November 12, 2024 • 36 mins
Ellie discovers how the glamour industry works.
The Bunny Trap is produced by Novel.
For more from Novel visit novel.audio
Follow Ellie on social media here:
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Novel.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hey listeners, this is Ellie Flynn. Before we get started,
I just wanted to let you know that this episode
contains references to alleged sexual abuse. It's also a story
of female empowerment and camaraderie thanks to the women who
have shared their stories with us. We contacted the photographer
mentioned in this podcast multiple times for comment, but we
(00:31):
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 this episode. Our research into his association
to Playboy and their statement will also be detailed in
(00:54):
this episode. Oh and one more thing. Some of the
voice notes you'll hear in this episode of all by actors.
If I was to ask you where in the world
might a playmate live, your answer probably wouldn't be in
(01:14):
a nondescript house on a quiet road in rural England.
But that's just where me and my producer Eleanor have come.
Outside the window, muddy fields stretch out as far as
the eye can see hello, how are you doing? Nice
to see in the hallway kids Wellington boots, footballs and
(01:36):
skateboards are stacked haphazardly. And in the living room lucky
cats here. Yes, do you know what?
Speaker 3 (01:43):
He's not normally in here? He's very already come to here.
I think you've got the charm.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
So much. What's his name again? Frank? Me and Eleanor
haven't come here to meet Frank. Okay, okay, we haven't
just come here to meet Frank. We're also here to
meet Fiona Hollingsworth.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
I have been in the modern ing industry nearly all
my life, to be honest, gosh, we're probably talking twenty years.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Fiona was in her late thirties when she met Luis
Gomez during his twenty twenty UK tour. She's one of
the few models we've spoken to who hasn't accused Louise
of sexual misconduct. But I still find her story really upsetting.
Luise gave Fiona his usual spiel. He could make her
a star. He could get her in Playboy. He could
even get her the most coveted title in Glamour.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
He said, for five thousand pounds, I could be the
Playboy playmate.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
We've heard of Luise charging for photo shoots before from
people like her, but charging someone to become a playboy playmate,
that's new to us. But Fiona didn't bat an eyelid.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
In this industry, you have to put your money into
it in order to get the money back. So you know,
that could have helped me hugely in the future.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Fionna's a single mum with four kids. Times were tough.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
That was like, oh, you know, I'm really tight for money.
I'm not sure if I can.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
But she knew this opportunity wouldn't come knocking again, so
she borrowed the money. Fiona understood from Luis that all
she needed to become a playmate was an official certificate
showing that she'd been published, but when it arrived in
the post, it didn't quite live up to expectations.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
It's like a poster basically, so it's not actually a certificate.
I think it just says Fiona Hollingsworth Playboy playmate, photographer,
et cetera.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Et cetera. Fiona shows me her playmate certificate. It's a
page of shiny photo paper with a picture of Fiona
and the famous playboy Bunny logo. Fiona's topless, looking sultraally
into the camera. She looks great, but overall the edit's bad.
The design doesn't even cover a full page, and it's
got tacky white borders on the edges. What's more, the
(04:02):
photo shoot appears to have been done in a kitchen
and not Kim Kardashian's. You can see a silver toaster
and tupperware boxes in the background, and the scenery is
not the only issue. Luise has censored Fiona's nipples with
white circles, which seemed to glow. It's supposed to be
the document that makes Fiona an official playmate, but even
(04:23):
with Playmate Fiona superimposed in big letters, this feels about
as far from Playboy's centerfold as it's possible to imagine.
But Luis has published so many models in Playboy, so
it must be legit, right, So Fiona went to Instagram
to try and get herself verified. It's partly why she
invested in becoming a playmate, because a blue tick next
(04:44):
to her name would open up a new world of
professional opportunities.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Lewis has been saying to me, Yeah, if you just
hand those over to Instagram, that is enough to get
you verified.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
This was before you could pay to be verified. Fiona
sent a picture of her Playmate certificate to Instagram, expecting
her account to get a blue tick, but Instagram never
got back to her. She sent it again and again,
still nothing.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
I have tried. It must have been about four times
and I have still not become verified. I don't know
whether it's because I don't have a lot of followers.
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
And then a friend of hers got in touch.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
She was saying that she heard that Playboy has actually finished.
They're not actually published anymore. He's not really working for them.
I was just like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
If Luis isn't working for Playboy, then what the hell
did Fiona pay five grand for?
Speaker 1 (05:48):
I would love to know the answers. This must be
one of the biggest scams out there today.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
I'm Ellie Flynn and from the team at Novel. This
is the Bunny Trap, Episode four, Pay for Play. Along
(06:43):
with the certificate, fi owner was sent a copy of
the Playboy magazine she was published in back home. I
take a closer look at it with my producer Eleanor.
It's my first time seeing one of Luisa's Playboy magazines
in real life. Okay, this is Playboy Portugal. So on surface,
at the jit it looks like other Playboy magazines that
(07:03):
I've seen in the past. I mean, one thing that
seems like slightly orders, how thin it is it's only
twenty pages long. And another red flag. I think it's
strange that there there's no articles in here. It's just photos.
The pages are stapled together rather than professionally bound. It's
all matt whereas I usually would expect a magazine to
(07:25):
be glossy, and there's no centerfold. Fiona isn't in the
centerfold as a playmate normally would be. Instead, she's actually
near the end of the magazine. It says playmate next
to Fiona. So maybe that's what makes her a playmate.
I don't know, there's something there's something not quite right
(07:46):
about this. I take another look at Fiona's playmate certificate.
I don't think that this piece of paper that I'm
looking at is any kind of actual certification that she's
a playmate. It doesn't look like it's come from Playboy,
and she paid five thousand pounds for this. Oh my
(08:11):
god's so sad. Until now I'd thought I was investigating
awful allegations of sexual abuse against a Playboy photographer. There
were loads of things I was questioning when it came
to Luise's legitimacy, but in all honesty, his connection to
Playboy wasn't one of them. Because Luis looks legit online.
(08:33):
He's shooting big time glamor models around the world, hosting
his Playboy publications on social media, and being credited as
a photographer from what appears to be Playboy accounts. So
what the fuck is going on here? What's the deal
with his connection to Playboy? It's time for a quick
history lesson. Playboy was founded in nineteen fifty three. It
(08:57):
became the world's most famous men's magazine, and it's like
the conic bunny logo was heralded as part of the
sexual revolution. The magazine became the staff of legend, as
did the antics of its founder, Hugh Hefner. His harem
with much younger girlfriends and alleged drug fueled orgies at
his Playboy mansion made the brand notorious for decades. Playboy
(09:19):
magazine shifted millions of copies every month, but it was
slow off the mark to adapt to the digital age.
By the early two thousands, the print industry was dying
and Playboy was in decline.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
High speed internet porn allows you to essentially be on
there twenty four hours a day.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
And you can just click online. Porn pretty much obliterated
the demand for traditional men's mags. People didn't need Playboy
to get off anymore, and the original audience for the
magazine was literally dying off. Playboy needed to reinvent itself.
Funny and playmids remain, but Playboy rebuilds its brand. In
the twenty tens, Playboy went through an identity cris editors
(10:01):
banned nudity.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
There will be a Playmate of the Month, but the
poses will be more PG.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Thirteen. Unsurprisingly, that didn't work, so they unbanned it. And
then in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
We have some breaking news for you tonight. Playboy founder
Hugh Hefner has died at the age of ninety one.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Without its founder, Playboy was lost. By twenty eighteen, circulation
of the magazine had fallen to roughly two hundred and
ten thousand copies a month, down from three point one
million in two thousand. Playboy USA decided to cut its
losses and go fully online. And its final magazine was
printed in March twenty twenty, and yet Luis published Figona
(10:42):
in several Playboy magazines in summer twenty twenty, months after
the magazine shut down. How's that happened? The answer is
complicated because Luis wasn't shooting for Playboy USA, the magazine
most of us are sociate with the brand. We haven't
found any evidence of any of Luisa's photos ever appearing
(11:06):
in that magazine. Instead, Luis's shooting for international editions of Playboy.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
I've been in like three of them now. I've been
in Playboy Spain, Playboy Croatia, and Playboy Portugal.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
And it wasn't just Fiona, what Playboy were you? Published
in Playboy Portugal Portugal? I was in the Portugal mag
International playboys are sold like franchises and operate independently to
Playboy USA. Playboy USA has been selling international licenses to
external publishers for decades. As far back as the seventies,
(11:43):
there have been global editions of Playboy magazine. In the
early noughties, there were around twenty international editions in circulation.
All of them were ruled with an iron fist by
Hugh Hefler. A former director of Playboy's international magazines depart
told me no photograph or article was published in any
(12:04):
language without HEF's approval, and if any international publisher violated
Playboy's strict editorial standards, they could lose their license. One
global edition got pulled in twenty ten for publishing a
pornographic Jesus Christ as their cover star. But our new
CEO changed all of that. The CEO has radically changed
(12:26):
the company.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
He's outsourced everything he could outsource and has really focused
on making Playboy a licensing business.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
A licensing business aka monetizing Playboy's famous bunny logo for
cold hard cash. Any Tom, Dick or Harry with enough
money could buy a Playboy license for anything, water bottles,
air fresheners, or international magazines. Some of these magazines do
(12:54):
seem legit with actual editorial teams, but Playboy HQ no
longer vet the teams or have editors or oversight, which
means that basically anyone suddenly gets access to the biggest
glamour brand in the world. This is how people like
Luis Gomez become so called Playboy photographers. Believe me, it's
(13:15):
really hard to understand the difference between Playboy US and
these international franchises. So imagine being an up and coming
model just entering the industry and trying to work this
stuff out.
Speaker 5 (13:26):
I don't know if enough people realize how that business
model works anymore. There's a very big difference between Playboy USA,
which is the flagship brand, and other franchises around the world.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
That's Nino Batista. He's the photography instructor who first met
Luis in twenty fifteen and a longtime industry insider.
Speaker 5 (13:44):
If you shot for Playboy in nineteen ninety seven, then
almost certainly you were commissioned and or employed by Playboy
and it was a big, big deal. That business model
has changed radically. Most of the international Playboy franchises work
very differently than that.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Armed with my new knowledge about in national Playboy magazines,
I take another look at FI owners and something strikes me.
It's got no barcode. So that's odd because you wouldn't
be able to scan it in a shop. And my
producer Eleanor investigates why.
Speaker 6 (14:15):
Playboy Portugal it is not available to buy the UK,
is not available to buy anywhere. In order to get
a copy of the magazine, you need to buy it
off a site called Magster.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Magster is like an online newsagent that stocks everything. They've
got time. They've got The Guardian, Evening, Standard, Daily Style,
Daily Express. Yeah, that looks legit. Men's Magazine too.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
We go.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
They also sell Luis's own homemade magazines and multiple editions
of international playboys that he's shot for. Many of these
playboys share a publisher, and it's not Playboy Enterprises Untapped
World Publishing. They seem to be the biggest publisher in
this space, Untapped World Publishing. I hadn't heard of them,
(15:03):
but it looks like Luis has shot with them for years.
This private company based in South Africa seems to be
leading the international playboy publication market. Oh my god. They
published so many international editions. So we've got Playboy Australia,
Playboy South Africa, Playboy Africa, Playboy Sweden, Playboy Denmark, Playboy Finland,
(15:27):
Playboy Norway, Playboy New Zealand. When my assistant producer, Amalia
looks into it, things get weird.
Speaker 7 (15:34):
Something is off, no website, the number is defunct. I've
emailed all the people that I've found associated and only
one got back to me. And she thought that the
company had closed down.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Right, So if you look up Untapped World Publishing as
one director and his name's Dirk's team Camp. Dirk lives
in America now and he makes himself out to be
a bit of a media magnate. He even appeared on
the podcast talking about how he's made a career out
of purchasing international magazine licenses.
Speaker 8 (16:08):
I started my own thing. I got a license for
a magazine called Fighters only for the South African region.
It's been a couple of years later. Now we're publishing
fifty odd titles in four different countries.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
But nowhere in this interview does he mention anything about
glamor magazines. And there's nothing on his Instagram page about
the International Playboys either. Everyone on the team has reached
out to him via Instagram by email that does not
want to talk. We've not left him alone, No, we've
been handing why might Dirk want to keep his international
(16:44):
glamour empire under wraps? It's confusing because this company looks
legit like there's business articles about him making acquisitions of magazines.
He's mentioned on the Playboy official Wikipedia page. Why oh interesting?
So researching Dirk's the incomp online mentions a model who
(17:08):
filed a lawsuit the model's allegation that she paid thousands
of dollars to appear in a fake magazine.
Speaker 9 (17:38):
The entertainment business is a very dirty business. Anybody who
goes into it should be very weary and not trust
anybody except your lawyer, and even your lawyers, you don't
want to really trust them all that much.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
And listen to me. That's Drew Sherman, a lawyer from
Los Angeles who specializes in the entertainment industry. After almost
two decades in the business, he thought he'd seen it
all until he was blown away by a new case.
Drew was contacted by a model who told him that
she'd been scammed in twenty sixteen by both Dirkstein Camp
(18:11):
and a photographer working with him. To be clear, this
was another Glamor photographer, not Luis Gomez. The model said
that she'd paid to appear in an international edition of
a Maxim magazine that didn't really exist. Maxim's another big
Glamor magazine.
Speaker 9 (18:28):
Maxim is a legitimate magazine, but we alleged and we
believed that the people that were licensed to these various
versions internationally, this one person at least was using that
right that they had to then make other illegitimate versions
and swindle people out of their money.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
The model claimed she paid a photographer to be published
in Maxim South Africa, a magazine Dirk owned. The license
for The fee was ten thousand dollars in total. Four
thousand went to the photographer for shoot and six thousand
went to Dirk to get her on the cover. Then,
she says, the publisher and photographer told her that they
could get her and even more Maxim magazines if she
(19:11):
paid more money to.
Speaker 9 (19:12):
Dirk, Maxim Nigeria and a Maxim Middle East.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
But when she only received digital versions of these magazines
and no hard copies, she became suspicious, so she hired
people on the ground to do some digging for her.
Speaker 9 (19:26):
The persons that she hired in Nigeria and Dubai couldn't
find them because there is no such thing. Those Maxims
never existed at all.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
The model brought a claim against Maxim, Dirk and the photographer,
accusing them of fraud. By the time the model brought
the claim, Maxim had already cut ties with Dirk for
unknown reasons.
Speaker 9 (19:48):
Maxim came to us right away and said we didn't
have anything to do with it. We didn't allow this,
we didn't know about it.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Blah blah blah.
Speaker 9 (19:54):
I mean, that's what happens.
Speaker 6 (19:55):
Everybody di dies.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Maxim denied all allegations and brought a claim again against
Dirk for being a co conspirator who was quite negligently
and intentionally responsible for what had happened. The model ended
up retracting some allegations against the photographer, and all parties
eventually settled, but Drew still thinks Maxim should have taken
more responsibility. And I agree.
Speaker 9 (20:18):
We alleged that Maxim had an idea of what was
going on. Maybe they didn't authorize it and weren't part
of it, weren't making money off of it, but they
knew what was going on and didn't do anything about it.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Herd the Houseworth was a journalist at the New York
Post who got a tip off about the lawsuit. After
looking into it, she found the Maxim case wasn't a
one off.
Speaker 10 (20:38):
Effectively, any woman can be a magazine cover role these
days if she's wanting to pony up the doll.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Basically, if you have the money.
Speaker 10 (20:45):
Then you too can be a cover role, and you
can be on Playboy Sweden or a Maximum South Africa
or play Woie Australia.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
She gave it a name pay for play. But even
though Header cause it a scandal, many models still think
paying for appearances is worth it.
Speaker 10 (21:00):
Maxim and Playboy are huge publications. Then one way to
get verified that coveted blue check is to be published.
And obviously once you're verified on Instagram and you have
a certain follow account, then you can strike deals with
brands and then you make money. It's how people are
making their living, you know. It's that whole figure till
you make it mentality at its core.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
It's clear that the major glamour brands know about pay
for play.
Speaker 10 (21:24):
Maxim and Playboy are not actually slapping down on this
at all.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
They're not raining in these rogue actors. They're not cleaning
up the mess. I went to Playboy and Maxim for comment.
Maxim never got back to me, but they did give
a statement in response to Heather's article. Certain so called
international editions of Maxim are unauthorized and are in no
(21:49):
way connected to Maxim magazine. Maxim's flagship USA edition does
not condone any form.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Of pay for play. Playboy did get back to me
with a statement. At trips to a company spokesperson, they
told us the following. While the magazine is still printed
in several other countries through licensing partnerships, neither Playboy nor
its affiliates request payment by models. Any sort of request
for payment by models is not authorized nor endorsed by
(22:17):
Playboy and its affiliates. This industry feels like a wild West,
where it appears anything goes, and it seems Luis Gomez's
whole enterprise relies on that lack of regulation because according
to the models that we've spoken with, he engages in
pay for play as well. It's not just the owner
(22:38):
paying for playmate certificates. He's charging models hundreds, if not
thousands of pounds to appear in Playboy all the time,
including loads of the models in the WhatsApp group that
Emily and Hero were in. Here are some of the
messages that he sent promoting these so called opportunities.
Speaker 11 (22:56):
We have a special rate of six cond of bounds
in British waves editorial in Playboy. Huge editorial production for
Playboy in July each year, have to pay only eight
hundred dollars. Give me a prize of sixteen hundred dollars.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
He will just try and get you to pay as
much money as he can get out of you.
Speaker 11 (23:16):
One thousand, nine hundred and fifty dollars. That is the
cost for an editorial in Playboy maximum FHM. I have
an editorial in Playboy in next month. It's one thousand,
nine hundred and eighty dollars each. Three thousand, nine hundred
and eighty dollars this one.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Just think people paid that? Yeah, so many girls did.
They got a front cover, like a four page spread.
The most I've heard of a model paying Lewise is
ten thousand pounds for a playmate title. I've spoken to
so many models who say they paid Lewise going as
(23:59):
insane ounce of money. Over the years, that money was
often hard to find. Some of these women were on
the breadline, out of work, with kids, in debt, and
so desperate for a break that they even borrowed cash
of family and friends to pay him. And the model's
alleged that Luise has one other option. If you're really broke,
(24:20):
if you won't pay me the money like other girls,
you've got to pay me in sex. What's more, not
one model told me that she benefited from those publications.
My biggest regret was paying the bloke.
Speaker 7 (24:35):
I've been published in someone's picture book that they've made.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
It isn't going to help your career.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
You're wasting your money.
Speaker 7 (24:44):
You should be scouted and put in a magazine because
you're a good model, not because you've paid for a
publication that's completely backwards.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
The experience was traumatic, and I've gained nothing from it.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
This honestly makes me feel I went back to Playboy
with everything we found out about Luis and his pay
for play practices. They said they stand by their previous statement,
adding that Playboy expressly prohibits its international publishing licensees from
accepting content from photographers or models on a pay to
play basis, But they also added in something new which
(25:21):
completely blew my mind. Their statement reads, when Playboy has
become aware that certain photographers have engaged in pay to
play practices, such as the one it learned of mister
Gomes in April of twenty nineteen, it has acted without
hesitation in support of women and directed the licensees to
blacklist those specific photographers. Playboy had instructed their international additions
(25:45):
to blacklist Luise in April twenty nineteen. That's more than
a year before Emily, Fiona and the rest of the
UK models shot with him. I can't believe this. Luis
might have been blacklisted by Playboy USA, but he kept going,
kept using his perceived status as a Playboy photographer to
bookshoots all over the world, and kept getting his photos
(26:09):
published in international editions of Playboy. I'm still trying to
process all of this. When I get a tip, it
turns out it's not just models who are alleging financial
abuse at the hands of Luis. A former business partner
is too. As far as you were aware, did he
have an official relationship with Playboy at all?
Speaker 3 (26:31):
According to him, who did, he didn't want to give
me contact. He would never really like get into it.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Craig Block is an American glamour photographer. He's a big
guy with glasses and a shock of spiky, dark brown hair.
He says he first met Luise in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
We would see each other at a couple of events.
We were talking. We would joke around a little bit.
So if he saw my work, he'd liked my work,
maybe we could work together.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
According to Luis's website, Craig became the US director of
operations for Universe one three seven Studios, Luisa's company. But
now he tells me he'd like to see Louise behind bars,
and that's putting it mildly.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
They call him to Venezuela and tapeworm the He's the
definition of parasite. He's an organism that feeds off of
others to their detriment.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Craig said he could record this interview at his place
of work, which I imagined would be a photography studio. Turns
out it's actually an incredibly loud factory on Long Island,
New York.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Called on one second, Sorry, it's a cert One of
the fellows in the machine shop had to do something.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
This gives me a clue as to why Craig might
hate Louise Yes, because despite Craig's slick Instagram, which boasts
endless pictures of scantily clad models, he is not living
a glamorous life. He's grinding hard at a factory. Something's
gone wrong, and Craig says it stems from his decision
(28:18):
to go into business with Luis in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
He said to me, hey, I feel the universe has
put us together with good friends. We're supposed to be
doing something together. Honestly, he really did a great job
of convincing me that he was actually interested in being friend.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
At the time, Craig was still fairly new to the industry,
so he was flattered that Louise wanted to work with him.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
The business idea he can Playboy franchise.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Playboy Costa Rica, to be exact, this was massive, the
chance to take out an international Playboy license and become
a publisher, all thanks to Luis Gomers. Craig says. Louise
told him, if they made it big, they could be
earning up to three hundred and sixty thousand dollars from
(29:07):
the franchise alone, and twenty percent of that would go
straight to Craig. But first they need to invest. Took
me through the investment that you made. How much did
he ask for? What was the first payment?
Speaker 3 (29:23):
I saw? It gets embarrassing. First payment was my retirement fine,
and that was about eighty thousand.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Dollars, roughly eighty thousand dollars. Unlike many things with Luise,
things quickly turned sour as.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Soon as we started the agreement. Apparently they became some
problem the Playboy and they weren't doing that anymore. So
who knows, but that d materialize. I'm just taking his
word from that. This is how it's all done. It's
a long term strategy.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Craig says. Louis always had a backup plan and he
always needed just a bit more cash from Craig to
make it happen.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
There will always happen to him. You so pop up that.
He would be like, look, I need fifty thousand dollars.
I need forty thousand dollars so I can buy into this.
We can buy into that, we can get this, we
can get that.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
According to Craig, another opportunity to get a Playboy license
came up. This time it was Playboy Portugal, but there
were other people interested in the franchise. They'd have to
move fast.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
Well, he said to me, look, we're going to lose
Playboy Portugal if I don't have sixty thousand dollars. So
they're going to give it somebody other. Blah blah blah
blah blah.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
By now, Craig was running dry, but he still had
faith in Luise and their partnership, so he decided to
give it one last shot. He took out a loan
against his own business to pay for the license.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
I said, look, this is a six month loan. I
either two thousand dollars a week payment on this loan.
I can't live with that. So you got to tell
me when I'm going to start getting the money.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Instead, Craig says he got excuse after excuse.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
He would just say, well, it's not time yet. It
takes time.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
In case it's not obvious, Craig thinks Luise ran off
with his money.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Well, he couldn't send me a red penny, and.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Now Craig's totally broke.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
I said to him, you've led me dry. It's time
to leave. I've gone to an attorney that didn't seem
to do anything. My father a complain online with the FBI.
I haven't heard anything back. Nobody seems to want to
deal with it. I gave up on retirement. That's not
going to happen.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Craig says he has nothing to show for the estimated
quarter of a million dollars that he invested in Luise's
playboy fantasy. When he was giving you this dream, when
he was telling you that you guys were going to
be business partners in what sounds like a bit of
a Glamor Empire. What would that have meant to you
if that had all come off?
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Oh would have meant I mean, that would have been fantastic.
He knows this. So for me to be able to
do something like that where I could travel and not
have to be changed to a machine chart, that would
mean the world to me. Yeah, and that's what he exploited.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Knowing what I know now about Louise being blacklisted by
Playboy in twenty nineteen, the Glamor Empire, he promised Craig
would probably never have seen the light of day. Just
like with models, Louise seems to have used his associations
with the Glamor brand to extract a lot of money
from Craig, and it looks like that money may have
landed in Louise's account before his trip to the UK
(32:35):
for his so called Playboy Tour, the tour where I've
heard Luis Gomez used the allure of Playboy to conduct
photo shoots with around a dozen women, many of whom
came to me with allegations of abuse. It all seems
to be connected the money, the magazines, the alleged debut,
(33:00):
and it all leads back to Luis's exploitation of that
bunny logo like pulling focus on a camera. Things are
becoming clearer based on everything I've heard. Luis Gomez is rotten,
but he also seems to be a symptom of a
rotten industry. The golden age of adult magazines may be dead,
(33:21):
but this is still many women's dream. So what's left
of the glamour industry? It's time for me to venture
into that world to find out for myself. Coming up
on the Bonnie Truck. When I thought of this world,
when I imagined where this podcast would take me, this
(33:43):
is what I've been looking for this whole time. That
we found the.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
Glamour Universe seven studios.
Speaker 7 (33:49):
Yeah, okay, now, oh my god, I actually can't believe
that we're doing this.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Thanks to the women who shared their stories with us.
We contacted Luis Gomes 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. They declined our request for an interview,
but did issue the statement you heard earlier in this episode,
stating that they asked their licensees to blacklist the photographer
(34:28):
mentioned in this series and that they prohibit pay to
play the practice of charging models to appear in magazines.
The Bonnie Trap is produced by Novel. For more from Novel,
visit novel dot Audio. The show is hosted by me
(34:48):
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 Ellen the Biggs and written
by me Ellie Flynn and l the Biggs. Our assistant
producer is Amalia Sortland, with additional production from Lee Meyer
and Saskia Collette. Additional research by Valeria Rocker. The editors
(35:09):
are Georgia Moody and Austin Mitchell. Our executive producers are
Max O'Brien and Craig Strachan. Our fact checker is Fendall Fulton.
Production management from Cherie Houston and Charlotte Wolfe. Sound design,
mixing and scoring by Daniel Kempson and Nicholas Alexander. Music
supervision by Nicholas Alexander, Eleana Biggs and Max O'Brien. Original
(35:30):
music composed and performed by Jake Long and additional production
by Nicholas Alexander, Louisa Gerstein and Daniel Kempson. The series
artwork was designed by Christina Limcole, Willard Foxton's creative director
of development. Various women from the WhatsApp group Chat were
voiced by Boo Miller. Luis Gomes was played by Juan Solari.
The news clips you heard were from CNN, The Wall
(35:52):
Street Journal, and NBC. The interview clip of drukstine Camp
was from the podcast Beyond Grit with Robert Young
Speaker 1 (36:04):
Novel
Novel.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hey listeners, this is Ellie Flynn. Before we get started,
I just wanted to let you know that this episode
contains references to alleged sexual abuse. It's also a story
of female empowerment and camaraderie thanks to the women who
have shared their stories with us. We contacted the photographer
mentioned in this podcast multiple times for comment, but we
(00:31):
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 this episode. Our research into his association
to Playboy and their statement will also be detailed in
(00:54):
this episode. Oh and one more thing. Some of the
voice notes you'll hear in this episode of all by actors.
If I was to ask you where in the world
might a playmate live, your answer probably wouldn't be in
(01:14):
a nondescript house on a quiet road in rural England.
But that's just where me and my producer Eleanor have come.
Outside the window, muddy fields stretch out as far as
the eye can see hello, how are you doing? Nice
to see in the hallway kids Wellington boots, footballs and
(01:36):
skateboards are stacked haphazardly. And in the living room lucky
cats here. Yes, do you know what?
Speaker 3 (01:43):
He's not normally in here? He's very already come to here.
I think you've got the charm.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
So much. What's his name again? Frank? Me and Eleanor
haven't come here to meet Frank. Okay, okay, we haven't
just come here to meet Frank. We're also here to
meet Fiona Hollingsworth.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
I have been in the modern ing industry nearly all
my life, to be honest, gosh, we're probably talking twenty years.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Fiona was in her late thirties when she met Luis
Gomez during his twenty twenty UK tour. She's one of
the few models we've spoken to who hasn't accused Louise
of sexual misconduct. But I still find her story really upsetting.
Luise gave Fiona his usual spiel. He could make her
a star. He could get her in Playboy. He could
even get her the most coveted title in Glamour.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
He said, for five thousand pounds, I could be the
Playboy playmate.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
We've heard of Luise charging for photo shoots before from
people like her, but charging someone to become a playboy playmate,
that's new to us. But Fiona didn't bat an eyelid.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
In this industry, you have to put your money into
it in order to get the money back. So you know,
that could have helped me hugely in the future.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Fionna's a single mum with four kids. Times were tough.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
That was like, oh, you know, I'm really tight for money.
I'm not sure if I can.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
But she knew this opportunity wouldn't come knocking again, so
she borrowed the money. Fiona understood from Luis that all
she needed to become a playmate was an official certificate
showing that she'd been published, but when it arrived in
the post, it didn't quite live up to expectations.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
It's like a poster basically, so it's not actually a certificate.
I think it just says Fiona Hollingsworth Playboy playmate, photographer,
et cetera.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Et cetera. Fiona shows me her playmate certificate. It's a
page of shiny photo paper with a picture of Fiona
and the famous playboy Bunny logo. Fiona's topless, looking sultraally
into the camera. She looks great, but overall the edit's bad.
The design doesn't even cover a full page, and it's
got tacky white borders on the edges. What's more, the
(04:02):
photo shoot appears to have been done in a kitchen
and not Kim Kardashian's. You can see a silver toaster
and tupperware boxes in the background, and the scenery is
not the only issue. Luise has censored Fiona's nipples with
white circles, which seemed to glow. It's supposed to be
the document that makes Fiona an official playmate, but even
(04:23):
with Playmate Fiona superimposed in big letters, this feels about
as far from Playboy's centerfold as it's possible to imagine.
But Luis has published so many models in Playboy, so
it must be legit, right, So Fiona went to Instagram
to try and get herself verified. It's partly why she
invested in becoming a playmate, because a blue tick next
(04:44):
to her name would open up a new world of
professional opportunities.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Lewis has been saying to me, Yeah, if you just
hand those over to Instagram, that is enough to get
you verified.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
This was before you could pay to be verified. Fiona
sent a picture of her Playmate certificate to Instagram, expecting
her account to get a blue tick, but Instagram never
got back to her. She sent it again and again,
still nothing.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
I have tried. It must have been about four times
and I have still not become verified. I don't know
whether it's because I don't have a lot of followers.
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
And then a friend of hers got in touch.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
She was saying that she heard that Playboy has actually finished.
They're not actually published anymore. He's not really working for them.
I was just like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
If Luis isn't working for Playboy, then what the hell
did Fiona pay five grand for?
Speaker 1 (05:48):
I would love to know the answers. This must be
one of the biggest scams out there today.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
I'm Ellie Flynn and from the team at Novel. This
is the Bunny Trap, Episode four, Pay for Play. Along
(06:43):
with the certificate, fi owner was sent a copy of
the Playboy magazine she was published in back home. I
take a closer look at it with my producer Eleanor.
It's my first time seeing one of Luisa's Playboy magazines
in real life. Okay, this is Playboy Portugal. So on surface,
at the jit it looks like other Playboy magazines that
(07:03):
I've seen in the past. I mean, one thing that
seems like slightly orders, how thin it is it's only
twenty pages long. And another red flag. I think it's
strange that there there's no articles in here. It's just photos.
The pages are stapled together rather than professionally bound. It's
all matt whereas I usually would expect a magazine to
(07:25):
be glossy, and there's no centerfold. Fiona isn't in the
centerfold as a playmate normally would be. Instead, she's actually
near the end of the magazine. It says playmate next
to Fiona. So maybe that's what makes her a playmate.
I don't know, there's something there's something not quite right
(07:46):
about this. I take another look at Fiona's playmate certificate.
I don't think that this piece of paper that I'm
looking at is any kind of actual certification that she's
a playmate. It doesn't look like it's come from Playboy,
and she paid five thousand pounds for this. Oh my
(08:11):
god's so sad. Until now I'd thought I was investigating
awful allegations of sexual abuse against a Playboy photographer. There
were loads of things I was questioning when it came
to Luise's legitimacy, but in all honesty, his connection to
Playboy wasn't one of them. Because Luis looks legit online.
(08:33):
He's shooting big time glamor models around the world, hosting
his Playboy publications on social media, and being credited as
a photographer from what appears to be Playboy accounts. So
what the fuck is going on here? What's the deal
with his connection to Playboy? It's time for a quick
history lesson. Playboy was founded in nineteen fifty three. It
(08:57):
became the world's most famous men's magazine, and it's like
the conic bunny logo was heralded as part of the
sexual revolution. The magazine became the staff of legend, as
did the antics of its founder, Hugh Hefner. His harem
with much younger girlfriends and alleged drug fueled orgies at
his Playboy mansion made the brand notorious for decades. Playboy
(09:19):
magazine shifted millions of copies every month, but it was
slow off the mark to adapt to the digital age.
By the early two thousands, the print industry was dying
and Playboy was in decline.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
High speed internet porn allows you to essentially be on
there twenty four hours a day.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
And you can just click online. Porn pretty much obliterated
the demand for traditional men's mags. People didn't need Playboy
to get off anymore, and the original audience for the
magazine was literally dying off. Playboy needed to reinvent itself.
Funny and playmids remain, but Playboy rebuilds its brand. In
the twenty tens, Playboy went through an identity cris editors
(10:01):
banned nudity.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
There will be a Playmate of the Month, but the
poses will be more PG.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Thirteen. Unsurprisingly, that didn't work, so they unbanned it. And
then in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
We have some breaking news for you tonight. Playboy founder
Hugh Hefner has died at the age of ninety one.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Without its founder, Playboy was lost. By twenty eighteen, circulation
of the magazine had fallen to roughly two hundred and
ten thousand copies a month, down from three point one
million in two thousand. Playboy USA decided to cut its
losses and go fully online. And its final magazine was
printed in March twenty twenty, and yet Luis published Figona
(10:42):
in several Playboy magazines in summer twenty twenty, months after
the magazine shut down. How's that happened? The answer is
complicated because Luis wasn't shooting for Playboy USA, the magazine
most of us are sociate with the brand. We haven't
found any evidence of any of Luisa's photos ever appearing
(11:06):
in that magazine. Instead, Luis's shooting for international editions of Playboy.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
I've been in like three of them now. I've been
in Playboy Spain, Playboy Croatia, and Playboy Portugal.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
And it wasn't just Fiona, what Playboy were you? Published
in Playboy Portugal Portugal? I was in the Portugal mag
International playboys are sold like franchises and operate independently to
Playboy USA. Playboy USA has been selling international licenses to
external publishers for decades. As far back as the seventies,
(11:43):
there have been global editions of Playboy magazine. In the
early noughties, there were around twenty international editions in circulation.
All of them were ruled with an iron fist by
Hugh Hefler. A former director of Playboy's international magazines depart
told me no photograph or article was published in any
(12:04):
language without HEF's approval, and if any international publisher violated
Playboy's strict editorial standards, they could lose their license. One
global edition got pulled in twenty ten for publishing a
pornographic Jesus Christ as their cover star. But our new
CEO changed all of that. The CEO has radically changed
(12:26):
the company.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
He's outsourced everything he could outsource and has really focused
on making Playboy a licensing business.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
A licensing business aka monetizing Playboy's famous bunny logo for
cold hard cash. Any Tom, Dick or Harry with enough
money could buy a Playboy license for anything, water bottles,
air fresheners, or international magazines. Some of these magazines do
(12:54):
seem legit with actual editorial teams, but Playboy HQ no
longer vet the teams or have editors or oversight, which
means that basically anyone suddenly gets access to the biggest
glamour brand in the world. This is how people like
Luis Gomez become so called Playboy photographers. Believe me, it's
(13:15):
really hard to understand the difference between Playboy US and
these international franchises. So imagine being an up and coming
model just entering the industry and trying to work this
stuff out.
Speaker 5 (13:26):
I don't know if enough people realize how that business
model works anymore. There's a very big difference between Playboy USA,
which is the flagship brand, and other franchises around the world.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
That's Nino Batista. He's the photography instructor who first met
Luis in twenty fifteen and a longtime industry insider.
Speaker 5 (13:44):
If you shot for Playboy in nineteen ninety seven, then
almost certainly you were commissioned and or employed by Playboy
and it was a big, big deal. That business model
has changed radically. Most of the international Playboy franchises work
very differently than that.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Armed with my new knowledge about in national Playboy magazines,
I take another look at FI owners and something strikes me.
It's got no barcode. So that's odd because you wouldn't
be able to scan it in a shop. And my
producer Eleanor investigates why.
Speaker 6 (14:15):
Playboy Portugal it is not available to buy the UK,
is not available to buy anywhere. In order to get
a copy of the magazine, you need to buy it
off a site called Magster.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Magster is like an online newsagent that stocks everything. They've
got time. They've got The Guardian, Evening, Standard, Daily Style,
Daily Express. Yeah, that looks legit. Men's Magazine too.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
We go.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
They also sell Luis's own homemade magazines and multiple editions
of international playboys that he's shot for. Many of these
playboys share a publisher, and it's not Playboy Enterprises Untapped
World Publishing. They seem to be the biggest publisher in
this space, Untapped World Publishing. I hadn't heard of them,
(15:03):
but it looks like Luis has shot with them for years.
This private company based in South Africa seems to be
leading the international playboy publication market. Oh my god. They
published so many international editions. So we've got Playboy Australia,
Playboy South Africa, Playboy Africa, Playboy Sweden, Playboy Denmark, Playboy Finland,
(15:27):
Playboy Norway, Playboy New Zealand. When my assistant producer, Amalia
looks into it, things get weird.
Speaker 7 (15:34):
Something is off, no website, the number is defunct. I've
emailed all the people that I've found associated and only
one got back to me. And she thought that the
company had closed down.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Right, So if you look up Untapped World Publishing as
one director and his name's Dirk's team Camp. Dirk lives
in America now and he makes himself out to be
a bit of a media magnate. He even appeared on
the podcast talking about how he's made a career out
of purchasing international magazine licenses.
Speaker 8 (16:08):
I started my own thing. I got a license for
a magazine called Fighters only for the South African region.
It's been a couple of years later. Now we're publishing
fifty odd titles in four different countries.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
But nowhere in this interview does he mention anything about
glamor magazines. And there's nothing on his Instagram page about
the International Playboys either. Everyone on the team has reached
out to him via Instagram by email that does not
want to talk. We've not left him alone, No, we've
been handing why might Dirk want to keep his international
(16:44):
glamour empire under wraps? It's confusing because this company looks
legit like there's business articles about him making acquisitions of magazines.
He's mentioned on the Playboy official Wikipedia page. Why oh interesting?
So researching Dirk's the incomp online mentions a model who
(17:08):
filed a lawsuit the model's allegation that she paid thousands
of dollars to appear in a fake magazine.
Speaker 9 (17:38):
The entertainment business is a very dirty business. Anybody who
goes into it should be very weary and not trust
anybody except your lawyer, and even your lawyers, you don't
want to really trust them all that much.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
And listen to me. That's Drew Sherman, a lawyer from
Los Angeles who specializes in the entertainment industry. After almost
two decades in the business, he thought he'd seen it
all until he was blown away by a new case.
Drew was contacted by a model who told him that
she'd been scammed in twenty sixteen by both Dirkstein Camp
(18:11):
and a photographer working with him. To be clear, this
was another Glamor photographer, not Luis Gomez. The model said
that she'd paid to appear in an international edition of
a Maxim magazine that didn't really exist. Maxim's another big
Glamor magazine.
Speaker 9 (18:28):
Maxim is a legitimate magazine, but we alleged and we
believed that the people that were licensed to these various
versions internationally, this one person at least was using that
right that they had to then make other illegitimate versions
and swindle people out of their money.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
The model claimed she paid a photographer to be published
in Maxim South Africa, a magazine Dirk owned. The license
for The fee was ten thousand dollars in total. Four
thousand went to the photographer for shoot and six thousand
went to Dirk to get her on the cover. Then,
she says, the publisher and photographer told her that they
could get her and even more Maxim magazines if she
(19:11):
paid more money to.
Speaker 9 (19:12):
Dirk, Maxim Nigeria and a Maxim Middle East.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
But when she only received digital versions of these magazines
and no hard copies, she became suspicious, so she hired
people on the ground to do some digging for her.
Speaker 9 (19:26):
The persons that she hired in Nigeria and Dubai couldn't
find them because there is no such thing. Those Maxims
never existed at all.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
The model brought a claim against Maxim, Dirk and the photographer,
accusing them of fraud. By the time the model brought
the claim, Maxim had already cut ties with Dirk for
unknown reasons.
Speaker 9 (19:48):
Maxim came to us right away and said we didn't
have anything to do with it. We didn't allow this,
we didn't know about it.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Blah blah blah.
Speaker 9 (19:54):
I mean, that's what happens.
Speaker 6 (19:55):
Everybody di dies.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Maxim denied all allegations and brought a claim again against
Dirk for being a co conspirator who was quite negligently
and intentionally responsible for what had happened. The model ended
up retracting some allegations against the photographer, and all parties
eventually settled, but Drew still thinks Maxim should have taken
more responsibility. And I agree.
Speaker 9 (20:18):
We alleged that Maxim had an idea of what was
going on. Maybe they didn't authorize it and weren't part
of it, weren't making money off of it, but they
knew what was going on and didn't do anything about it.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Herd the Houseworth was a journalist at the New York
Post who got a tip off about the lawsuit. After
looking into it, she found the Maxim case wasn't a
one off.
Speaker 10 (20:38):
Effectively, any woman can be a magazine cover role these
days if she's wanting to pony up the doll.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Basically, if you have the money.
Speaker 10 (20:45):
Then you too can be a cover role, and you
can be on Playboy Sweden or a Maximum South Africa
or play Woie Australia.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
She gave it a name pay for play. But even
though Header cause it a scandal, many models still think
paying for appearances is worth it.
Speaker 10 (21:00):
Maxim and Playboy are huge publications. Then one way to
get verified that coveted blue check is to be published.
And obviously once you're verified on Instagram and you have
a certain follow account, then you can strike deals with
brands and then you make money. It's how people are
making their living, you know. It's that whole figure till
you make it mentality at its core.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
It's clear that the major glamour brands know about pay
for play.
Speaker 10 (21:24):
Maxim and Playboy are not actually slapping down on this
at all.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
They're not raining in these rogue actors. They're not cleaning
up the mess. I went to Playboy and Maxim for comment.
Maxim never got back to me, but they did give
a statement in response to Heather's article. Certain so called
international editions of Maxim are unauthorized and are in no
(21:49):
way connected to Maxim magazine. Maxim's flagship USA edition does
not condone any form.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Of pay for play. Playboy did get back to me
with a statement. At trips to a company spokesperson, they
told us the following. While the magazine is still printed
in several other countries through licensing partnerships, neither Playboy nor
its affiliates request payment by models. Any sort of request
for payment by models is not authorized nor endorsed by
(22:17):
Playboy and its affiliates. This industry feels like a wild West,
where it appears anything goes, and it seems Luis Gomez's
whole enterprise relies on that lack of regulation because according
to the models that we've spoken with, he engages in
pay for play as well. It's not just the owner
(22:38):
paying for playmate certificates. He's charging models hundreds, if not
thousands of pounds to appear in Playboy all the time,
including loads of the models in the WhatsApp group that
Emily and Hero were in. Here are some of the
messages that he sent promoting these so called opportunities.
Speaker 11 (22:56):
We have a special rate of six cond of bounds
in British waves editorial in Playboy. Huge editorial production for
Playboy in July each year, have to pay only eight
hundred dollars. Give me a prize of sixteen hundred dollars.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
He will just try and get you to pay as
much money as he can get out of you.
Speaker 11 (23:16):
One thousand, nine hundred and fifty dollars. That is the
cost for an editorial in Playboy maximum FHM. I have
an editorial in Playboy in next month. It's one thousand,
nine hundred and eighty dollars each. Three thousand, nine hundred
and eighty dollars this one.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Just think people paid that? Yeah, so many girls did.
They got a front cover, like a four page spread.
The most I've heard of a model paying Lewise is
ten thousand pounds for a playmate title. I've spoken to
so many models who say they paid Lewise going as
(23:59):
insane ounce of money. Over the years, that money was
often hard to find. Some of these women were on
the breadline, out of work, with kids, in debt, and
so desperate for a break that they even borrowed cash
of family and friends to pay him. And the model's
alleged that Luise has one other option. If you're really broke,
(24:20):
if you won't pay me the money like other girls,
you've got to pay me in sex. What's more, not
one model told me that she benefited from those publications.
My biggest regret was paying the bloke.
Speaker 7 (24:35):
I've been published in someone's picture book that they've made.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
It isn't going to help your career.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
You're wasting your money.
Speaker 7 (24:44):
You should be scouted and put in a magazine because
you're a good model, not because you've paid for a
publication that's completely backwards.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
The experience was traumatic, and I've gained nothing from it.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
This honestly makes me feel I went back to Playboy
with everything we found out about Luis and his pay
for play practices. They said they stand by their previous statement,
adding that Playboy expressly prohibits its international publishing licensees from
accepting content from photographers or models on a pay to
play basis, But they also added in something new which
(25:21):
completely blew my mind. Their statement reads, when Playboy has
become aware that certain photographers have engaged in pay to
play practices, such as the one it learned of mister
Gomes in April of twenty nineteen, it has acted without
hesitation in support of women and directed the licensees to
blacklist those specific photographers. Playboy had instructed their international additions
(25:45):
to blacklist Luise in April twenty nineteen. That's more than
a year before Emily, Fiona and the rest of the
UK models shot with him. I can't believe this. Luis
might have been blacklisted by Playboy USA, but he kept going,
kept using his perceived status as a Playboy photographer to
bookshoots all over the world, and kept getting his photos
(26:09):
published in international editions of Playboy. I'm still trying to
process all of this. When I get a tip, it
turns out it's not just models who are alleging financial
abuse at the hands of Luis. A former business partner
is too. As far as you were aware, did he
have an official relationship with Playboy at all?
Speaker 3 (26:31):
According to him, who did, he didn't want to give
me contact. He would never really like get into it.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Craig Block is an American glamour photographer. He's a big
guy with glasses and a shock of spiky, dark brown hair.
He says he first met Luise in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
We would see each other at a couple of events.
We were talking. We would joke around a little bit.
So if he saw my work, he'd liked my work,
maybe we could work together.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
According to Luis's website, Craig became the US director of
operations for Universe one three seven Studios, Luisa's company. But
now he tells me he'd like to see Louise behind bars,
and that's putting it mildly.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
They call him to Venezuela and tapeworm the He's the
definition of parasite. He's an organism that feeds off of
others to their detriment.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Craig said he could record this interview at his place
of work, which I imagined would be a photography studio. Turns
out it's actually an incredibly loud factory on Long Island,
New York.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Called on one second, Sorry, it's a cert One of
the fellows in the machine shop had to do something.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
This gives me a clue as to why Craig might
hate Louise Yes, because despite Craig's slick Instagram, which boasts
endless pictures of scantily clad models, he is not living
a glamorous life. He's grinding hard at a factory. Something's
gone wrong, and Craig says it stems from his decision
(28:18):
to go into business with Luis in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
He said to me, hey, I feel the universe has
put us together with good friends. We're supposed to be
doing something together. Honestly, he really did a great job
of convincing me that he was actually interested in being friend.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
At the time, Craig was still fairly new to the industry,
so he was flattered that Louise wanted to work with him.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
The business idea he can Playboy franchise.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Playboy Costa Rica, to be exact, this was massive, the
chance to take out an international Playboy license and become
a publisher, all thanks to Luis Gomers. Craig says. Louise
told him, if they made it big, they could be
earning up to three hundred and sixty thousand dollars from
(29:07):
the franchise alone, and twenty percent of that would go
straight to Craig. But first they need to invest. Took
me through the investment that you made. How much did
he ask for? What was the first payment?
Speaker 3 (29:23):
I saw? It gets embarrassing. First payment was my retirement fine,
and that was about eighty thousand.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Dollars, roughly eighty thousand dollars. Unlike many things with Luise,
things quickly turned sour as.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Soon as we started the agreement. Apparently they became some
problem the Playboy and they weren't doing that anymore. So
who knows, but that d materialize. I'm just taking his
word from that. This is how it's all done. It's
a long term strategy.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Craig says. Louis always had a backup plan and he
always needed just a bit more cash from Craig to
make it happen.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
There will always happen to him. You so pop up that.
He would be like, look, I need fifty thousand dollars.
I need forty thousand dollars so I can buy into this.
We can buy into that, we can get this, we
can get that.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
According to Craig, another opportunity to get a Playboy license
came up. This time it was Playboy Portugal, but there
were other people interested in the franchise. They'd have to
move fast.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
Well, he said to me, look, we're going to lose
Playboy Portugal if I don't have sixty thousand dollars. So
they're going to give it somebody other. Blah blah blah
blah blah.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
By now, Craig was running dry, but he still had
faith in Luise and their partnership, so he decided to
give it one last shot. He took out a loan
against his own business to pay for the license.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
I said, look, this is a six month loan. I
either two thousand dollars a week payment on this loan.
I can't live with that. So you got to tell
me when I'm going to start getting the money.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Instead, Craig says he got excuse after excuse.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
He would just say, well, it's not time yet. It
takes time.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
In case it's not obvious, Craig thinks Luise ran off
with his money.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Well, he couldn't send me a red penny, and.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Now Craig's totally broke.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
I said to him, you've led me dry. It's time
to leave. I've gone to an attorney that didn't seem
to do anything. My father a complain online with the FBI.
I haven't heard anything back. Nobody seems to want to
deal with it. I gave up on retirement. That's not
going to happen.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Craig says he has nothing to show for the estimated
quarter of a million dollars that he invested in Luise's
playboy fantasy. When he was giving you this dream, when
he was telling you that you guys were going to
be business partners in what sounds like a bit of
a Glamor Empire. What would that have meant to you
if that had all come off?
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Oh would have meant I mean, that would have been fantastic.
He knows this. So for me to be able to
do something like that where I could travel and not
have to be changed to a machine chart, that would
mean the world to me. Yeah, and that's what he exploited.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Knowing what I know now about Louise being blacklisted by
Playboy in twenty nineteen, the Glamor Empire, he promised Craig
would probably never have seen the light of day. Just
like with models, Louise seems to have used his associations
with the Glamor brand to extract a lot of money
from Craig, and it looks like that money may have
landed in Louise's account before his trip to the UK
(32:35):
for his so called Playboy Tour, the tour where I've
heard Luis Gomez used the allure of Playboy to conduct
photo shoots with around a dozen women, many of whom
came to me with allegations of abuse. It all seems
to be connected the money, the magazines, the alleged debut,
(33:00):
and it all leads back to Luis's exploitation of that
bunny logo like pulling focus on a camera. Things are
becoming clearer based on everything I've heard. Luis Gomez is rotten,
but he also seems to be a symptom of a
rotten industry. The golden age of adult magazines may be dead,
(33:21):
but this is still many women's dream. So what's left
of the glamour industry? It's time for me to venture
into that world to find out for myself. Coming up
on the Bonnie Truck. When I thought of this world,
when I imagined where this podcast would take me, this
(33:43):
is what I've been looking for this whole time. That
we found the.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
Glamour Universe seven studios.
Speaker 7 (33:49):
Yeah, okay, now, oh my god, I actually can't believe
that we're doing this.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Thanks to the women who shared their stories with us.
We contacted Luis Gomes 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. They declined our request for an interview,
but did issue the statement you heard earlier in this episode,
stating that they asked their licensees to blacklist the photographer
(34:28):
mentioned in this series and that they prohibit pay to
play the practice of charging models to appear in magazines.
The Bonnie Trap is produced by Novel. For more from Novel,
visit novel dot Audio. The show is hosted by me
(34:48):
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 Ellen the Biggs and written
by me Ellie Flynn and l the Biggs. Our assistant
producer is Amalia Sortland, with additional production from Lee Meyer
and Saskia Collette. Additional research by Valeria Rocker. The editors
(35:09):
are Georgia Moody and Austin Mitchell. Our executive producers are
Max O'Brien and Craig Strachan. Our fact checker is Fendall Fulton.
Production management from Cherie Houston and Charlotte Wolfe. Sound design,
mixing and scoring by Daniel Kempson and Nicholas Alexander. Music
supervision by Nicholas Alexander, Eleana Biggs and Max O'Brien. Original
(35:30):
music composed and performed by Jake Long and additional production
by Nicholas Alexander, Louisa Gerstein and Daniel Kempson. The series
artwork was designed by Christina Limcole, Willard Foxton's creative director
of development. Various women from the WhatsApp group Chat were
voiced by Boo Miller. Luis Gomes was played by Juan Solari.
The news clips you heard were from CNN, The Wall
(35:52):
Street Journal, and NBC. The interview clip of drukstine Camp
was from the podcast Beyond Grit with Robert Young
Speaker 1 (36:04):
Novel
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com