October 29, 2024 • 33 mins
Emily and her new group band together to expose the photographer Luis.
The Bunny Trap is produced by Novel.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Novel. Hey listeners, this is Ellie Flynn. Before we get started,
I just want to let you know that this episode
contains swearing, explicit sexual language, and claims of sexual abuse.
It's also a story of female empowerment and camaraderie thanks
to the women who have shared their stories with us.
(00:28):
We contacted the photographer mentioned in this podcast multiple times
for comment, but we never heard back. He has not
been charged with any crimes and is presumed innocent under
the law. We also contacted Playboy USA. They state that
they have asked their licensees to blacklist the photographer mentioned
in this series and that they prohibit pay to play,
which you'll hear more about later in the series. Our
(00:50):
research into his association to Playboy and their statement will
be detailed in episode four of this series. Oh and
one more thing. Some of the voice notes you'll hear
in this episode are voiced by actors. It's September twenty twenty,
just days since the WhatsApp group was created, and Emily's
phone is already blowing up.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Girls.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
I'm just having my hair done and I've just come
to this group and there's like two hundred and sixty
nine messages.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
Help girls, I'm loving this group.
Speaker 5 (01:21):
You're cracking me up here.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
I'll make light of this situation because I'm traumatized.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
So ow.
Speaker 5 (01:28):
My dog's just dropped a bone on my leg, so.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
You know, I'm exactly the same, Emily. I laugh in
the most darkest situations.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
The group was established as a space for the models
to share their claims of abuse and harassment by photographer
Luis Gomez. In just days, the group had about a
dozen members, all models who'd shot with Luise on his
brief UK tour. Messages, voice notes and screenshots were piling
up and they were all full of support.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Em Glad you said that.
Speaker 6 (02:01):
You wouldn't have known what to do because I went.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Alone and he was saying ex the same things to.
Speaker 5 (02:06):
Me as he was you.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Oh, that's really shit.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
That's fucking terrible, fucking hell.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
It makes you wonders, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
If your friends weren't there, what would you have actually done.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
The women found their stories were really similar. Nobody's would
tell you that shooting with him could mean amazing things
for your career, that he'd take you right to the
top and make you a start.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
You feel like you've made it in the modeling world.
Especially like Playboy.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Maybe I'll go to America and I'll be really big
and famous, and I'll be rich and I'll have a yacht.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
But then the shoot itself wouldn't be as glamorous as
Louis had made out. It would take place in a
shitty hotel room or airbnb, the.
Speaker 5 (02:46):
People smoking, weeding them on next door.
Speaker 7 (02:48):
It was horrible, horrible, and I'm thinking, why are we
shooting in a hotel? I would have thought publications had studios.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
And during the shoot he'd start to pressure you.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
I was like, that's enough, and he said no.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
I just thought I've got to keep this guy happy.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
I thought I was going.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
To get a full on rate and there was nobody there.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
It was awful.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
The women all shared the same feelings of despair afterwards.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
The whole experience was just disheartening, degrading.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Oh my god, it was Honestly, it's traumatic. I quit
my job after. I'm heartbroken, to be completely honest.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
The women fell into two categories. Either they were just
starting out in glamour, green and naive, or the opposite,
on the brink of leaving it all behind and ready
to risk everything for one last shot at their Playboy dream,
But all of them had their careers on the line,
and it seemed like Luis knew that and exploited it.
Speaker 8 (03:49):
I felt like everything was riding on that poot issue.
He kind of gets you sucked in with how amazing
he is. I'm going to do this, so I'm going
to do that, and then it's nothing like that.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
But at least the women now knew they weren't alone,
and they wanted to make sure Luis Gomez could never
behave like this again. It wasn't going to be easy.
These were women without the influence or money that Luise
seemed to have. They were glamor models and sex workers,
(04:26):
some of the most overlooked and judged women in society.
But they were ready to shout.
Speaker 5 (04:33):
We've all got each other to, you know, support each other.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Our case is going to be solid. We've got so
much evidence and.
Speaker 9 (04:40):
So listening to people have their lives debrailed by him.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
I'm Ellie Flynn and from the team at Novel. This
is the Bunny Trap, Episode two. The receipts.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
H M, Hi.
Speaker 10 (05:36):
Alive, how are you?
Speaker 1 (05:41):
I've driven to the English countryside on a rainy Friday
to meet another member of the WhatsApp group. She's a
former model who goes by the name of Herah.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Thank You.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
She's warm and friendly and immediately welcomes me into her
home with a cup of tea. Harrah's living room is
full of personality. It's got black and white striped walls
that she painted herself, and her own artworks hang everywhere.
It's very different from the CD hotel room where she
met Louise Gomez in August twenty twenty. Back then, Hera
(06:16):
was just beginning her modeling career. She was out of
work during the pandemic, and with two kids to raise,
she turned her OnlyFans to help make ends meet. So
when Louis Gomez wanted to shoot with her, she saw
an opportunity for a better life. After all, he had
shot for Playboy. It would come at a cost, though
Louise wanted six hundred pounds for the shoot. It was
(06:39):
a lot of money for an out of work single mum,
but Hera wanted to get noticed by Playboy. That's how
she justified the cost of the shoot and the cost
of getting ready. How much moneaged to think you spent
in preparation beforehand?
Speaker 5 (06:53):
Oh gosh.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
She included the boathowk's lips and then obviously there's the clothes,
about six to seven hundred pounds.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Harra says she told Louise that she wanted to do
topless only, but despite taking a friend with her to
the shoot, she says, Louise pushed her levels.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
It escalated really really quickly. Within about ten minutes. I
had everything off with my legs open, which is not
what I wanted.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
And how did that happen? What kind of things was
he saying?
Speaker 4 (07:25):
Basically telling me that I was too shy and that
everyone else does it, so why aren't you doing it?
You know, if you want to be in Playboy, this
is what you have to do.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
That was bad enough, but her nightmare with Luise continued.
After the shoot. Louisa sent Harra some edited photos from
their shoot that he plans on submitting some magazines like Playboy,
and that hera camposed on social media, but she can't
access the photos. The file transfer he sent doesn't work
(08:02):
for her.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Hello, I can't access the images.
Speaker 6 (08:05):
Okay, you're gonna make me work twice.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
It seems like Louise spots an opportunity.
Speaker 6 (08:12):
I want you in the top so let's just start maybe.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
This starts a text message exchange between HERA and Luise.
Just to warn you, it goes into some pretty explicit territory.
Both their messages are read by actors.
Speaker 6 (08:29):
I want you select your coller.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Louise tells Harrah she can choose her cover shots, but
there's nothing for her to select from.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
I've not received any pictures.
Speaker 6 (08:39):
And then send me some super naughty I'm hard already. Hello.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
I just remember being sat there, like up at the
breakfast bar, a phone in hand, panicking like, oh my god.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
To get her photos. Louise wants hera to send him
sexually explicit content. Her heart is sinking. She's already paid
for the shoot where she says he pressured her into
an open leg pose, and now he wants her to
send him explicit photos. But she knows if she doesn't agree,
and she could lose her photos altogether, waste all that money.
(09:17):
There are so many other models whose photos Louise could
submit to Playboy.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
I'm still kind of having to in a way keep
him sweet, and i didn't want to keep him sweet.
But at the same time, I've got something hanging in
the balance here, the very thought of actually speaking to
him or messaging him make me feel physically sick. At
that point, it was a lose lose situation for me.
This is kind of how I felt. I felt like
I was genuinely trapped.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Harrah pauses for a second, unsure what to do. She
might be able to buy herself some time if she
makes it seem like she's going to send Louise what
he wants, so she types out a reply, I have a.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Very naughty video for you. Have you resent the images?
Speaker 1 (09:58):
His reply is immediate, I'm doing now. While hera waits,
his demands continue. I'm never coming more explicit.
Speaker 6 (10:06):
I want came looking at you. I want to see
you naughty horny.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Harrah's phone is buzzing in her hand, inches away from
where her kids are finishing off their dinner. Sausages, broccoli,
and ketch up are congealing on their plates. Maybe if
she sends a few emojis, he'll leave off. But before
she can catch a breath, she gets another message, and
this one gets to her.
Speaker 6 (10:30):
You're extremely shy.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Shy. It's the same word Luis used to describe her
on the chute, the language she says he used to
push her into shooting open leg can you remember how
that made you feel?
Speaker 4 (10:45):
Yeah, like I wasn't good enough and that I was
going to fail in the industry. Then I felt like
I had to prove that to him, that I'm not shy.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Sure me, I've not received any pictures.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
With her chest tight. Hearrah gives in. She sends Luis
a sexy video of her in the shower. Now stay
with me, because I understand some of you might lose
sympathy for her at this point. If she's willing to
share explicit content with a guy she's already had a
traumatic photo shoot with, you might think she's the one
(11:19):
at fault. But when you think about it, how much
choice did hera really have.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
I was sending him things because he had these images
of me, So I just complied and did as I
was told, just to make it like an easier process.
If I just do it, it will speed things up.
Just get me my pictures and that will be the
end of it.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Finally he sends her the pictures.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
I was like, you look really good, and this is
what's going to go in the magazine.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
We have to hurry up, like right now, she opens
the file transfer.
Speaker 6 (11:49):
I was like, oh my.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
Gosh, because I hated them, absolutely hated them. My stomach
was a really huge thing for me. I felt quite
self conscious, and that's something that I wanted a bit
of control over.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
This is her big shot, and Louise wants to submit
photos that she hates. She quickly messages him suggesting other options,
but less than a minute passes before the next demand.
Speaker 6 (12:14):
Send me baby, I can't wait any longer, lolle take
some from me. Take one photo for me. I'm gonna
take care of your cover.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Louise continued to send her a graphically sexual messages. There's
too many for us to include them all.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
It made me feel so angry. I can't even really
describe what it felt like. But it's just all these
emotions that happen at once. You've got the obviously, the anger,
you want to cry, and it's really really difficult to
deal with.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
After HERA sends Louise some more explicit content, he tells
her that one of her photos has been selected for
the cover of a magazine.
Speaker 6 (12:53):
The cover is yours, hope that you send me after
they saying you're designed too.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
But when Louise sends the mock up of the cover,
it's not for Playboy. It's a magazine that Herah's never
heard of called Bikini Plus. This is so far from
what Hera had hoped for, But she's got no fight
left in her. She just wants this to stop, so
(13:20):
she pretends.
Speaker 6 (13:22):
I love it me too.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
A few days later, Luise gets in touch again.
Speaker 6 (13:29):
I have some update your Govit goes out this week.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Wow, that's amazing.
Speaker 6 (13:35):
Yes, super cool. Maybe, by the way, can you send
me some more more what Sylphie's I'm not like the
ones you send me.
Speaker 7 (13:47):
You have enough explicit images of me from the shoe.
Speaker 6 (13:53):
I know.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
All of this harassment is coming on top of the
fact that you have paid him for this shoe, You've
paid him for a service, and he is then withholding
those photos that you've paid for.
Speaker 6 (14:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
I was pissed off, super pissed off, Like I was
putting a lot on the line. I was new to
the industry. I've got two children. You know. This was
kind of like make or break for me. It's your
dignity as well, and I felt like I lost that
as well as everything else.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Hair's done.
Speaker 7 (14:25):
I'm not sending anything of me to you just for
a publication. I'll happily go without. I don't want to
send any photos. Please stop asking again.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
The messages stop, but the feeling remains.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
I felt completely taking the piss up and violated. Actually
I actually felt dirty, really dirty. I didn't have anything left,
like genuinely I didn't.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
When Harah found Emily, who I spoke with in the
last episode, she learned she wasn't alone.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Emily told me what had happened when she turned up.
Speaker 9 (15:00):
To the shoot.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
Oh creep, absolute creep paver, and then we were like,
should we message some other people? And that day I
think we messaged about seventy people. We'd gone back through
his Instagram, messaged anyone that's recently shot with him over
here that he could have done it too.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
And that is how they met Kiki.
Speaker 10 (15:22):
J Emily messaged about her and I just burst out tears.
Speaker 5 (15:26):
On the phone.
Speaker 10 (15:49):
Ever since I was younger, I always wanted to become
a model. I really wanted to be a playerboy mo
doll like. It was my goal.
Speaker 5 (15:55):
It was my dream.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
I had to play a boy bedroom everything. This is
key kij She's a model from Newcastle in the northeast
of England. By the time I got in touch with her.
I'd heard quite a few of the women's accounts of
their shoots with Louise, and I was familiar with his
m O. I was expecting sleeves level pushing and harassment,
(16:19):
but Kiki's account shocked me. She was one of the
women who shot with Louise when he came to the
UK in summer twenty twenty, and her testimony is the
worst I've heard from that short trip. What you're about
to hear Akiki's recollections of that day. Her testimony is
(16:40):
about three and a half minutes long and contains graphic
descriptions of alleged sexual assault, so please take care when listening.
On the day of her appointment with Luis, Kiki made
the six hour journey to London with a friend.
Speaker 10 (16:53):
We've drove down from Newcastle for the shoote Lewis was
sitting there with lords of Clear Boy magazines and asked
her for want at Danny Food drink and he had
vodka and we started just finishing off getting ready, both
together in the room upstairs. I shot solo with him
and my friend was downstairs. Everything was fine. He'd help
(17:13):
us with my cloven and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
After a while Keiki says Luis's behavior started to change
and he became more physical with her. By the way,
Keiki's accents from Newcastle, so for those of you outside
the UK, she uses the plural us when she's actually
talking about the singular me.
Speaker 10 (17:33):
He was like being more inappropriate or baby, I really
like you, really like you. God, I'm obsessed with your body.
I just want to touch it. And I was like right,
And as I was going out, he pulled us back
and was trying to kiss us, touching hers poll his
pants down.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Keiki says, she tries to stop him.
Speaker 10 (17:56):
I was traumatized or was shocked and say, what you doing, Louis?
He say, don't you want to make me happy? Don't
you want to spoil me?
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Baby?
Speaker 10 (18:03):
Since I'm spoiling you, I'm going to help you get
where you want to go, and started like really and
all of the things, and I just go out and teas.
I says, yes, that's what I want, but not if
you're expecting me to do something and return for it.
This is never, never the deal, Nothing was ever a
great on that circumstance.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
I do modeling and model and nonie and.
Speaker 10 (18:25):
He was still trying to kiss us, touching us, trying
to feel my boobs and stuff, and he started trying
to pull my head down to his cock to suck it,
like force my head down, and.
Speaker 5 (18:38):
I kept pulling back.
Speaker 10 (18:39):
He went, do you you're really not going to please me, baby,
that sort of thing I want normous. I really don't
want to us as you can tell, says, I'm really upset.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
I just want to go downstairs now.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
All Keiki wanted to do was leave, but she says
Luise wouldn't let her go.
Speaker 5 (18:55):
He carried on.
Speaker 10 (18:57):
Like just touching us or trying to like pull his
back to says and stuff. And at the same time
he was wunk and he's cot with his hand. And
then she just calmed everywhere and was like, right, okay,
we're gonna get your friend now.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Keiki says she was immensely distressed after the sheet. She
was depressed, turning to drink and drugs in a bid
to forget. That was until Emily got in touch.
Speaker 10 (19:32):
Emily messaged about it, and she asked me about it
and wrung its and I just burst.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Out the tears on the phone. She's went, that's not normal,
but it's.
Speaker 10 (19:42):
Really not and I'm so sorry.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
It's happened here.
Speaker 4 (19:45):
She says, there's plenty of the girls I've been speaking
of that has happened.
Speaker 5 (19:50):
And we'll want to do something about it.
Speaker 10 (19:53):
So that was music to my ears.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
If you felt like you could report people to the police.
Speaker 10 (20:02):
I want it to go to the police, and the
people just say as well, they'll just make you out
to be the other way around you.
Speaker 5 (20:09):
You'll be the one that's frowned upon. You'll be the
one that looks like a slag.
Speaker 10 (20:13):
You're going to ruin your image, so I'm supposed to
just keep your mouth shut and get on mother.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Basically, you'll be the one that's frowned upon, so it's
best to keep your mouth shut. This attitude comes up
again and again when the women tell me about their
experiences and explain why they didn't go to the police,
no matter how much they wanted to stop Luis and
to make sure this never happened to another model, they
(20:38):
just didn't think they'd be taken seriously. Here's Errah.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
I remember a model saying to me, it's all part
of the industry. So of course that makes you feel great,
don't it. If you're going to go to the police
and tell them that you do only fans or you
do glamour photography. It's like, well, you're asking for it.
That is how people see it.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Not all glamor models identify as sex workers. Some of
the models in this podcast don't see themselves that way either,
but society at large sees them that way, and there's
a stigma that comes with that. The thing is whether
you're a sex worker or not. Sexual assault convictions are
staggeringly low. In twenty twenty three in England and Wales,
(21:22):
only two point four percent of reported rape cases led
to a charge, so the women turned to each other.
They didn't think they'd get justice through the legal system,
so they went vigilante. And there was one place where
this group of women would be heard Instagram. Between them,
(21:44):
they had over three hundred thousand followers, and if they
all called Luis out, they could save other women from
suffering the same fate. So they leap into action, planning
their next move. In the WhatsApp group, they tried to
make sure their evidence is walter to tight.
Speaker 5 (22:01):
Screenshot everything. Now I'm going to download the conversations as well.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
In the FBI, it's mad they hype each other up.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
If our voices mean that we can at least just
let people know that they're not alone. I want that
I'm here to support all of you girls. Obviously, the
more people that speak out the better. But I mean,
I think we've got a pretty strong case with all
of us in here anyway.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
But the group is running out of time. Luis is
coming back to the UK soon.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
He's asked me to shoot again in November and I've
not responded.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
That means more shoots, more vulnerable women. They need to
stop him now.
Speaker 5 (22:43):
That's why we want to get this done sooner.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
Imagine those poor girls up there that he's maybe assaulted.
Speaker 5 (22:49):
Shall we do At.
Speaker 7 (22:49):
Seven o'clock announcement when everyone's finished work.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
The models tease the reveal on their accounts. Something big
is on the way.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
And then we tag each other's profiles all of our stories. Look,
we're going to expose somebody. Make sure you're watching.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
At seven pm on the twenty fifth of October twenty twenty,
the model's press send in a series of posts on
hot pink or black backgrounds with blown up text, they
share their stories.
Speaker 7 (23:20):
Harah writes, as this guy insists on being credited for
his work, I'd like to take this opportunity to call
out this photographer, Louise Gomez. I'm sorry if what I'm
posting may seem a little inappropriate.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
However, I'm more.
Speaker 7 (23:36):
Than happy to put my dignity on the line if
it means save in someone else's. Nothing can make me
feel more shameful than how I felt in those three hours,
not a single thing.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Harah posts a photograph that her friend secretly captured on
the shoot with Luise. It shows her on all fours
naked on the floor with Louise shooting her from behind.
She's picked late so that you can't see her intimate areas.
She's overlaid the image with the text that reads this was.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
A topless only shoot.
Speaker 7 (24:07):
Clearly, Thankfully I had a friend that was clever enough
to gather evidence while seeing me being level pushed. I
remember thinking I wish this was all over in this exact.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Moment, the models had come out swinging.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
We posted everything, and it just blew up from there.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
I've just put so many screenshots from my WhatsApp chat
and my Instagram chat with him on my story.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
I have just shared screenshots on my Instagram and my
Facebook Star is You Girls?
Speaker 5 (24:46):
And more than welcome to share whatever is posted from me.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
When you like a match and you drop it on
something flammable, you don't realize how quickly that is gonna
catch and just spiral.
Speaker 5 (24:58):
It got spread around like wildfire.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Girls that we had messaged before and they'd said, oh,
I don't want to talk about it or I don't
want to get involved. They changed their tune a little
bit because they saw how many girls were coming forward
and they thought, well, do you know what, I'm not
the only one.
Speaker 5 (25:15):
She feels like she's probably wants to come forward.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
She sent me private messages like a paragraphs upon paragraphs
like really bad.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
Even if they don't want to tell me anything, I
just want them to know that if they ever.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Did that, we're there for them.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
There were just so many people like messaging and their
experiences were horrific, really bad.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
I've been aware of what's gone on for a long time.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
I've worked with a photographer and there are so many
girls and the worst thing is about it.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
He's going to still keep getting away with it unless
people report them.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
I don't think we anticipated how quickly it was going
to take off.
Speaker 5 (25:53):
We were tagging Louise. It was boom tag. You're there.
You can't hide. Everybody knows what you're at is. Louise
went absolutely mental.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Louise texted Emily this is a bit of their text exchange.
Speaker 6 (26:10):
Wow, thanks a lot. I don't know why you are
doing these after all the HILP I gave the help.
Speaker 5 (26:18):
You're a fucking predator.
Speaker 6 (26:20):
It is not fair what you're doing and you're not.
Speaker 7 (26:24):
Are you mad?
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Honestly, just go away. He didn't apologize for what he'd done.
He didn't seem to think that he'd done anything wrong.
We're not going to just do this to destroy somebody's career.
You've been caught red handed.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Only hours after their big Instagram call out, the models
realized something big has happened.
Speaker 5 (26:47):
He's not blocked girls, he's deleted his account.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
The women had finally got what they wanted. Luise was gone.
(27:18):
When the models went public, it felt like a real moment.
But then, bubbling up beside the support, they started getting
very different messages.
Speaker 5 (27:30):
You would have men commenting, sending DMS saying you do
only fans.
Speaker 6 (27:34):
You deserve to be treated like this.
Speaker 4 (27:36):
You bring this on yourself. You sold pictures of yourself
for a living, So what do you expect.
Speaker 6 (27:41):
You've learned your lesson the hard way, so from now on,
don't do it.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
People were saying, you're just doing it for social media
clout and for attention, and I feel like we were
being blamed. We only had each other and we knew
that we were telling the truth. I broke down in
tears because it was so hard. When sexual abuse happened.
(28:09):
People don't want.
Speaker 5 (28:10):
To hear it.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
They're not interested because it's so real. A lot of
people victim blame, and that's a very common thing that happens.
I went off the rails for a bit. The easiest
thing for me at that time was to use substances
just to forget everything.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Haro was suffering too.
Speaker 4 (28:29):
In the evenings, I was drinking gin until I'd fallen asleep.
There was a lot of self destructive behaviors that were going.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
On, and without its leaders, the group fell apart.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
We all started just dropping the ball on communication and
it would end up being like three or four days
we wouldn't speak, and then it was a week and
then I would write in their or herold write in there.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
Sorry girls, I've been a little bit absent because and
that great lately, Sorry.
Speaker 5 (29:02):
Girls, I've literally just read this.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
You'd get one reply or two replies, or no replies,
and it's like I just kind of leave this.
Speaker 5 (29:10):
Then everybody just sort of went back to doing their
own thing.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
The models had caused a social media storm, but like
all storms, it passed, and when the world moved on,
Luis crawled back out of the webwork.
Speaker 4 (29:25):
I think he just changed the domain name of his website,
he started a new Instagram. He just kept popping up everywhere.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
What the fuck? No, that ainn't even funny, is it.
Speaker 10 (29:38):
The saddest thing is it's like everybody knows meant Although
because there was so much evidence.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
So much evidence, the women were at rock bottom. They'd
put their necks on the line to expose the man
they said was a predator, and nothing had changed. But
there was one more option to whom it may concern.
I'm sending this email on behalf of myself and quite
a few other models about the horrific dealings we've all
(30:08):
had with a playboy photographer, Luis gai Mez. This is
the email I told you about, the one the models
sent to me and twelve international newspapers. As far as
I'm aware, I'm the only journalist who responded. By twenty twenty,
thanks to the Me Too movement, it felt like the
world was finally paying attention to allegations of sexual abuse
(30:31):
and harassment. But for these women, their claims were falling
on deaf ears. It seemed as though an invisible line
had been drawn excluding women in the sex industry. I
wanted to help change that.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
Guys, I've just heard back from Ellie on sitting my parents.
Speaker 5 (30:49):
This is insane news.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
I'm absolutely buzzing.
Speaker 5 (30:52):
No, that's unbelievable news.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
I'm so buzzed.
Speaker 5 (30:54):
I cannot wait for this.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
That was years ago. Louise has never been held accountable,
but that's about to change. I'm going to try and
finish the job. Emily, Herra and the rest of the
model started coming up on the Bunny Trap. We tried
(31:21):
to figure out who and what we're up against. His
associations are vital to his reach, and I just remember thinking,
I got to watch this one.
Speaker 10 (31:33):
This is our opportunity to for the first time speak
to someone close with Louise.
Speaker 8 (31:39):
Why do I start with Lewis?
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Oh my god, it's way darker and white, deeper than
I could they ever imagine.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Thanks to the women who shared their stories with us.
We contacted Luis Gomez multiple times for comment, but we
never heard back. He has not been charged with any
crimes and is presumed innocent under the law. We also
sought comment from Playboy USA. They declined our request for
an interview, but you can hear their statement later in
the series. The Bonnie Trap is produced by Novel. For
(32:23):
more from Novel, visit novel dot Audio. The show is
hosted by me Ellie Flynn. You can find me on
social media by searching my name that's eb l i
E Fly double n. This season is produced by Eleanor
Biggs and written by me Ellie Flynn and Eleana Biggs.
Our assistant producer is Amalia Sortland, with additional production from
(32:44):
Lee Meyer and Saskia Collette. Additional research by Valeria Rocker.
The editors are Georgia Moody and Austin Mitchell, our executive
producers and Max O'Brien and Craig Strachan. Our fact checker
is Fendall Fulton. Production management from Scherie Houston and Charlotte
Sound Design, mixing and scoring by Nicholas Alexander and Daniel Kempson.
(33:05):
Music supervision by Nicholas Alexander, Elena Biggs and Max O'Brien,
Original music composed and performed by Jake Law, and additional
production by Nicholas Alexander, Louisa Gersty and Daniel Kempson. The
series artwork was designed by Christina Lienkole Willard Foxton its
creative director of Development, Harris. Texts were voiced by Anna Brindle.
(33:26):
Various other women were voiced by Boo Miller. Luisco Mers
was played by Juan Solari.
Speaker 5 (33:43):
Novel
Novel. Hey listeners, this is Ellie Flynn. Before we get started,
I just want to let you know that this episode
contains swearing, explicit sexual language, and claims of sexual abuse.
It's also a story of female empowerment and camaraderie thanks
to the women who have shared their stories with us.
(00:28):
We contacted the photographer mentioned in this podcast multiple times
for comment, but we never heard back. He has not
been charged with any crimes and is presumed innocent under
the law. We also contacted Playboy USA. They state that
they have asked their licensees to blacklist the photographer mentioned
in this series and that they prohibit pay to play,
which you'll hear more about later in the series. Our
(00:50):
research into his association to Playboy and their statement will
be detailed in episode four of this series. Oh and
one more thing. Some of the voice notes you'll hear
in this episode are voiced by actors. It's September twenty twenty,
just days since the WhatsApp group was created, and Emily's
phone is already blowing up.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Girls.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
I'm just having my hair done and I've just come
to this group and there's like two hundred and sixty
nine messages.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
Help girls, I'm loving this group.
Speaker 5 (01:21):
You're cracking me up here.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
I'll make light of this situation because I'm traumatized.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
So ow.
Speaker 5 (01:28):
My dog's just dropped a bone on my leg, so.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
You know, I'm exactly the same, Emily. I laugh in
the most darkest situations.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
The group was established as a space for the models
to share their claims of abuse and harassment by photographer
Luis Gomez. In just days, the group had about a
dozen members, all models who'd shot with Luise on his
brief UK tour. Messages, voice notes and screenshots were piling
up and they were all full of support.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Em Glad you said that.
Speaker 6 (02:01):
You wouldn't have known what to do because I went.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Alone and he was saying ex the same things to.
Speaker 5 (02:06):
Me as he was you.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Oh, that's really shit.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
That's fucking terrible, fucking hell.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
It makes you wonders, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
If your friends weren't there, what would you have actually done.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
The women found their stories were really similar. Nobody's would
tell you that shooting with him could mean amazing things
for your career, that he'd take you right to the
top and make you a start.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
You feel like you've made it in the modeling world.
Especially like Playboy.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Maybe I'll go to America and I'll be really big
and famous, and I'll be rich and I'll have a yacht.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
But then the shoot itself wouldn't be as glamorous as
Louis had made out. It would take place in a
shitty hotel room or airbnb, the.
Speaker 5 (02:46):
People smoking, weeding them on next door.
Speaker 7 (02:48):
It was horrible, horrible, and I'm thinking, why are we
shooting in a hotel? I would have thought publications had studios.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
And during the shoot he'd start to pressure you.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
I was like, that's enough, and he said no.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
I just thought I've got to keep this guy happy.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
I thought I was going.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
To get a full on rate and there was nobody there.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
It was awful.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
The women all shared the same feelings of despair afterwards.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
The whole experience was just disheartening, degrading.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Oh my god, it was Honestly, it's traumatic. I quit
my job after. I'm heartbroken, to be completely honest.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
The women fell into two categories. Either they were just
starting out in glamour, green and naive, or the opposite,
on the brink of leaving it all behind and ready
to risk everything for one last shot at their Playboy dream,
But all of them had their careers on the line,
and it seemed like Luis knew that and exploited it.
Speaker 8 (03:49):
I felt like everything was riding on that poot issue.
He kind of gets you sucked in with how amazing
he is. I'm going to do this, so I'm going
to do that, and then it's nothing like that.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
But at least the women now knew they weren't alone,
and they wanted to make sure Luis Gomez could never
behave like this again. It wasn't going to be easy.
These were women without the influence or money that Luise
seemed to have. They were glamor models and sex workers,
(04:26):
some of the most overlooked and judged women in society.
But they were ready to shout.
Speaker 5 (04:33):
We've all got each other to, you know, support each other.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Our case is going to be solid. We've got so
much evidence and.
Speaker 9 (04:40):
So listening to people have their lives debrailed by him.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
I'm Ellie Flynn and from the team at Novel. This
is the Bunny Trap, Episode two. The receipts.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
H M, Hi.
Speaker 10 (05:36):
Alive, how are you?
Speaker 1 (05:41):
I've driven to the English countryside on a rainy Friday
to meet another member of the WhatsApp group. She's a
former model who goes by the name of Herah.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Thank You.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
She's warm and friendly and immediately welcomes me into her
home with a cup of tea. Harrah's living room is
full of personality. It's got black and white striped walls
that she painted herself, and her own artworks hang everywhere.
It's very different from the CD hotel room where she
met Louise Gomez in August twenty twenty. Back then, Hera
(06:16):
was just beginning her modeling career. She was out of
work during the pandemic, and with two kids to raise,
she turned her OnlyFans to help make ends meet. So
when Louis Gomez wanted to shoot with her, she saw
an opportunity for a better life. After all, he had
shot for Playboy. It would come at a cost, though
Louise wanted six hundred pounds for the shoot. It was
(06:39):
a lot of money for an out of work single mum,
but Hera wanted to get noticed by Playboy. That's how
she justified the cost of the shoot and the cost
of getting ready. How much moneaged to think you spent
in preparation beforehand?
Speaker 5 (06:53):
Oh gosh.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
She included the boathowk's lips and then obviously there's the clothes,
about six to seven hundred pounds.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Harra says she told Louise that she wanted to do
topless only, but despite taking a friend with her to
the shoot, she says, Louise pushed her levels.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
It escalated really really quickly. Within about ten minutes. I
had everything off with my legs open, which is not
what I wanted.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
And how did that happen? What kind of things was
he saying?
Speaker 4 (07:25):
Basically telling me that I was too shy and that
everyone else does it, so why aren't you doing it?
You know, if you want to be in Playboy, this
is what you have to do.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
That was bad enough, but her nightmare with Luise continued.
After the shoot. Louisa sent Harra some edited photos from
their shoot that he plans on submitting some magazines like Playboy,
and that hera camposed on social media, but she can't
access the photos. The file transfer he sent doesn't work
(08:02):
for her.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Hello, I can't access the images.
Speaker 6 (08:05):
Okay, you're gonna make me work twice.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
It seems like Louise spots an opportunity.
Speaker 6 (08:12):
I want you in the top so let's just start maybe.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
This starts a text message exchange between HERA and Luise.
Just to warn you, it goes into some pretty explicit territory.
Both their messages are read by actors.
Speaker 6 (08:29):
I want you select your coller.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Louise tells Harrah she can choose her cover shots, but
there's nothing for her to select from.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
I've not received any pictures.
Speaker 6 (08:39):
And then send me some super naughty I'm hard already. Hello.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
I just remember being sat there, like up at the
breakfast bar, a phone in hand, panicking like, oh my god.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
To get her photos. Louise wants hera to send him
sexually explicit content. Her heart is sinking. She's already paid
for the shoot where she says he pressured her into
an open leg pose, and now he wants her to
send him explicit photos. But she knows if she doesn't agree,
and she could lose her photos altogether, waste all that money.
(09:17):
There are so many other models whose photos Louise could
submit to Playboy.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
I'm still kind of having to in a way keep
him sweet, and i didn't want to keep him sweet.
But at the same time, I've got something hanging in
the balance here, the very thought of actually speaking to
him or messaging him make me feel physically sick. At
that point, it was a lose lose situation for me.
This is kind of how I felt. I felt like
I was genuinely trapped.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Harrah pauses for a second, unsure what to do. She
might be able to buy herself some time if she
makes it seem like she's going to send Louise what
he wants, so she types out a reply, I have a.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Very naughty video for you. Have you resent the images?
Speaker 1 (09:58):
His reply is immediate, I'm doing now. While hera waits,
his demands continue. I'm never coming more explicit.
Speaker 6 (10:06):
I want came looking at you. I want to see
you naughty horny.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Harrah's phone is buzzing in her hand, inches away from
where her kids are finishing off their dinner. Sausages, broccoli,
and ketch up are congealing on their plates. Maybe if
she sends a few emojis, he'll leave off. But before
she can catch a breath, she gets another message, and
this one gets to her.
Speaker 6 (10:30):
You're extremely shy.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Shy. It's the same word Luis used to describe her
on the chute, the language she says he used to
push her into shooting open leg can you remember how
that made you feel?
Speaker 4 (10:45):
Yeah, like I wasn't good enough and that I was
going to fail in the industry. Then I felt like
I had to prove that to him, that I'm not shy.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Sure me, I've not received any pictures.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
With her chest tight. Hearrah gives in. She sends Luis
a sexy video of her in the shower. Now stay
with me, because I understand some of you might lose
sympathy for her at this point. If she's willing to
share explicit content with a guy she's already had a
traumatic photo shoot with, you might think she's the one
(11:19):
at fault. But when you think about it, how much
choice did hera really have.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
I was sending him things because he had these images
of me, So I just complied and did as I
was told, just to make it like an easier process.
If I just do it, it will speed things up.
Just get me my pictures and that will be the
end of it.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Finally he sends her the pictures.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
I was like, you look really good, and this is
what's going to go in the magazine.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
We have to hurry up, like right now, she opens
the file transfer.
Speaker 6 (11:49):
I was like, oh my.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
Gosh, because I hated them, absolutely hated them. My stomach
was a really huge thing for me. I felt quite
self conscious, and that's something that I wanted a bit
of control over.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
This is her big shot, and Louise wants to submit
photos that she hates. She quickly messages him suggesting other options,
but less than a minute passes before the next demand.
Speaker 6 (12:14):
Send me baby, I can't wait any longer, lolle take
some from me. Take one photo for me. I'm gonna
take care of your cover.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Louise continued to send her a graphically sexual messages. There's
too many for us to include them all.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
It made me feel so angry. I can't even really
describe what it felt like. But it's just all these
emotions that happen at once. You've got the obviously, the anger,
you want to cry, and it's really really difficult to
deal with.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
After HERA sends Louise some more explicit content, he tells
her that one of her photos has been selected for
the cover of a magazine.
Speaker 6 (12:53):
The cover is yours, hope that you send me after
they saying you're designed too.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
But when Louise sends the mock up of the cover,
it's not for Playboy. It's a magazine that Herah's never
heard of called Bikini Plus. This is so far from
what Hera had hoped for, But she's got no fight
left in her. She just wants this to stop, so
(13:20):
she pretends.
Speaker 6 (13:22):
I love it me too.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
A few days later, Luise gets in touch again.
Speaker 6 (13:29):
I have some update your Govit goes out this week.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Wow, that's amazing.
Speaker 6 (13:35):
Yes, super cool. Maybe, by the way, can you send
me some more more what Sylphie's I'm not like the
ones you send me.
Speaker 7 (13:47):
You have enough explicit images of me from the shoe.
Speaker 6 (13:53):
I know.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
All of this harassment is coming on top of the
fact that you have paid him for this shoe, You've
paid him for a service, and he is then withholding
those photos that you've paid for.
Speaker 6 (14:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
I was pissed off, super pissed off, Like I was
putting a lot on the line. I was new to
the industry. I've got two children. You know. This was
kind of like make or break for me. It's your
dignity as well, and I felt like I lost that
as well as everything else.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Hair's done.
Speaker 7 (14:25):
I'm not sending anything of me to you just for
a publication. I'll happily go without. I don't want to
send any photos. Please stop asking again.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
The messages stop, but the feeling remains.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
I felt completely taking the piss up and violated. Actually
I actually felt dirty, really dirty. I didn't have anything left,
like genuinely I didn't.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
When Harah found Emily, who I spoke with in the
last episode, she learned she wasn't alone.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Emily told me what had happened when she turned up.
Speaker 9 (15:00):
To the shoot.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
Oh creep, absolute creep paver, and then we were like,
should we message some other people? And that day I
think we messaged about seventy people. We'd gone back through
his Instagram, messaged anyone that's recently shot with him over
here that he could have done it too.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
And that is how they met Kiki.
Speaker 10 (15:22):
J Emily messaged about her and I just burst out tears.
Speaker 5 (15:26):
On the phone.
Speaker 10 (15:49):
Ever since I was younger, I always wanted to become
a model. I really wanted to be a playerboy mo
doll like. It was my goal.
Speaker 5 (15:55):
It was my dream.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
I had to play a boy bedroom everything. This is
key kij She's a model from Newcastle in the northeast
of England. By the time I got in touch with her.
I'd heard quite a few of the women's accounts of
their shoots with Louise, and I was familiar with his
m O. I was expecting sleeves level pushing and harassment,
(16:19):
but Kiki's account shocked me. She was one of the
women who shot with Louise when he came to the
UK in summer twenty twenty, and her testimony is the
worst I've heard from that short trip. What you're about
to hear Akiki's recollections of that day. Her testimony is
(16:40):
about three and a half minutes long and contains graphic
descriptions of alleged sexual assault, so please take care when listening.
On the day of her appointment with Luis, Kiki made
the six hour journey to London with a friend.
Speaker 10 (16:53):
We've drove down from Newcastle for the shoote Lewis was
sitting there with lords of Clear Boy magazines and asked
her for want at Danny Food drink and he had
vodka and we started just finishing off getting ready, both
together in the room upstairs. I shot solo with him
and my friend was downstairs. Everything was fine. He'd help
(17:13):
us with my cloven and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
After a while Keiki says Luis's behavior started to change
and he became more physical with her. By the way,
Keiki's accents from Newcastle, so for those of you outside
the UK, she uses the plural us when she's actually
talking about the singular me.
Speaker 10 (17:33):
He was like being more inappropriate or baby, I really
like you, really like you. God, I'm obsessed with your body.
I just want to touch it. And I was like right,
And as I was going out, he pulled us back
and was trying to kiss us, touching hers poll his
pants down.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Keiki says, she tries to stop him.
Speaker 10 (17:56):
I was traumatized or was shocked and say, what you doing, Louis?
He say, don't you want to make me happy? Don't
you want to spoil me?
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Baby?
Speaker 10 (18:03):
Since I'm spoiling you, I'm going to help you get
where you want to go, and started like really and
all of the things, and I just go out and teas.
I says, yes, that's what I want, but not if
you're expecting me to do something and return for it.
This is never, never the deal, Nothing was ever a
great on that circumstance.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
I do modeling and model and nonie and.
Speaker 10 (18:25):
He was still trying to kiss us, touching us, trying
to feel my boobs and stuff, and he started trying
to pull my head down to his cock to suck it,
like force my head down, and.
Speaker 5 (18:38):
I kept pulling back.
Speaker 10 (18:39):
He went, do you you're really not going to please me, baby,
that sort of thing I want normous. I really don't
want to us as you can tell, says, I'm really upset.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
I just want to go downstairs now.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
All Keiki wanted to do was leave, but she says
Luise wouldn't let her go.
Speaker 5 (18:55):
He carried on.
Speaker 10 (18:57):
Like just touching us or trying to like pull his
back to says and stuff. And at the same time
he was wunk and he's cot with his hand. And
then she just calmed everywhere and was like, right, okay,
we're gonna get your friend now.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Keiki says she was immensely distressed after the sheet. She
was depressed, turning to drink and drugs in a bid
to forget. That was until Emily got in touch.
Speaker 10 (19:32):
Emily messaged about it, and she asked me about it
and wrung its and I just burst.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Out the tears on the phone. She's went, that's not normal,
but it's.
Speaker 10 (19:42):
Really not and I'm so sorry.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
It's happened here.
Speaker 4 (19:45):
She says, there's plenty of the girls I've been speaking
of that has happened.
Speaker 5 (19:50):
And we'll want to do something about it.
Speaker 10 (19:53):
So that was music to my ears.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
If you felt like you could report people to the police.
Speaker 10 (20:02):
I want it to go to the police, and the
people just say as well, they'll just make you out
to be the other way around you.
Speaker 5 (20:09):
You'll be the one that's frowned upon. You'll be the
one that looks like a slag.
Speaker 10 (20:13):
You're going to ruin your image, so I'm supposed to
just keep your mouth shut and get on mother.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Basically, you'll be the one that's frowned upon, so it's
best to keep your mouth shut. This attitude comes up
again and again when the women tell me about their
experiences and explain why they didn't go to the police,
no matter how much they wanted to stop Luis and
to make sure this never happened to another model, they
(20:38):
just didn't think they'd be taken seriously. Here's Errah.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
I remember a model saying to me, it's all part
of the industry. So of course that makes you feel great,
don't it. If you're going to go to the police
and tell them that you do only fans or you
do glamour photography. It's like, well, you're asking for it.
That is how people see it.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Not all glamor models identify as sex workers. Some of
the models in this podcast don't see themselves that way either,
but society at large sees them that way, and there's
a stigma that comes with that. The thing is whether
you're a sex worker or not. Sexual assault convictions are
staggeringly low. In twenty twenty three in England and Wales,
(21:22):
only two point four percent of reported rape cases led
to a charge, so the women turned to each other.
They didn't think they'd get justice through the legal system,
so they went vigilante. And there was one place where
this group of women would be heard Instagram. Between them,
(21:44):
they had over three hundred thousand followers, and if they
all called Luis out, they could save other women from
suffering the same fate. So they leap into action, planning
their next move. In the WhatsApp group, they tried to
make sure their evidence is walter to tight.
Speaker 5 (22:01):
Screenshot everything. Now I'm going to download the conversations as well.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
In the FBI, it's mad they hype each other up.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
If our voices mean that we can at least just
let people know that they're not alone. I want that
I'm here to support all of you girls. Obviously, the
more people that speak out the better. But I mean,
I think we've got a pretty strong case with all
of us in here anyway.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
But the group is running out of time. Luis is
coming back to the UK soon.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
He's asked me to shoot again in November and I've
not responded.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
That means more shoots, more vulnerable women. They need to
stop him now.
Speaker 5 (22:43):
That's why we want to get this done sooner.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
Imagine those poor girls up there that he's maybe assaulted.
Speaker 5 (22:49):
Shall we do At.
Speaker 7 (22:49):
Seven o'clock announcement when everyone's finished work.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
The models tease the reveal on their accounts. Something big
is on the way.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
And then we tag each other's profiles all of our stories. Look,
we're going to expose somebody. Make sure you're watching.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
At seven pm on the twenty fifth of October twenty twenty,
the model's press send in a series of posts on
hot pink or black backgrounds with blown up text, they
share their stories.
Speaker 7 (23:20):
Harah writes, as this guy insists on being credited for
his work, I'd like to take this opportunity to call
out this photographer, Louise Gomez. I'm sorry if what I'm
posting may seem a little inappropriate.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
However, I'm more.
Speaker 7 (23:36):
Than happy to put my dignity on the line if
it means save in someone else's. Nothing can make me
feel more shameful than how I felt in those three hours,
not a single thing.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Harah posts a photograph that her friend secretly captured on
the shoot with Luise. It shows her on all fours
naked on the floor with Louise shooting her from behind.
She's picked late so that you can't see her intimate areas.
She's overlaid the image with the text that reads this was.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
A topless only shoot.
Speaker 7 (24:07):
Clearly, Thankfully I had a friend that was clever enough
to gather evidence while seeing me being level pushed. I
remember thinking I wish this was all over in this exact.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Moment, the models had come out swinging.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
We posted everything, and it just blew up from there.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
I've just put so many screenshots from my WhatsApp chat
and my Instagram chat with him on my story.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
I have just shared screenshots on my Instagram and my
Facebook Star is You Girls?
Speaker 5 (24:46):
And more than welcome to share whatever is posted from me.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
When you like a match and you drop it on
something flammable, you don't realize how quickly that is gonna
catch and just spiral.
Speaker 5 (24:58):
It got spread around like wildfire.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Girls that we had messaged before and they'd said, oh,
I don't want to talk about it or I don't
want to get involved. They changed their tune a little
bit because they saw how many girls were coming forward
and they thought, well, do you know what, I'm not
the only one.
Speaker 5 (25:15):
She feels like she's probably wants to come forward.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
She sent me private messages like a paragraphs upon paragraphs
like really bad.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
Even if they don't want to tell me anything, I
just want them to know that if they ever.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Did that, we're there for them.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
There were just so many people like messaging and their
experiences were horrific, really bad.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
I've been aware of what's gone on for a long time.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
I've worked with a photographer and there are so many
girls and the worst thing is about it.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
He's going to still keep getting away with it unless
people report them.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
I don't think we anticipated how quickly it was going
to take off.
Speaker 5 (25:53):
We were tagging Louise. It was boom tag. You're there.
You can't hide. Everybody knows what you're at is. Louise
went absolutely mental.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Louise texted Emily this is a bit of their text exchange.
Speaker 6 (26:10):
Wow, thanks a lot. I don't know why you are
doing these after all the HILP I gave the help.
Speaker 5 (26:18):
You're a fucking predator.
Speaker 6 (26:20):
It is not fair what you're doing and you're not.
Speaker 7 (26:24):
Are you mad?
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Honestly, just go away. He didn't apologize for what he'd done.
He didn't seem to think that he'd done anything wrong.
We're not going to just do this to destroy somebody's career.
You've been caught red handed.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Only hours after their big Instagram call out, the models
realized something big has happened.
Speaker 5 (26:47):
He's not blocked girls, he's deleted his account.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
The women had finally got what they wanted. Luise was gone.
(27:18):
When the models went public, it felt like a real moment.
But then, bubbling up beside the support, they started getting
very different messages.
Speaker 5 (27:30):
You would have men commenting, sending DMS saying you do
only fans.
Speaker 6 (27:34):
You deserve to be treated like this.
Speaker 4 (27:36):
You bring this on yourself. You sold pictures of yourself
for a living, So what do you expect.
Speaker 6 (27:41):
You've learned your lesson the hard way, so from now on,
don't do it.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
People were saying, you're just doing it for social media
clout and for attention, and I feel like we were
being blamed. We only had each other and we knew
that we were telling the truth. I broke down in
tears because it was so hard. When sexual abuse happened.
(28:09):
People don't want.
Speaker 5 (28:10):
To hear it.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
They're not interested because it's so real. A lot of
people victim blame, and that's a very common thing that happens.
I went off the rails for a bit. The easiest
thing for me at that time was to use substances
just to forget everything.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Haro was suffering too.
Speaker 4 (28:29):
In the evenings, I was drinking gin until I'd fallen asleep.
There was a lot of self destructive behaviors that were going.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
On, and without its leaders, the group fell apart.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
We all started just dropping the ball on communication and
it would end up being like three or four days
we wouldn't speak, and then it was a week and
then I would write in their or herold write in there.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
Sorry girls, I've been a little bit absent because and
that great lately, Sorry.
Speaker 5 (29:02):
Girls, I've literally just read this.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
You'd get one reply or two replies, or no replies,
and it's like I just kind of leave this.
Speaker 5 (29:10):
Then everybody just sort of went back to doing their
own thing.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
The models had caused a social media storm, but like
all storms, it passed, and when the world moved on,
Luis crawled back out of the webwork.
Speaker 4 (29:25):
I think he just changed the domain name of his website,
he started a new Instagram. He just kept popping up everywhere.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
What the fuck? No, that ainn't even funny, is it.
Speaker 10 (29:38):
The saddest thing is it's like everybody knows meant Although
because there was so much evidence.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
So much evidence, the women were at rock bottom. They'd
put their necks on the line to expose the man
they said was a predator, and nothing had changed. But
there was one more option to whom it may concern.
I'm sending this email on behalf of myself and quite
a few other models about the horrific dealings we've all
(30:08):
had with a playboy photographer, Luis gai Mez. This is
the email I told you about, the one the models
sent to me and twelve international newspapers. As far as
I'm aware, I'm the only journalist who responded. By twenty twenty,
thanks to the Me Too movement, it felt like the
world was finally paying attention to allegations of sexual abuse
(30:31):
and harassment. But for these women, their claims were falling
on deaf ears. It seemed as though an invisible line
had been drawn excluding women in the sex industry. I
wanted to help change that.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
Guys, I've just heard back from Ellie on sitting my parents.
Speaker 5 (30:49):
This is insane news.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
I'm absolutely buzzing.
Speaker 5 (30:52):
No, that's unbelievable news.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
I'm so buzzed.
Speaker 5 (30:54):
I cannot wait for this.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
That was years ago. Louise has never been held accountable,
but that's about to change. I'm going to try and
finish the job. Emily, Herra and the rest of the
model started coming up on the Bunny Trap. We tried
(31:21):
to figure out who and what we're up against. His
associations are vital to his reach, and I just remember thinking,
I got to watch this one.
Speaker 10 (31:33):
This is our opportunity to for the first time speak
to someone close with Louise.
Speaker 8 (31:39):
Why do I start with Lewis?
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Oh my god, it's way darker and white, deeper than
I could they ever imagine.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Thanks to the women who shared their stories with us.
We contacted Luis Gomez multiple times for comment, but we
never heard back. He has not been charged with any
crimes and is presumed innocent under the law. We also
sought comment from Playboy USA. They declined our request for
an interview, but you can hear their statement later in
the series. The Bonnie Trap is produced by Novel. For
(32:23):
more from Novel, visit novel dot Audio. The show is
hosted by me Ellie Flynn. You can find me on
social media by searching my name that's eb l i
E Fly double n. This season is produced by Eleanor
Biggs and written by me Ellie Flynn and Eleana Biggs.
Our assistant producer is Amalia Sortland, with additional production from
(32:44):
Lee Meyer and Saskia Collette. Additional research by Valeria Rocker.
The editors are Georgia Moody and Austin Mitchell, our executive
producers and Max O'Brien and Craig Strachan. Our fact checker
is Fendall Fulton. Production management from Scherie Houston and Charlotte
Sound Design, mixing and scoring by Nicholas Alexander and Daniel Kempson.
(33:05):
Music supervision by Nicholas Alexander, Elena Biggs and Max O'Brien,
Original music composed and performed by Jake Law, and additional
production by Nicholas Alexander, Louisa Gersty and Daniel Kempson. The
series artwork was designed by Christina Lienkole Willard Foxton its
creative director of Development, Harris. Texts were voiced by Anna Brindle.
(33:26):
Various other women were voiced by Boo Miller. Luisco Mers
was played by Juan Solari.
Speaker 5 (33:43):
Novel
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