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>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
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13127081/brothel-investigation-washington-dc-virgina-boston-massachusetts.html
>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.'
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.
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. 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.