How the Cambridge brothel ring case could stop future illegal sex businesses

Boston Globe

19-04-2025

But Lee's network has also drawn public scrutiny like no other — largely because of state authorities' decision to bring charges against dozens of the alleged customers, what women's advocates called an unprecedented level of public shaming. Advocates and law enforcement officials hope her case will finally serve as a deterrent to others who engage in the exploitation of women, as well as those who bankroll it.
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'Men have been able to do this and never been held accountable,'
said Cherie Jimenez, a Boston-based advocate for exploited women and the head of Survivors of Prostitution Abuse Calling for Enlightenment. 'This was a big deal and this needs to continue.'
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Lee, 42, who emigrated from South Korea about a decade ago and worked in the sex industry on the West Coast and then in Boston, built one of the most lucrative brothel networks on the East Coast, profiting millions, according to court records.
Last month, Lee was sentenced to four years in prison, a harsher penalty than
the operators of the previous network received, and one that the judge hopes will send its own message of deterrence.
But the
After
These men represent a small fraction of the 2,800 contacts that were listed on the brothel phone, and the criminal charges they face are misdemeanors that typically don't result in jail time. Still, advocates say, the shame and potential career and social consequences that came from identifying the men are the best deterrents, said Mary Speta, the head of Amirah, a Beverly-based organization that helps women leave exploitation.
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'It just comes back to economics,' said Speta, who was formerly exploited in the illicit industry. 'Without sex buyers, there wouldn't be a sex trade.'
Speta referred to
From left to right: James Hunt and Morgan Bae , both from Beverly, protest with with EMMA Coalition-Amirah Inc outside the Cambridge Juvenile Court building in Cambridge.
David L. Ryan/Globe Staff
Advocates cheer what they say is a slow-moving but real trend toward punishing the buyers rather than the women selling sex. None of the women who were working in the brothels were charged, and authorities have said
The case continues to roil Cambridge, a city of around 120,000 that is home to some of the world's most prestigious universities. Kimberly Sansoucy, head of the Cambridge Commission on the Status of Women, said she's been leading a group that includes business owners, city officials, and property managers focused on curbing the sexual exploitation of women and also elevating the conversation of why it thrives in Cambridge. Should there be training for front-desk agents at hotels to identify the sex trade? Should more about the industry be taught in schools?
'How do we inoculate the community?' she said. There aren't clear answers yet, she said, but the group aims to find some.
The Cambridge City Council also plans to hold a hearing on sex work and sex trafficking. The goal, said Councilor Patricia Nolan, the lead sponsor for the hearing, is to begin to answer questions about why the illicit sex trade continues in Cambridge, and what legislative solutions there may be.
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One of the men facing charges is
'Was there something that happened in our city that made this a prime target?' said Nolan, who has called for Toner's resignation. 'Are there ways that the city can do more to make sure this doesn't happen again?'
Toner has said he 'won't contest' what's being said about him, but he insisted, 'All Americans, including elected officials, are entitled to the right to due process.'
What is clear is that Lee's network largely resembled the
In that network, the operators shuttled immigrants who spoke little English between apartments here and in northern Virginia and Atlanta.
Men who wished to buy sex were instructed to fill out a form so the network could verify their employment, according to court documents. Federal authorities said the brothel would call the employer to ensure they were telling the truth.
Once the men had signed up, they were told to communicate with the brothel's cell phones — the operators in each city had their own, with a local number — through text messages to schedule appointments and negotiate prices.
The operators would text instructions, urging discretion. Don't knock on the door — just come in, or text if it's locked. After you're done, exit the apartment building through a side door, not back past the leasing office.
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In 2018, federal authorities arrested five people, including ringleaders Yoon and Taehee Kim, a married couple living in Virginia, as well as two people who had been running the Cambridge brothels.
Federal authorities celebrated the arrests, but the case made few headlines locally, and no customers were publicly named.
The operators
After their arrests, Lee saw the potential to run her own operation in the same mold. Her attorney, Scott Lauer, said she had emigrated to the United States to flee an abusive family and began working in the sex industry herself. She continued selling sex after beginning to operate her own brothels, Lauer said.
Court documents call Lee's network 'strikingly similar' to the Kims'. She required
One of the apartments Lee used was a few hundred yards from one the Kims used near Alewife, and Lee's booker communicated by text to negotiate with wealthy men.
A doctor, a dentist, a councilor, the head of a pharmaceutical company. They all are accused of seeking the same sex services.
'Ms. Lee, stepped into that void and followed the same playbook,' Lauer wrote in a recent court filing.
Sean Cotter can be reached at