Security concerns are being raised after the Department of Justice announced three people have been arrested and charged for operating a network of brothels, including two in Virginia. Some of their customers allegedly include elected officials, military officers and government contractors.
According to a release from the U. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts, where the sex ring was also operating, three individuals have been charged for their involvement in what the FBI calls a sophisticated network of brothels.
An affidavit states that the sex workers were being housed in two locations on the East Coast: the Cambridge and Watertown area in Massachusetts and the Fairfax and Tysons area in Virginia. The DOJ says its investigation into the sex ring began in July when investigators discovered posts on two websites that advertised appointments with Asian women in either greater Boston or eastern Virginia.
Both websites claimed to offer Asian models who would pose nude for professional photography shoots at upscale studios and would allow "clients" to set up appointments with women listed on their websites. According to the affidavit, the websites were updated frequently with "coming soon" or "open" to show which women were available at any given time. Although one of the sites claimed it was "expressly not a site that in any way solicits, encourages, nor sanctions any sexual activity" and the other claimed "[t]his site does not promote prostitution nor is this advertisement or any content therein an offer for prostitution," the DOJ said both sites were actively promoting and advertising prostitution.
The DOJ alleges that the women were flown from city to city within the prostitution network and the clients included politicians, high-tech and pharmaceutical executives, doctors, military officers, government contractors who possess security clearances, professors, lawyers, scientists and accountants.
