obtained through the commercial sex business, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said.
Since at least July 2020, Lee utilized units in Avalon Mosaic and Hanover Tysons — now The Jones at Tysons — as part of the commercial sex business, according to a court affidavit by a Department of Homeland Security special agent.
Eight other locations, including seven in Massachusetts, were included in the network, court documents said.
Lee and two co-conspirators enticed mostly Asian women to travel to and work in the brothels, which catered to a clientele featuring politicians, business executives, military officers, government contractors with security clearances and more, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
“Han Lee didn’t just recruit women to sell their bodies for sex – she built a criminal enterprise designed to thrive in the shadows, evading law enforcement while profiting off her victims like commodities,” U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley said in a statement.
Clients were charged up to $600 per hour, leading the defendants to conceal “hundreds of thousands of dollars of cash” in their personal bank accounts and “peer-to-peer transfers.”
Lee, who was indicted last year, pleaded guilty in September to one count of money laundering and one count of conspiracy to coerce one or more individuals to travel in interstate commerce to engage in prostitution.
Junmyung Lee and James Lee, the two alleged co-conspirators, previously pleaded guilty to their respective charges and are scheduled to be sentenced next month.
According to the Associated Press, nearly 30 clients of the brothels are expected to appear in court after the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that the hearings would be public. A first group testified last week, and a second group is scheduled to appear today (Friday).
