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In a new update to the developing story, the Daily Mail reported this week that intelligence sources say the operation was most likely a "honeypot" blackmail operation intended to entrap influential figures. The term honeypot (or honey trap) comes from the world of espionage. It is believed to be a practice involving the use of a covert agent using a romantic or sexual relationship to compromise a target.

At the time of the arrests, the DOJ stated that beginning in July 2020, suspect Han Lee of Cambridge, Massachusetts, along with James Lee and Junmyung Lee, operated an "interstate prostitution network" with multiple brothels in Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, as well as in Fairfax and Tysons, Virginia. All three suspects are South Korean nationals.

The suspects were charged with conspiracy to coerce and enticement to travel to engage in illegal sexual activity. The sex workers were flown in from Los Angeles and Las Vegas and often moved from one location to another. The suspects would meet the women at the airport, buy them groceries, move them into the brothel locations, and then begin offering them to potential clients.

The DOJ accuses the suspects of using two now-defunct websites— bostontopten10.com and browneyesgirlsva.blog—to entice potential clients with appointments with young Asian women in either greater Boston or eastern Virginia. The websites advertised nude Asian models for professional photography as a front for prostitution offered through appointments with women listed on the sites. The websites listed the height, weight, and bust size of women available for appointments.

The brothels operated in Unit 245 at the Avalon Mosaic in Fairfax, Virginia, and Unit 649 at the Hanover Tysons in Tysons Corner, VA.

The DOJ also claims that between December 2019 and October 2023, Han Lee “deposited just under $795,000 of cash into her personal Bank of America bank accounts." Lee also used around $109,000 in cash to make payments on her Bank of America credit card account. The DOJ said the Bank of America account was used for "travel-related purchases and other expenses associated with brothel operations."

Regarding the potentially high-profile clientele, investigators stated they "believe there are potentially hundreds of yet to be identified customers that may include other professional disciplines not included in the list above."

Intelligence experts, including former US intelligence officials, spoke anonymously to the Daily Mail warning that the operation may have been a blackmail operation organized by a foreign nation. The Daily Mail reports:

"They believe the brothels – allegedly masterminded by a 41-year-old South Korean woman – targeted politicians, high ranking government officials and defense contractors.

"But the mystery is which country was behind the scheme. Russia, China, Korea itself, or even Israel are al[l] seen as possibly being behind the scheme.

"'Having the Koreans out front could have been a false flag to give China or another country plausible deniability if the plot unraveled,' a one-time CIA senior operations officer told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview."

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