A Massachusetts woman pleaded guilty on Friday to running a high-end brothel network in the greater Boston area and the suburbs of Washington that served wealthy and well-connected clientele including politicians, corporate executives, lawyers and military officers.

Han Lee appeared in Boston federal court to plead guilty to charges that she conspired to persuade, induce and entice primarily Asian women to travel to Massachusetts and Virginia to engage in prostitution and committed money laundering.

She was the first to admit wrongdoing of the three individuals who prosecutors charged in November in connection with a sex ring run out of apartment complexes in Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts and Fairfax and Tysons, Virginia.

Lee, 42, faces up to 25 years in prison when she is sentenced Dec. 20. She stressed when addressing U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick that while she ran an illegal prostitution business, she did not force any women to engage in sex work.

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[–] 178 points 2 years ago (12 children)

Sex work should be legal as long as it is done willingly.Let them pay tax and work out of buildings. That would keep the women much safer than working on the streets and get into cars with people.

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  • [–] 57 points 2 years ago

    It turned out really well in NZ when we legalised it.

    There's even a sex workers union.

    We still have our share of christofacists and prosperity grifters though, they're just relatively politically impotent.

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  • [–] 33 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    And in this specific case, none of the workers were street-level, getting into randos cars. That doesn't necessarily mean that all of the workers were willing participants, but I would bet that with the level of clientele involved, almost all were.

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  • [–] 29 points 2 years ago

    That's exactly what amsterdam did. Same with drugs. You make it legal, and you'll make it easier to regulate.

    Fun fact: Red light district is an alcohol free zone. As alcohol tends to increase aggression. People aren't allowed to walk there while under influence.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    You don't have to look to other countries for this, prostitution is legal in many counties in NV.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (2 children)

    Yeah, but the law was written in a way to keep it out of all major cities in Nevada.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    For sure. I'm just saying that you can examine the social effects of legalizing prostitution in a US context already.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    You're right in that the trade is legalized, but it is really hard to analyze the social effects as the only state to legalize it has purposefully kept the trade away from most civilization. You have to go out of your way to go to a Nevada brothel in a way you don't have to in other countries.

    Hell, it is probably a reason why Vegas has a prostitution problem in the city.

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