Jeff Yu-Kuang Lin also was ordered to spend five years on probation, perform 250 hours of community service and get a legal job, the Houston Chronicle reported.

During Lin's sentencing hearing Friday, he described spending 100 hours a week working as a programmer for a Houston start-up company. The punishing schedule cost him his marriage and denied him a social life but when the company was sold he had $1 million from stock options.

An acquaintance, Bingwa Chao, approached him about starting a brothel. Chao, who received a two-year sentence, needed help from someone who could speak English fluently.

"Money wasn't the motivation," Lin said. "I just wanted to experience something different."

Lin's attorney read letters from two of the women who worked in the brothel, saying he treated them well. He was so concerned for them he would walk them to the bank so they could deposit their earnings.