An alleged madam and her cohort raked in hordes of cash from a “high-end brothel network” and spent lavishly on a Corvette, designer shoes and luxury handbags — all while keeping “impeccable” records of a sex trafficking operation that catered to powerful clients, prosecutors said Wednesday.
The spending habits of accused madam Han Lee, 41, and alleged co-conspirator Junmyung Lee, 30, were detailed in a detention memorandum filed by federal prosecutors in Massachusetts ahead of a hearing scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in the case.
In the court filing, an agent for Homeland Security Investigations alleged Han was the “leader and organizer” of the prostitution network that included six brothels in Massachusetts and Virginia that catered to elected officials, doctors, military officers and other well-connected clients.
Investigators found two bank accounts linked to Han, which showed about $965,000 deposited from December 2019 through October 2023, according to the HSI agent’s affidavit.
When they raided her apartment in Cambridge, Mass., investigators found luxury fashion items, including bags and shoes from Yves St. Laurent, Givenchy, Louis Vuitton, Christian Louboutin and Jimmy Choo, according to the court documents.
She also used a Louis Vuitton shoe box as a “filing cabinet” for the sex-trade business, stashing hundreds of money order receipts and utility bills for various apartments inside, according to the documents.
Agents also found $22,608 in cash during the raid, according to the affidavit.
Prosecutors allege Han employed Junmyung at her brothel network, where he worked to book appointments, carry bags, collect money and ferried sex workers to and from brothels in Boston.
Han paid Junmyung up to $8,000 a month for his work, which he also spent on luxury items, including a $69,000 two-door, blue Corvette sports car, according to the court filing.
Deposits in his personal checking account jumped in 2022 as he took on more responsibilities in the prostitution business, the HSI agent alleged.
He deposited just over $50,000 in the account in 2020 and 2021, which increased to $175,000 in 2022, according to the court documents.
The duo allegedly kept meticulous ledgers and files about their business, and Han allegedly laid out “house rules” that were discovered by investigators on the messaging app KakaoTalk.
On the app, Han allegedly used the screen name “okokpug” and a thumbnail image of one of her three pug dogs to lay out the rules to sex workers, according to the affidavit.
Investigators also seized detailed ledgers from both Han and Junmyong’s apartments that recorded the daily activity of the brothels, which included “stage names” of sex workers and a tally of their daily earnings.
“The prostitution network not only maintained meticulous daily records of their operation, but also kept those records for a lengthy period of time,” the agent wrote in the affidavit.
After their arrests on Nov. 8, prosecutors alleged clients would have to turn over personal information including email addresses, phone numbers, their full names and an employer reference if they had one.
A federal judge in Massachusetts will decide Wednesday if the duo will be granted bail or will have to remain behind bars pending their trial.
A third suspect, James Lee, was ordered detained the day of his arrest in federal court in California.
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