Virginia Man Sentenced for Operating Interstate Prostitution Ring

BOSTON – A Virginia man was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for his role in operating a long-running interstate prostitution ring. 

Yoon Kim, 39, of Haymarket, Va., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge William G. Young to 20 months in prison and two years of supervised release. In November 2018, Kim pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to persuade, induce, entice, or coerce individuals to travel in interstate commerce to engage in prostitution, and one count of conspiracy to engage in money laundering.

On March 15, 2018, Kim was charged and arrested with co-defendants Taehee Kim, a/k/a “Hyunsook Kim” (Yoon Kim’s wife), of Haymarket, Va.; Susan Bashir, a/k/a “Susan Redmon,” a/k/a “Susan Redmond,” of Stone Mountain, Ga.; Jineok Kim, of Watertown, Mass; and Kyung Song, of Lexington, Mass.

From at least 2013 until March 2018, Kim and his co-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. The women advertised on the websites were moved from city to city within the network, at Taehee Kim’s direction, working as prostitutes for the organization. Yoon Kim and co-conspirators collected a portion of the cash earnings from the women working at the brothels and funneled the money into accounts controlled by Yoon Kim and his wife. Co-conspirators also used U.S. Postal money orders and the mail to transport and launder proceeds from the prostitution network. Yoon Kim rented several of the brothel locations, including multiple apartments in and around Cambridge, managed the websites advertising the prostitution network, and handled other aspects of the business.

Taehee Kim, Jineok Kim, Susan Bashir, and Kyong Song previously pleaded guilty. Taehee Kim is pending sentencing; Jineok Kim was sentenced in April 2019 to three months in prison; Susan Bashir was sentenced in May 2019 to 45 days in prison; and Kyung Song was sentenced in March 2019 to one year of home confinement.

United States Andrew E. Lelling; Michael Shea, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; Joseph W. Cronin, Postal Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Boston Field Division; and Cambridge Police Commissioner Branville G. Bard Jr. made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney David J. D’Addio of Lelling’s Civil Rights Enforcement Team prosecuted the case.