Two of the three people charged with running high-end brothels in Greater Boston and in northern Virginia have scheduled hearings to plead guilty.
But we still don’t know the names of any of their alleged customers.
Defendants James Lee, 68, of Torrance, California; Junmyung Lee, 30, of Dedham; and the alleged brothel ringleader, Han Lee, 41, of Cambridge — none of whom are related — face maximum sentences including decades in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines if convicted.
While all three defendants were said to have been “actively engaged in plea discussions” back in June, according to court records, they were not at that time ready to request dates for “Rule 11” hearings where a judge will hear a change of plea and discern whether it was made intelligently and without coercion.
Since then, both Junmyung Lee and Han Lee have requested just such hearings.
Han Lee is scheduled for a change of plea hearing in federal court in Boston on Sept. 27 at noon. Junmyung Lee is scheduled for the same hearing on Oct. 30 at 4 p.m., which was changed on Thursday from Oct. 1.
James Lee has not requested such a hearing and U.S. District Judge Julia E. Kobick has scheduled an initial pretrial conference for Oct. 29 at 3 p.m.
The public has known the names of these defendants since early November of last year, when the U.S. Attorney’s office announced the arrests of all three for allegedly running a number of women to hundreds of wealthy doctors, lawyers, politicians, and military officers who paid up to $600 an hour for sexual services.
“The three individuals behind these websites facilitated the movement of predominately Asian women across the United States for sex trafficking in a commercial sex ring, exploiting them in the process,” acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy said then. “This commercial sex ring was built on secrecy and exclusivity, catering to a wealthy, well-connected clientele, and business was booming.”
After 10 months, the names of these powerful customers are still not known and they have — anonymously and through counsel — appealed all the way to the Supreme Judicial Court, which is Massachusetts’ highest court, to keep their names away from the public.
“Pick a profession, they’re probably represented in this case,” Levy said.
Any charges against these powerful Johns has been left to the state courts, which has been so far unwilling to disclose their identities, leaving some observers fuming because, as Levy said, “They are the men who fueled this commercial sex ring.”
