Five arrested for operating interstate prostitution ring out of high end apartments
Five people from Massachusetts, Virginia, and Georgia were arrested Thursday on federal charges for allegedly operating an elaborate interstate prostitution ring that trafficked Asian women, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.
Kyung Song, 52, of Lexington, Mass.; Jineok Kim, 38, of Watertown, Mass.; Susan Bashir, 41, of Stone Mountain, Ga.; and Taehee Kim, 46, and Yoon I. Kim, 36, a married couple living in Haymarket, Va., were apprehended Thursday and appeared in federal courts in Boston, Virginia, and Atlanta, according to a statement from the US Attorney’s Office.
Song, Bashir, and the Kims allegedly operated multiple brothels out of high-end apartments in Cambridge, Atlanta, and eastern Virginia since at least late 2015, according to the statement
Yoon and Taehee Kim allegedly ran much of the operation from their home in Virginia, with Jineok Kim and, later, Kyung Song purchasing supplies, transporting women, and handling the money for their Cambridge operation.
Each defendant was charged with one count of conspiracy to persuade, induce, entice, or coerce individuals to travel in interstate commerce to engage in prostitution.
The charge provides for a sentence of no more than five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000 or double the total profit or loss, whichever is greater.
Attorneys for Song and for Jineok Kim declined to comment on the case on Friday afternoon. Lawyers for the other three defendants could not be located.
Jineok Kim came to the US in 2010 on a student visa to attend the Berklee College of Music but dropped out in 2013, according to an affidavit from US Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Errol C. Flynn, who is based in Boston. Kim allegedly oversaw the Cambridge operation from at least April 2016 to December 2017.
Song immigrated from South Korea in 2005 and became a legal permanent resident of the US in 2013, according to the affidavit. He is accused of taking over Jineok Kim’s role in December 2017.
The defendants allegedly attracted clients primarily through advertisements on websites for escort services catering to men seeking Asian women, and they moved the women from city to city within the network.
The website listing women available in the Boston area tells potential clients that it specializes in “creating your Geisha Experience, an experience you . . . will not forget. Our performance goes beyond standard expectations,’’ according to the affidavit.
The site also lists “gift’’ amounts that the service charged for time spent with the women: $280 for 45 minutes, $320 for an hour, and so on, according to the affidavit.
The defendants allegedly made bulk deposits of cash from the brothels at nearby ATMs — sometimes depositing thousands of dollars at a time — and funneled the revenue into one another’s accounts, according to the US Attorney’s Office.
