Dozens of famous names are among hundreds of people who have been revealed as clients at two Sydney brothels in a stash of supposedly confidential business files.
The documents, viewed by The Sun-Herald, contain photocopies of credit cards, driver's licences and payment consent forms exposing men and women who have paid for sexual services at Liaisons in Edgecliff or the Golden Apple, in Darlinghurst Road, Kings Cross.
The customers include many celebrities of music, film and television, leading corporate figures, sports personalities including NRL players past and present and two prominent horse racing identities.
Doctors, lawyers, school principals, consulate officials, diplomats, bankers, artists and suburban real estate agents are also in the files.
The unprecedented nature of the documents offers a unique glimpse into the seedy world of commercial sex at two of Australia's top brothels, both of which are the subject of a bitter ownership dispute in the NSW Supreme Court between two former best friends turned enemies.
In one corner is Mark Paul Gray, owner of both parlours, who is proposing a $21 million apartment complex on the land Liaisons occupies. In the opposite corner is Hugh James Bond, who is claiming a 50 per cent slice of the sex empire after allegedly helping to launch it two decades ago, with a $65,000 half-share payment in former Melbourne sex parlour The Candy Club.
After that business was sold, Mr Gray successfully bought and sold many other brothels and escort businesses using the men's initial $130,000. According to Mr Bond's statement of claim, that wheeling and dealing was ''conducted on the same terms and conditions as the Candy Club''. Aside from disclosing the identities of so many customers, the leaked documents also lift the lid on how much is at stake between the warring men. Company tax returns reveal the brothels collectively reaped more than $2.7 million in revenue in 2011.
With both men concealing shady pasts, the feud could turn ugly in court should a settlement not be reached. Mark Gray changed his name from Mark Gdanski and he is the brother of prominent Melbourne lawyer and former St Kilda AFL club director John Gdanski. Under his original name, his brothel licence was revoked in Victoria for employing an under-age prostitute. Mr Bond has a string of drug convictions, bail breaches and apprehended violence orders and is pursuing the claim when he is unemployed and surviving on loans and handouts from friends, according to court proceedings.
But while the dispute may ultimately hinge on one solitary screwed-up note that both men once signed, attention has suddenly diverted to the many thousands of pages carrying hundreds of client signatures from across Australia and overseas, who paid for sex at Mr Gray's parlours between 2008 and 2011. The Sun-Herald can reveal that over the past decade Liaisons and the Golden Apple have protected the identity of all its customers by using two fictitious eastern suburbs restaurant names as the corporate entities that appear on credit card receipts and bank statements.
During 2009, one internationally renowned married Australian actor twice visited the Golden Apple, using his personal credit card on both occasions. It was a similar story for a high-profile music industry figure who, around the same period, enjoyed an $1800 two-hour hotel sex session with ''Honey'', then spent another $920 on an escort known as ''Sierra''.
In 2008, a well-known married chief executive spent $500 on a Golden Apple call girl - with a receptionist's note attached to the brothel receipt explaining how he had declined to show his identification, only to then provide his credit card, signature and address.
Detailed analysis of the records indicate that while some men, including one well-known television network identity, visit brothels for a six-monthly or annual fix, others are regular users.
One prominent Sydney businessman, whose financial records have previously come under scrutiny at the Independent Commission Against Corruption, spent $14,560 at Liaisons during July 2009. However, that figure tells only a fraction of the story. Over three years, the same individual returned on a monthly basis, to either Liaisons or the Golden Apple, booking the same initial $1600 service which then spiralled into many thousands more.
The files also show women were prepared to pay up to $1000 for an intimate female experience. In January 2009, one senior business executive spent $835 on a private session that was 30 minutes long while another interstate woman forked out $990.
Not everyone, however, leaves with a happy ending: a scribbled receptionist's note during 2010 reveals how one man demanded - and received - a $615 refund at Liaisons after the women on duty failed to live up to his expectations.
with Ellen Fitzgerald
