The clerk agreed to file charges against the first 12 men whose cases were called, saying in court that there is “sufficient evidence to establish probable cause.”

Court hearings for 28 “wealthy and well-connected” men accused of being customers of an interstate commercial sex ring that ran high-end brothels in two Massachusetts communities began in Cambridge on Friday.

The names of several men accused of buying sex at Cambridge-area brothels were publicly disclosed for the first time Friday. Why it matters: Federal prosecutors have stated brothel clients included "elected officials,

The names of at least nine of nearly 30 men who were accused of participating in a network of high-end brothels in Virginia and Massachusetts were made public.