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A Massachusetts woman who operated an East Coast prostitution network using apartments in Tysons and Merrifield has been sentenced to four years in federal prison.

Han Lee, 42, received the 48-month sentence from a federal judge in Boston on Wednesday, March 19. She must also forfeit nearly $5.5 million generated by the commercial sex operation.

Federal prosecutors described Lee as the leader of one of the East Coast’s most successful prostitution networks. Since at least July 2020, the operation used apartments at Avalon Mosaic in Merrifield and Hanover Tysons, which is now called The Jones at Tysons.

Court documents identified eight additional locations connected to the network, including seven in Massachusetts.

Federal authorities said Lee and two co-conspirators recruited primarily Asian women to travel across state lines and work at the brothels. Customers included politicians, corporate executives, military officers and government contractors who held security clearances.

“Han Lee didn’t just recruit women to sell their bodies for sex – she built a criminal enterprise designed to thrive in the shadows, evading law enforcement while profiting off her victims like commodities,” U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley said.

Clients paid as much as $600 per hour. Prosecutors said the defendants concealed hundreds of thousands of dollars through personal bank accounts and peer-to-peer payment transfers.

Lee was indicted last year and pleaded guilty in September to money laundering and conspiracy to coerce at least one person to travel interstate to engage in prostitution.

Her alleged co-conspirators, Junmyung Lee and James Lee, have also pleaded guilty and are scheduled for sentencing next month.

Nearly 30 alleged customers are expected to appear in court following a Massachusetts Supreme Court decision requiring their hearings to be public. The first group testified last week, with a second group scheduled to appear Friday.