Ex-wife of former AFL star Ricky Olarenshaw breaks silence over Bali detention, illegal ‘sex spa’ business

The estranged wife of Ricky Olarenshaw has spoken out about their relationship and why she believes she was framed for allegedly owning a spa offering sexual services.

Sarnanitha Olarenshaw with husband Ricky Olarenshaw and their children in 2019.

The estranged Balinese wife of former AFL star Ricky Olarenshaw has spoken out about their relationship and why she believes she was framed for allegedly owning a spa offering sexual services.

Sarnanitha Olarenshaw, 38, claims Indonesian police illegally arrested her on October 5 as the owner of Flame Spa, Seminyak.

Still under investigation, Nitha, as she is known, could be charged with prostitution and pornography. On September 23 she was summoned to police for an alleged breach of the anti-pornography laws and/or pimping.

If convicted, she faces a maximum of 12 years in jail. Prostitution is illegal in Indonesia.

While she languishes in the Bali Detention Centre, her husband is nowhere to be seen. She says she has not heard from Olarenshaw, 51, since he left Bali before the police raid on September 2. He is understood to be in Australia.

But her lawyer Donny Tri Istiqomah says Nitha fears a relative visiting Bali was seeking to take their nine-year-old daughter – now cared for by Nitha’s parents – to Australia.

Despite alleged long-running difficulties, the breakdown of Nitha’s 10-year marriage in August was “heartbreaking’’, she said.

Ex-Essendon player Olarenshaw at his 50th birthday with a Playboy themed party in Bali. Picture: Facebookthe

Amid bitter recriminations, she claims four Australians – her husband, his brother Darren Olarenshaw, Gregory Hinchliffe and Adam Dalby – are the majority shareholders of the company running the spa and that she is owner on paper only, a common tactic used by foreigners to bypass Indonesian regulations.

Photos obtained by The Australian show the alleged co-owners with millions of rupiah piled on a desk in one picture and in another, holding the money, allegedly profits from Flame Spa.

It was the second recent police raid on Bali spas involving foreigners, exposing concerns regarding the resort island’s illegal sex industry, said the adviser to the Bali Tourism Board, Bagus Sudibya.

“It’s degrading and disturbing. Enough is enough,” he said. “The government would like to get back in the right direction. For the future of tourism in Bali, it will bring a very negative impact and affect the gentle Balinese people.’’

Nitha, awaiting a pre-court hearing on October 28, spoke to The Australian in an exclusive interview shortly before she was taken into custody with three employees.

The Instagram influencer says her marriage had foundered for some years, before Flame Spa opened in 2017, and the breakdown was a catalyst for her arrest.

After her split, she claims the partners became concerned Nitha would stop paying their dividends and, on WhatsApp messages seen by The Australian, one threatened to imprison her, using police connections.

Gregory Hinchliffe with money.

“Looking back, there have been so many red flags. At the start, I run the business as a normal spa and then Rick start arguing because he wanted to do more – with girls, leading to prostitution and pornography so then I disagreed and stepped out and let him run it.’’

Flame Facebook urges: “Unleash your fantasies at Flame Spa Seminyak every weekend. Whether you fancy the allure of a good girl, the charm of a sexy police officer, or the innocence of little maid, we have it all.’’

Its website asserts: “Our service is more than just a sensual massage, it is an erotic experience.’’

Nitha was pregnant at the time. “I couldn’t say no because he thinks it’s going to make a lot of money for us but I don’t agree with him because it’s going to cost me my marriage,” she said. “There were so many things I couldn’t accept and I try to accept.’’

She alleges Mr Olarenshaw told her to return to work four days after giving birth. “That still brings on the fights … He was just manipulating me. I feel I’ve been exploited and I think he is narcissistic too,” she said. “He kept blaming me for everything. In the end, it was all about the money.’’

Mr Istiqomah said all the partners were in Australia.

“I have given proof to police that Ricky and his partners are the owners – with photos, proof of dividend,” he said. “It’s clear that everything belongs to Ricky and his friends, but the deed is written in Nitha’s name. There are other interests behind this case, this is not pure law enforcement. That’s why they (the police) are very closed to interviews.”

The Australian is not suggesting Mr Olarenshaw was aware of alleged illegal activities or was running a business that engaged in prostitution and pornography. The Australian has tried to contact him numerous times for a response to the claims.

Revealing WhatsApp text messages obtained by The Australian show Flame ownership as “Adam, Darren, Hinchy Rick, Anda”.

Michael and Lynley Le Grand, who were arrested in a police raid on the Pink Palace Spa in Kuta

One text message from Mr Hinchliffe to Nitha says: “Nitha, Your disrespect in leaving the chat group has shown me your true colours. I am NOT going to talk to your lawyers about our dividends. The company has paid dividends for years!

“I have all the proof and documents with your signatures! I have proof, evidence and now the backing of some very powerful people. If you don’t play ball with me and issue our dividends before Friday. We WILL file a court case against you as the ‘OWNER’ and against FLAME. If we do not get dividends, then you won’t get anything too. I will SHUT DOWN flame as an illegal business and you’re liable as a shareholder, we will put you in jail for sex trafficking and fraud.

“To be clear, do you honor my 20pct, Adam’s 20pct, Darren’s 20pct and Rick’s 20%? Treat this as a final warning of our patience in this matter. You have 24 hours to reply to this message.’’

On Wednesday, the senior commissioner of police, Jansen Avitus Panjaitan, told The Australian the Flame case was still being processed. Asked if police would investigate, or were seeking to prosecute, the four alleged Australian co-owners of Flame Spa, Mr Panjaitan said they were part of the ongoing investigations. Hence police had not named them, he said.

Mr Istiqomah has claimed Nitha was a “victim of exploitation of foreign nationals in illegal business run by Ricky et al”.

“Don’t let the police be used for defending the interests of foreigners in managing entertainment businesses in Bali,” he said.

He has taken his concerns to the Internal Affairs Division at the National Police Headquarters in Bali and reported the Australians to immigration.

“I reported this … because I was sure that the police had been used by foreigners to seize the shares from Nitha’s hands with compensation for Nitha being released from prison,’’ Mr Istiqomah said.

A promotional vehicle advertising the Pink Palace Spa & Relaxation centre.

Nitha said: “I told the police about the involvement of the bules (foreigners). I told them … you need to arrest them because they’re the ones getting huge benefits from this business, not me.’’

The deputy director of the Bali Police’s Criminal Investigation Directorate, Ketut Suarnaya, said in a statement to the media that based on complaints and reports a raid was carried out on September 2 at Flame Spa. A therapist was allegedly found providing services to guests “completely naked’’. An interrogation of guest witnesses allegedly found pornographic activities were taking place.

Guests chose from a selection of services and “models’’ in transparent lingerie. “The therapist performs a traditional sensational massage by showing sexuality, completely naked body-to-body contact, oral, handjob or blowjob”.

After Flame Seminyak and its two other Bali branches were closed, police raided the Pink Palace Spa in Kuta on September 11, arresting Melbourne couple Michael Le Grand, 50, and wife Lynley Le Grand, 44, and others for their alleged involvement in prostitution. Police are seeking to prosecute the couple under Indonesia’s anti-pornography law, with investigations ongoing. They face up to 12 years in jail if convicted.

The police allegedly found an underage therapist aged 17. “Apart from finding minors who were employed there, officers also discovered … pornography.’’

The Criminal Investigation Directorate named 12 suspects including the Le Grands. The Pink Palace turned over up to three billion rupiah a month, police said.

Strangely, the spa had operated openly for some time, flaunting a sign with the words, “happy coq, happy life’’. What provoked the raid at this time is unclear.

Nitha said Mr Olarenshaw had once introduced her to Mr Le Grand. She said one partner messaged her on WhatsApp, claiming they had teamed up with Mr Le Grand “to close her down’’.

The message from Mr Hinchliffe to Nitha, obtained by The Australian, reads: “You forced my hand when you told me to go to the police. We teamed up with Mick to shut down all of our locations. Sell me your shares or we close it down forever and jail all of you. There is an amicable way to settle this or we escalate the war. Your choice. Think for your kid’s sake don’t do silly things.’’

Mr Panjaitan told The Australian: “There is no correlation between the raids (on Flame Spa and Pink Palace); these two locations are suspected of carrying out prostitution activities … we are targeting crimes that relate to a social sickness.’’

Police raided Flame while Nitha was on a six-week trip to Europe. She alleges the raid was planned while Mr Olarenshaw was in Thailand but that he was aware of it and involved. “He has just abandoned me and the kids.’’

But she concedes he’d had a good relationship with her 14-year-old son from a previous relationship – surfing and playing football together. “But behind the scenes he’s different,’’ she said.

As coach of the Bali Geckos Australian rules football Club, Mr Olarenshaw was a crowd-puller, especially for local kids training and AFL stars visiting from Australia. The club, operating since 1997, is a Bali institution based in Canggu and Mr Olarenshaw’s friend, former Bali expat Gregory Hinchliffe, is club president. Nicknamed the king of Bali for his flamboyant lifestyle, Mr Olarenshaw moved to Bali in 2013 and opened two F45 gyms. Last year he celebrated his 50th birthday in a Playboy-themed party at Flame spa.

Flame pulled in one billion rupiah ($100,000) a month, or 200 million rupiah for each partner, including Nitha, Mr Istiqomah said.

Despite her being named company commissioner, Nitha’s real job was managing finances and paying dividends to Mr Olarenshaw and his friends, he said.

“Much of her money was for home expenses and caring for their daughter,” he said.

When Nitha’s marriage fell apart “I found out my husband was cheating on me – probably for a long time”.

“I just ignored it,” she said. “Until someone send me a video of him with two girls in a cafe, passionately kissing and those things. I got angry.

“Then I think they (the business partners) started freaking out because the company is under a local company title – which must be 100 per cent Indonesian-owned. A foreign-owned company must invest minimum capital of 10 billion rupiah.

“Probably they didn’t want to pay that money so they use my name for the local company. Ricky convinced me to open this business,’’ she said.

Nitha said she found she could not organise the dividends from Europe. “I already gave them payments on the 8th of August and they want more money on the 20th,’’ she said.

The money was usually distributed every three months, or when they came to the island. But in August the partners were in Bali often, Nitha said.

Only Nitha was authorised to withdraw money from the bank as the business was under her name.

“My husband, his brother and his friends in the business were hassling me for the money,’’ she said.

They accused her of stealing the dividends. “I had been giving them the money for the past 10 years. Then they start threatening me in the group (chat),” she said.

“They said if you don’t come up with the money … I have powerful people who are going to put you in jail and get you (for) prostitution and human trafficking and fraud.

“Two of the shareholders were at Flame Spa with the police during the raid but my husband had already (left).

“He was aware the raid was going to happen because he was in the group chat. They threatened me again before I returned, saying they would put me in jail when I land in Bali.’’

The two shareholders allegedly told staff to hand over the Flame keys.

Police allegedly forced the staff and security to turn off the CCTV. When they didn’t comply, the CCTV camera was turned upwards by the police, Mr Istiqomah said.

When Nitha went to Europe she left her children with Mr Olarenshaw. “I trust him with that until someone sent a video of him. There was constantly something – the cheating, then the raids.’’