Five Individuals Charged with Operating Interstate Prostitution Ring

BOSTON – Five individuals were arrested in three states today and charged in connection with operating a long-running interstate prostitution ring. 

Yoon I. Kim, 36, of Haymarket, Va.; Taehee Kim, a/k/a “Hyunsook Kim,” 46, of Haymarket, Va.; Jineok Kim, 38, of Watertown, Mass.; Kyung Song, 52, of Lexington, Mass.; and Susan Bashir, a/k/a “Susan Redmon,” a/k/a “Susan Redmond,” 41, of Stone Mountain, Ga., were charged in a criminal complaint with one count of conspiracy to persuade, induce, entice, or coerce individuals to travel in interstate commerce to engage in prostitution. The defendants were arrested today and appeared in federal courts in Boston, Virginia, and Atlanta.  

According to the criminal complaint, beginning in at least November 2015, the defendants operated an interstate prostitution network with multiple brothels in high-end apartments in Cambridge, Mass.; Atlanta, Ga.; and eastern Virginia. They advertised appointments with Asian women primarily on three websites: www.bostonasiandolls.com, www.exoticasiansatlanta.com, and www.redhotflowers69.com. The women advertised on the websites were moved from city to city within the network, working as prostitutes for the organization. Co-conspirators collected the cash earnings from the women working at the brothels and made bulk deposits—sometimes thousands of dollars at a time in cash—at ATMs near the brothels, funneling the money into accounts controlled by other co-conspirators. Co-conspirators also used U.S. Postal money orders and the U.S. Mail to transport proceeds from the prostitution network. 

The charge of conspiracy to persuade, induce, entice, or coerce women to travel in interstate commerce to engage in prostitution provides for a sentence of no greater than five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain/loss, whichever is greater. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Andrew E. Lelling; Michael Shea, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; Raymond Moss, Acting Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and Cambridge Police Commissioner Branville G. Bard Jr. made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys David J. D’Addio and Amy Harman Burkart of Lelling’s Civil Rights Enforcement Team are prosecuting the case. 

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations.  The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.