Strippers ‘drugged, assaulted and raped’ at club where businessmen and tourists enjoyed more than 40 years of risqué routines
Former dancers known as CheetahGirls say they were pressured into pimping themselves out to customers
A "WORLD-renowned" strip club has been embroiled in a drug and rape scandal as six former dancers claim they were effectively pimped out to patrons by managers.
Former employees at The Cheetah — which bills itself as a "gentleman's club" — say guests attacked them believing they could flout no-touching rules after paying off their bosses.
Dancers were pressured into using this system to agree to performing sexual acts in order to receive special VIP bookings, they alleged.
Customers would pay the dancers directly for sex in violation of stated club rules, and a cut of this money would go to the floormen, according to their damning claims.
And they say that girls who didn't play along with this system would be shut out of top-dollar VIP bookings at the club in Atlanta, Georgia.
One of the women, Alison Valente, claims she was improperly fired last year and even DRUGGED after complaining about the practice.
According to one of two civil rights suits filed against the club in federal court, Valente claims she refused to join the group of dancers known as the “F Girls” because they engaged in sex acts in VIP rooms.
After declining to pay kickbacks to floormen, Valente claims she was abused and “drugged into near unconsciousness” for not going along with the scheme.
Management and bouncers operated a “sophisticated organised crime syndicate” that ultimately became an “integral part” of the club’s operations, the lawsuit says.
Since Valente came forward other former employees have made similar shocking claims.
One former dancer who has since left the industry told the newspaper she was raped by a customer in the VIP room while working at the club during the NCAA basketball tournament in March 2013.
The customer unexpectedly pulled down his pants and penetrated her as she danced with her back to him, she told the local paper's investigative reporter Chris Joyner.
After fighting the man off, the unidentified dancer told the newspaper she then found a “house mum” at the club – a female supervisor who coordinates schedules and other tasks – and reported the attack.
But instead of reporting the alleged rape to police, the female supervisor encouraged the woman “to move on,” ordering a tray of tequila shots before the dancer was escorted to the penthouse.
“The idea of calling the cops is something I suggested and they just started talking about something else,” the woman told the paper.
“She just encouraged me to move on and not make a big deal out of it.”
Kevin Ward, an attorney representing the club, confirmed an “apparently unwanted sexual incident during March Madness 2013".
In a statement he said that the woman and the customer had a “personal and intimate” relationship.
The woman did contact the house mum but “did not want to contact police”, Ward told the Journal-Constitution.
But the woman claims she had no prior relationship with the alleged assailant before or after the incident and doesn’t even know his name.
Another dancer no longer with the club said sexual assault occurred frequently inside the VIP rooms.
She claims a customer penetrated her with his finger during one encounter and then reported her to one of the floormen, who in turn told her to refund the man’s money.
The idea of calling the cops is something I suggested and they just started talking about something else. She just encouraged me to move on and not make a big deal out of it.
Former Cheetah dancer
“I could have called the cops and gotten him in big trouble,” she told the paper, adding she ultimately didn’t contact authorities because management pressured employees not to involve police.
Lawyers for the club’s owner, Bill Hagood, have dismissed the claims, describing them in a statement as “vindictive, discharged strippers".
The club denied Valente’s claims in a countersuit filed in her lawsuit, the newspaper reports, and is also counter-suing the woman for slander and defamation.
The club’s counterclaim alleges that Valente’s statement “wrongfully depicted” the club and was made to harm its reputation as a “sophisticated, upscale” option for adult entertainment.
Attorney Steve Sadow told the newspaper that club management had “never” previously received any claims of illegal conduct, characterising the women’s claims as an attempt to extort money.
“The Cheetah has been open for nearly 40 years,” Sadow told the paper.
“It has served customers in Atlanta and visitors to Atlanta during the entire time and there has never been a claim of any illegal conduct against the club.
"The club will not stand idly by and allow its excellent reputation to be besmirched.”
Valente’s attorney, meanwhile, characterised Sadow’s statement as victim-shaming.
“As we have seen again and again lately, it takes multiple victims coming into the light before any allegations of abuse are actually taken seriously,” attorney Jim McDonough told the paper.
Since the allegations went public the club has made its VIP rooms less private and barred dancers from tipping floormen.
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