Sydney massage parlours found guilty of illegal sex with private investigators

Four Sydney massage parlours have been busted for “sex without council consent”. The Daily Telegraph can reveal the lengths private investigators are going through to get proof parlours are going too far with clients.

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EXCLUSIVE: Private investigators are getting “happy endings” so the City of Sydney can prosecute CBD massage parlours for providing sex without council consent.

Town Hall has successfully prosecuted four massage parlours in Downing Centre Local Court in the last year.

Now The Daily Telegraph can reveal the lengths undercover agents are prepared to go to for proof the masseurs are going too far with their clients.

Court documents in the case against Wynyard Massage, whose owner Suxian Luan was found guilty in court this month of two breaches of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act, revealed what happened after an “agent” walked into the small, dimly lit room at the Kent St business on July 12, 2017.

The owner of Wynyard Massage was fined $7000 for two breaches.

Sussex Star Massage was convicted of the same charge and fined $20,000.

An Asian female entered, introduced herself as Tina and asked “is oil OK?”

“Our agent replied ‘yes’. She commenced the massage with agent lying face down on the bed naked,” a report from the investigating firm said.

“Our agent advised she appeared well trained in massage.

“Agent said ‘Are you Korean’. She said ‘No. Thai’. Our agent said ‘how many girls are working today?’ she said ‘6’.”

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After a 40-minute massage Tina asked the agent to turn over and said “do you want extras?”

Our agent said: “What sort of extras do you offer?”

“She said ‘Nude, body to body with happy ending, it is $50 extra.”

“Our agent hesitated and before answering, she said ‘I was hoping you would so you would bring me good luck’.

“Our agent then paid an extra $50 cash direct to Tina for Tina to be naked. Tina then performed a body to body slide massage and rubbed agent’s penis.”

The court documents explain the situation reached its natural conclusion and the agent left.

Another firm sent an agent into the same business in November 2018 and was offered “full intercourse for a fee of $150”.

He declined, receiving “hand relief” instead.

Ms Luan was convicted on two counts of “carry out development without a development consent” and fined $7000 on July 12.

Vincent Tran, the operator of Sussex Star Massage, was also convicted on the same charge on July 11 and ordered to pay a fine of $20,000 plus the council’s legal costs.

A council spokeswoman said use of private investigators was “common practice” and “legitimate”.

“Successful prosecutions in court require sufficient evidence of breaches of the legislation,” she said.

“As with many other councils in Sydney, the City has engaged private investigators for this purpose. The use of private investigators has been acknowledged by the courts as a legitimate evidence gathering approach.”

The new owners of Pyrmont Star Massage was shocked to learn of the conduct of the last owners.

The council confirmed the former owners of Pyrmont Star Massage and another operator in the city were convicted last year and two more were currently before the courts.

New managers at Pyrmont Star, who bought the business in April, told The Daily Telegraph they were horrified to learn of the conduct of the previous owners.

“(New) management are properly qualified massage therapists and that is what they’re promoting,” the company’s solicitor Jeffrey Choy said.

“They wouldn’t have anything to do with anything that’s outside of the law.

“If they were aware of this problem they probably wouldn’t have bought it … I will be giving my client strong advice to change the name.”

The council received 70 reports in the last two years — most of them anonymous — about sex services in the city and just five were about legal brothels breaching their conditions, the rest related to massage parlours allegedly providing sex services without approval.

The council has issued $54,000 in fines to unapproved sex premises in the last two years, 12 brothel closure orders for unlicensed sex trade and more have closed voluntarily after enforcement action.

The situation is vastly different in Parramatta, where the council has received 45 complaints about unauthorised brothels in the past two years with no criminal prosecutions and has closed one massage parlour.

Originally published as Sydney massage parlours found guilty of illegal sex with private investigators