Former Dreamboys bosses swindled taxpayer out of £400k during seven-year benefit and tax fraud campaign
Dance troupe founder Barry Solomons and business partner Laurel Goodman plead guilty after nearly a decade of scams
THE former bosses of male strippers The Dreamboys have admitted £400,000 in benefit and tax fraud.
Founder Barry Solomons, who uses the name Bari Bacco, claimed more than £175,000 in housing and council tax benefit, pension credit and income support over seven years while running various dance troupes.
Solomons, 70, who has worked with Sir Elton John, Princess Diana and the Spice Girls, also dodged at least £39,000 in tax from the male stripping business.
Business partner Laurel Goodman, 55, fraudulently claimed £120,000 in benefits and dodged £67,000 in tax.
Both have pleaded guilty. Prosecutor Mr Andrew Evans told Blackfriars crown court: “This a case where two co-defendants failed to declare income derived from promoting male strippers, mainly The Dreamboys.”
Solomons, of Islington, North London, was described as “a well-established figure in the business of supplying male striptease artists.”
He came up with the idea for The Dreamboys in 1987 after watching a Levi jeans advert featuring model Nick Kamen stripping in a launderette. His involvement with Dreamboys ended in 2000.
They went on to become a worldwide success, with fan tickets selling for £100.
Solomons and Goodman, from Golders Green, North London, will both be sentenced in September.