A New York strip club is accused of forcing dancers into “illegal prostitution” in soundproof sex rooms, according to a new lawsuit.
The New York Post Former stripper-turned-lawyer Christine DeMaria has filed a $2.5 million lawsuit against Gossip Restaurant & Cigar Bar in Melville, N.Y. The Long Island men’s club operated as a “thinly disguised brothel,” allowing wealthy clients to pay for sexual acts with dancers in soundproof “VIP” rooms that were locked from the outside.
“If a customer wanted to rape and kill you, they could do it in the back,” one suit-wearing dancer said, according to the Post.
The filing in Manhattan Supreme Court accused Gossip owner Brian Rosenberg, senior manager Spiro Anastasiadis, and seven other managers, dancers or bouncers of sexual harassment, human trafficking, sex discrimination, a hostile work environment, violations of the New York State Human Rights Act, fraud, illegal wage deductions and whistle-blowing. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
Newsday reports DeMaria previously worked at Gossip and is suing at least two other New York strip clubs where she previously worked. These lawsuits are ongoing.
DeMaria told Newsday that she survived sex trafficking as a child at age 15 and began working as an exotic dancer in 2014. She said she was working at Gossip when Rosenberg added two rooms for “high-rollers” in 2022, promising clients sex acts by dancers. She said that one customer sexually assaulted her in March 2022 and that on other occasions she was pressured by management and other dancers to perform sexual acts on customers.
“It is against the law to sexually assault people who work in strip clubs,” Megan Goddard, DeMaria’s attorney, told Newsday. “These women deserve to be safe at work. They deserve to be protected, not forced into prostitution or silenced about violence just to keep their jobs.”
DeMaria claimed she was blacklisted and fired on false theft charges after she accused Gossip of profiting from “monetary trauma.” The Post reports that she continued her law studies and passed the bar exam in July.
She also founded a non-profit Sex worker at Transition Compassion Home (SWITCH) to help dancers, sex workers and victims of human trafficking find alternative careers. In 2023, she received $200,000 from her Walentas Family Foundation David Award support its mission.
Representatives for Gossip have not commented on the lawsuit.
Melville is located about 30 miles outside of Manhattan in Suffolk County, Long Island.
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