What residents witnessed that evening was one part of a multi-jurisdictional and multi-agency investigation into an international sex trafficking conspiracy. On June 30, dozens of people were arrested in Los Angeles and across the Bay Area and approximately $2 million was seized in a federal investigation officials are calling Operation Gilded Cage. Approximately 50 brothels, residences and businesses were searched in connection with the investigation.

Operation Gilded Cage is a federal investigation of an alleged prostitution ring suspected of bringing hundreds of South Korean women into the United States to work as prostitutes in massage parlors.

The United States attorney for the Northern District of California has charged Keun Sung Lee, a.k.a. Kenneth, 48, of Saratoga, with conspiracy to use a facility in aid of unlawful activity. The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and $250,000 in fines.

Court documents provided by the FBI show that Young Joon Yang, 37, of Pleasant Hill, operated an underground taxi service in San Francisco, known as Yang's Taxi, that was in the business of transporting prostitutes to and from airports and brothels. The documents state that several people, including Lee, associated with Yang as business partners. On or about May 18, Lee allegedly called Yang and discussed laundering U.S. currency for Yang's prostitution-related businesses.

Alan Baum, an attorney for Criminal Defense Associates of Woodland Hills, is lead counsel for Lee. "This is a very complex case involving a lot of people accused of doing a lot of very bad things," he said. "I'm not certain that Mr. Lee was involved with conversations with one of the heavies or not. Mr. Lee is a very successful businessman who has several companies involved in capital investment all around the world."

Baum said that in law parlance what the government is accusing Lee of is called a "phone count."

"Mr. Lee has no intent of pleading guilty to anything. He is not guilty of anything," Baum said. "I think it's unfortunate that the government has chosen to indict an innocent businessman in this very serious case without any evidence that he has committed any crime."

Twenty-nine people in the Northern District of California have been charged with counts that include conspiracy to bring in and harbor aliens, sex trafficking--aiding and abetting, money laundering conspiracy, Mann Act Conspiracy--transporting women in interstate commerce to engage in prostitution, and conspiracy to use a facility in aid of unlawful activity.

The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department played no role in the operation, which Capt. John Hirokawa said is not uncommon in federal cases.

In a press release from the U.S. attorney's office, U.S. Attorney Kevin V. Ryan stated, "This investigation is aimed at stopping the horrific, demeaning and oftentimes brutal practice of smuggling and trafficking of human beings into the U.S. for illicit purposes. In Operation Gilded Cage, we have actively sought to dismantle a wide-ranging operation with connections in the U.S., Korea and Canada by targeting not only the alleged smuggling and trafficking of women, but also the related financial activities of the illicit operation."