Could be an interesting court case

The HoS reports:

The prostitute given $2.4 million by fraudulent banker Stephen Versalko is far from the high end of the escort business.

Instead, she is a mother of one who worked at an Auckland brothel, the Pelican Club, and is closer in age to Versalko’s 49-year-old wife Megan than the many of the other prostitutes that she used to work with.

The prostitute’s daughter, like Versalko’s only girl, is a teenager.

While the Pelican Club charges its staff out at $210 an hour – although clients can pay up to $1500 a night – the women earn considerably less. By comparison, celebrity stripper and escort Lisa Lewis once advertised her services at $7000 a night.

The ASB Bank is now suing the prostitute for the $2.4m Versalko paid her.

Now this could be a very interesting court case.

Presumably any money paid to the escort, for actual services, she should be able to keep. Just the same as any money he paid to a doctor, or if he had gambled it at Sky City.

But it seems apparent that Versalko paid the escort a lot more than he had to commercially – ie he gifted money to her – possibly through coercion.

So if it goes to court, the court may have to decide what is the appropriate rate of return for prostitution, so it can work out how much on top of that was a gift.

I predict a well attended court for a commercial case!