High-powered lawmakers, executives and military top brass who used high profile brothel desperately try to keep their identities secret ahead of sex trafficking trial by claiming they have a right to PRIVACY
- The high-powered individuals said to be involved in the multi-state brothel operation have insisted that they remain anonymous
- The group of alleged sex-buyers have claimed they have a right to privacy ahead of the sex trafficking trial
- A total of six high end brothels have been reported in the suburbs of Boston and Washington, D.C.
The high-powered lawmakers, executives and military top brass who utilized a brothel system under federal indictment are desperately trying to keep their identities a secret.
Six high-end brothels have been reported in the suburbs of Boston and Washington, D.C., and were set up by a foreign nation as an espionage 'honeytrap,' federal prosecutors allege.
Intelligence experts believe the brothels – allegedly masterminded by a 41-year-old South Korean woman – targeted politicians, high-ranking government officials and defense contractors.
Though the paying clients have remained anonymous, investigators have said that the individuals have 'received considerable coverage in both national and local media.'
The media has pushed to publicly identify the clients and asked a court to release the names.
However, the attorneys for the elite are downplaying their clients' standing and pushing the court to keep their names secret.
The Attorney General's office said that 'granting access to the complaint applications before the show-cause hearings take place would essentially allow unfettered review, use, and potentially publication of the complainant’s allegations before the accused has had the opportunity to respond and before the Clerk-Magistrate has made a probable-cause determination.'
In their affidavit, investigators identified six 'target locations' where the brothels were based, including four in the Boston area
The two brothels in Virginia were situated in Unit 245 at the Avalon Mosaic in the quiet suburban town of Fairfax and Unit 649 of the nearby Hanover Tysons
The lingerie and bikini clad 'models' advertised on the brothel's website included, Yoko and Tiffany, who were offered as a 'duo' for photographers looking for a modeling twosome
The high-end brothel network kept detailed records of its customers along with millions in cash. Clientele included 'hundreds' of elected officials, tech, pharmaceutical executives, lawyers, professors and military officers that have not been identified
The group of alleged sex-buyers have claimed they have a right to privacy ahead of the sex trafficking trial, which has recently stalled. It is unclear when the alleged clients will be taken to court.
The first 13 out of the 17 clients who filed an opposition to the release of names have argued they should remain anonymous, along with the hearings.
'This error should not be compounded by opening the door to public dissemination of police reports and other documents,' their motion to intervene said.
Attorneys have also argued the John Doe's are not 'powerful and elite,' and are instead private citizens who could risk detrimental consequences 'if their name and image are published before they have the opportunity to face this case at a clerk’s hearing or in a court of law.'
A footnote in the legal fillings revealed one of the John Doe's 'is an attorney who does not work for the government, one is a doctor working at a public hospital, one is a scientist without ties to the government.'
The brothels were raided in November and prosecutors said they were looking to charge 28 people in Massachusetts alone.
It is not clear which country was behind the scheme as Russia, China, Korea itself, or even Israel are all seen as possibilities.
Joshua Levy, the Acting U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, has said his office will seek 'accountability for the buyers who fuel the commercial sex industry.'
There was no evident motive to establish two cathouses in the greater Washington area, sources noted emphatically. None of the three defendants live anywhere near the capital and sex workers were flown in from Los Angeles or Las Vegas.
The scheduled hearing in January was halted after JSC Justice Frank M. Gaziano stopped the proceedings due to issues brought forward in the loads of legal fillings.
Han Lee, the alleged mastermind, Junmyung Lee, 30, and James Lee, 68 – all South Korean-born U.S. nationals – were charged in November with running the sex ring. The three Lees are not related.
Han and Junmyung both live in the Boston area, where four of the brothels were located. James lives in Torrance, a suburb of Los Angeles.
Members of Congress, military officers, and national security contractors who 'possessed security clearances' were among the steady customers at the 'high-end brothels' run by the ring, prosecutors say.
To entice customers, the Lees allegedly set up websites whose purported purpose was helping photographers find nude female models looking for work. Investigators believe the ring had made more than $1 million by the time it was busted.
Bulk quantities of lubricant, condoms, false eyelashes, 16 cell phones along, millions of dollars in cash and dozens of gift cards were amongst other evidence
Extramarital affairs and sexual promiscuity and deviance are other helpful vulnerabilities, which is why honeypots are a time-honored practice of intelligence agencies.
Investigators also confiscated a Corvette that one of the suspects allegedly bought with the funds
The lingerie and bikini-clad 'models' went by names such as Sexy Schu, Venus, Tina, YokoDDD and Tiffany.
None of the three suspects have known prior criminal records. The biggest mark against any of them is that James Lee received more than $500,000 in potentially fraudulent Covid relief funds.
Their clean records are especially surprising because prosecutors allege at least some of the sex workers were trafficked, which would mean an organized crime group almost certainly played a role.
The high-end brothel network kept detailed records of its customers along with millions in cash and other damning items in bulk. Clientele included 'hundreds' of elected officials, tech, pharmaceutical executives, lawyers, professors and military officers that have not been identified.
Two of the brothels operated from units in luxury apartment buildings in the Virginia suburbs outside the capital, which are each about a 15-minute drive from the White House, Congress, Pentagon and CIA.
Boston, where the other four brothels operated, is a haven for defense contractors and is also home to top-tier universities like Harvard and MIT that train government and military officials, and produce reports for the Pentagon and CIA.
Suspects had to fly in and out of town with a rotating cast of sex workers, set them up at the Virginia apartments and deal with routine business matters.
'The most valuable information in Washington and Boston are government secrets,' a former foreign spy who is well acquainted with honeypots told DailyMail.com.
'If you open a prostitution business that caters to wealthy clients in those cities, you'll get a lot of people walking through the doors that have access to them.'
Former CIA Special Agent Nic McKinley, who now leads Deliver Fund, a nonprofit that works with law enforcement to combat human trafficking, agreed.
'If this had been a pure cash play, massage parlors are easier to set up, have lower overhead costs and print money,' he said.
The brothels in Virginia were situated in Unit 245 at the Avalon Mosaic in the quiet suburban town of Fairfax and Unit 649 of the nearby Hanover Tysons.
The two units had large bedrooms and comfortably furnished living room areas where clients could unwind over drinks with their companions afterward.
Aspiring clients had to submit a membership application before they could book an appointment.
Acting U.S. Attorney Josh Levy announced charges against the brothels' alleged operators
Driver's licenses of one of the three suspects, James Lee. According to the affidavit, investigators found three driver's licenses were submitted in support of rental applications for brothels in Massachusetts and Virginia – which are all believed to be James Lee using two different aliases
Required documentation included government-issued ID, phone and email contacts, employer information and credit card records, according to court records.
A retired CIA senior operations officer said that the scheme 'is at the level of a Nigerian prince scam.'
'This is at the level of a Nigerian prince scam,' she said.
The details of the investigation included pictures of meticulous client records with names and dates - which have exposed tons of professionals in elite industries for paying upwards of $600 per hour for sexual encounters with predominately Asian women.
Other evidence that was found was bulk quantities of lubricant, condoms, false eyelashes, 16 cell phones, millions of dollars in cash and dozens of gift cards.
Investigators also confiscated a Corvette that one of the suspects allegedly bought with the funds.
Experts interviewed by DailyMail.com suspect the brothel scheme was a honeypot.
The term honeypot is most commonly used to describe an undercover sexual or romantic relationships that are used to compromise valuable intelligence or a target.
Extramarital affairs and sexual promiscuity and deviance are other helpful vulnerabilities, which is why honeypots are a time-honored practice of intelligence agencies.
The group are also said to have operated a unit inside this apartment building in Watertown, Massachusetts
According to an affidavit, the ring operated three different locations outside of this apartment building in Cambridge, Massachusetts
In Virginia were situated Unit 649 of the nearby Hanover Tysons (pictured) was among the apartments used as brothel locations
In a well-executed honeypot, the women who serve as the bait build personal relationships with the marks, tease out information that helps assess their weaknesses and test what they're willing to do.
'The girls start by asking for a small favor that's at the edge of the target's comfort zone and try to keep expanding the zone and turn small favors into big favors,' said the ex-CIA officer.
Furthermore, a recruitment target might be threatened with blackmail in an emergency – signs he was preparing to go to the FBI, for example – but it's rarely used to compel cooperation.
John Sipher, a 28-year veteran of the CIA's National Clandestine Service, said that there is not enough information available to know for sure whether a foreign intelligence service was behind the brothel operation, but based on what's been disclosed so far it's likely.
'You've got high level officials with access to secrets who may have been filmed having sex with a prostitute, and are at high risk of manipulation or coercion.
'The FBI would be criminally negligent if it hasn't already opened a counterintelligence investigation,' Sipher said.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13127081/brothel-investigation-washington-dc-virgina-boston-massachusetts.html
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