Sydney’s illegal brothels: Inside the world of the city’s criminal brothels
Authorities are waging a war against Sydney’s illegal brothels in a bid to protect those who work there and those who frequent them. We can now reveal what goes on behind the doors of these so called ‘massage parlours’ and how investigators bring them down.
Central Sydney
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An unknown number of illegal brothels are operating across Sydney’s CBD potentially putting sex workers and their customers at risk.
An unknown number of illegal brothels are operating across Sydney’s CBD potentially putting sex workers and their customers at risk.
In the City of Sydney Council area alone five illegal brothels have been prosecuted in the last 15 months with tens of thousands of dollars of fines dished out.
With more set to face the courts later this year, we can reveal the methods used by councils to catch illegal brothels in the act.
Court documents reveal the council hires private investigators to probe massage parlours and other establishments to identify if they offer illegal sex services.
The documents outline the dramatic encounters which divulge how investigators sometimes end up having sex to provide proof for future prosecutions.
In one of the most recent prosecutions, the council looked into rumours Good Fortune Massage in Zetland was operating as an illegal brothel.
Despite not having a licence to operate as such, the massage parlour was advertised on adult classified websites with “a series of photos depicting women all with faces obscured in sexually suggestive poses, and wearing revealing clothing”, according to the court documents.
Many of the photos still remain with details like name, nationality, “butt size” and
dress size”.
When the phone number on the website is called, a text message comes back directing patrons to a website for massage parlours in Riverwood and Miranda, showing similar images.
In February 2018, a private eye attended Good Fortune Massage and paid a woman $50 for a 45 minute massage.
He was directed by the employee to remove all his clothes – despite a handwritten note on the wall which read “NO SEX”.
After 30 minutes the investigator paid an extra $50 to have the woman remove all her clothes and masturbate him.
“(The) woman proceeded to do so until he ejaculated. She then wiped him down,” the court papers read.
According to documents lodged at Downing Centre Local Court, Business owner Yu ‘Michael’ Liu was confronted by the council’s investigating officer and he said “he was the manager and that this was his first day on the job” and that “he had been employed … to keep the shop clean, put rubbish out and answer the phone”.
Council officers inspected the premises and saw a woman leave a room holding a red towel and a handful of tissues, before she walked quickly into the bathroom opposite.
The investigating officer asked her to “come with me and bring that with you”, indicating the tissues held in the woman’s hand, before she locked herself in the toilet cubicle.
The toilet could be heard flushing and the woman emerged without the tissues.
Council officers seized the red towel “which later tested positive for the presence of semen”.
Mr Liu was ordered to cease using the premises as a brothel but a few months later another private eye returned and paid $60 for a “no clothes massage and happy ending”.
The woman removed all her clothes and “proceeded to massage the private investigator’s penis for ten minutes until he ejaculated”, according to court papers.
When confronted, the Good Fortune Massage employee “stated she worked for ‘Michael’ and gave him half of what she earned for “providing massages.”
“She explained Michael came to the premises every day to collect money,” court documents state.
Mr Liu was convicted and charged with failure to comply with the terms of a brothel closure order and carry out development without development consent.
Yu Liu was convicted and fined $2000 for using his premises as an illegal brothel.
That establishment is now closed.
Just months before Chuanhang Tang, the director of Chinese Remedial Massage in Surry Hills, was convicted and fined $10,000 at the Downing Centre Local Court for using the premises as a brothel without council consent.
A private investigator was sent there in August 2018 and paid a massage therapist $140 for a “happy ending” – which was duly provided.
Mr Tang, 54, was ordered to shut down the brothel by City of Sydney council but six months later, another private eye had sex with a female employee for $100.
Mr Tang appealed the penalty claiming the fine was “too heavy” but his appeal was dismissed.
“I believe that I did not ask them (my workers) to do that sort of things (sex work),” he stated in his appeal documents.
“I did not benefit from it financially. They got the money while I get fined. It is unfair to me,” he continued.
In August last year, Wynyard Massage was also taken to court after private investigators were called in.
After a regular 40-minute massage, the female employee asked the agent to turn over and said “do you want extras?” according to court documents lodged at Downing Centre Local Court.
The agent asked “What sort of extras so you offer?” to which she replied ”Nude, body to body with happy ending” for $50.
A female masseuse then performed what was called a “body to body slide massage” in which she “rubbed an agent’s penis”.
The owner Suxian Luan was fined $7000 for two breaches of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act.
Just a month before Vincent Tran, the operator of Sussex Star Massage, was ordered to pay a fine of $20,000 by the Downing Centre Local Court plus the council’s legal costs for offering “extras”.
In October last year Trung Phan Nguyen was fined $45,000 by the Downing Centre Local Court due to his business, Sydney CBD Massage and Waxing, illegally offering sexual services to clients.
A court heard, the fine was reduced from a potential $220,000 because the magistrate found there was no evidence the massage therapist offered a “full service” or penile penetration.
At least two other massage parlours in the CBD are set to be prosecuted by City of Sydney council later this year.
Lyonswood Investigations and Forensics is one of the private investigator firms hired by councils to probe illegal brothels.
“We are asked to determine whether sexual services are being provided at the premises in exchange for payment of money,” managing director Robert Fahim said.
“Usually we are asked to determine whether sexual services are being provided at the premises in exchange for the payment of money and usually we are instructed to partake of such services … in order to obtain strong evidence,” he added.
He said the company has worked with 10 councils across NSW and despite the criminal activity taking place, most brothels appeared to be “reasonably safe and clean”.
“Like most people in Sydney, the workers appear to work hard. Often it appears the employees work at multiple brothels in the area,” he added.
Sex is an industry in Sydney with the City of Sydney having approved 62 sex services within the CBD.
However, the council said it was vital to investigate those operating without authorisation.
“It is important that we monitor and enforce compliance through planning laws and consent conditions as they provide a framework for sex services premises (brothels) to operate legally,” a council spokeswoman said.
“We also believe the best approach is to support a safe and lawful sex industry.”