The Elite Clientele of a High-End Massachusetts Brothel are in Court Fighting to Keep Their Names from Being Made Public

As Michael Keaton says in this criminally underappreciated '80s comedy about two guys who run a prostitution ring out of a city morgue, "What are we really talking about here? What's the essence?" 

These are fine questions well worth asking. Because prostitution, in all its forms, is a difficult, complex issue. One that is hard to get people to agree on. Even the most tolerant, libertarian views on transactional sex for a fee don't hold up when you walk into your building and find a used condom stuck the bottom of your dress shoes. And even the most conservative hardline view needs to allow for the fact this method of earning a living goes back to a time before coins were minted for money.

Even as I write this, I'm less than 100 yards away from a house in my idyllic little seaside community that was once used as a brothel that was mainly frequented by sailors. It literally still has numbers above each bedroom door, in a sort of sex work historic preservation effort. 

The point being, it's always existed, and probably always will. And no there's no better proof than what's been going on in Massachusetts: 

CBS Boston - Elected officials, doctors and lawyers are among dozens of men fighting to keep their names private as customers of an alleged brothel. On Monday, the highest court in Massachusetts heard arguments from both sides in the case.

In November, U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Joshua Levy announced that three people were arrested for allegedly operating a high-end brothel network out of apartment complexes in Cambridge, Dedham, and Watertown, Massachusetts as well as Virginia.

Over a dozen of the alleged clients are asking to remain anonymous.  

The full Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court heard this argument Monday after a judge ruled last year to open this case to the public. 

"They will undoubtedly lose their jobs lose their professions and have their lives ripped apart," attorney Benjamin Urbelis, representing five alleged brothel clients, argued before the SJC.

   

The brothel ring leaders allegedly operated through websites advertising nude Asian models for professional photography as a front for prostitution.

"They are doctors, they are lawyers, they're accountants, they are executives at high-tech companies, pharmaceutical companies, they're military officers, government contractors, professors, scientists," Levy said about customers of the brothel when the arrests were announced. "Pick a profession, they're probably represented in this case."

Before we continue, let me just point out to all you non-Massholes that elected officials, doctors, lawyers and the rest aren't what we consider A-listers around here. Our A-listers have either long moved to Hollywood (Matt Damon, various Afflecks and assorted Wahlbergs), or are in pro sports, or rock stars. Only the worst sorts of political hacks or other hangers-on care about our government officials. And the other professions listed here are at most on the C-plus-list. Any given Barstool personality would get recognized at a restaurant in the Seaport at 100 times the rate of even the most high profile state official. And tech executives, pharma reps, professors and scientists or whomever, are just anonymous nobodies with impressive-sounding job titles. 

With that business out of the way, this is an interesting legal case. On the one hand, everyone of these men is entitled to the same presumption of innocence as you or me. And it's a tough situation to have to go into your job at the hospital, university or law firm with all your co-workers and clients hearing that you pay for your sex with hot Asians. Especially if you're innocent. As the lawyers so often say, you can't unring a bell. 

But what that argument ignores is that it's no bargain for anyone else who gets arrested. Most of us probably know someone who's been charged with a crime. And when they did, their name was part of the public record. Under the worst circumstances, they might end up on the local news, standing there in court getting arraigned like a loser. Even if the case ends up being thrown out or they get a Not Guilty in the end, the damage is done. A fat lot of good beating the case does in the long run. Not when the whole world already saw them get charged and thinks they're guilty. 

And that goes especially for guys charged with sex-related crimes like soliciting a prostitute. How many times have city cops conducted one of those "John Sweep" operations? The ones where they dress undercover officers in hooker clothes, arrest anyone who takes the bait, and posts their names and faces for our consumption? The justification for that is to clean up the streets by publicly shaming the suspects and putting the fear of public shaming into anyone thinking about doing the same. Hell, isn't that the whole premise of To Catch a Predator? 

So what difference does it make how the Johns earn their living? If a guy is an MIT physicist, are we supposed to give him different treatment than the long haul trucker who gets a blowie in his cab at the truck stop? Is an officer stationed at Otis Air Force base entitled to privacy that is denied to the guy who frames houses? On what basis? Where exactly do we draw the line between jobs that are too important and the ones that aren't? Is this just a white collar/blue collar thing? A sort of implied privilege? A modern caste system where the aristocracy gives themselves rights they don't give to the normies?

I'm coming down on the side of releasing the identities of these guys. Not because I'm all worked up about the crime of paying attractive Asians for soulless, commitment-free sex. What these gentlemen do with their money and their organs with other consenting adults is between them and their gods. 

But in the end, I'm all about two things: Fairness, and my own self interest. I'm no elected official, tech mogul or scientist. But I am a Masshole blogger. My job isn't prestigious enough to get my record sealed if I ever hired a prositute from an elite Asian  brothel. But it does give me the opportunity to entertain the public. And this list would most definitely do that. So let's have at them, thanks.