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A central London sexual entertainment venue (SEV), Vanity, has had its licence suspended after several customers claimed to have lost a total of £250,000 after being spiked.
The BBC reported that The Met Police has shared details of at least 10 reported incidents in which Vanity Soho customers checked their accounts to find huge sums of money missing.
Police logs shared with the council show one victim claimed he woke up in a brothel after visiting the club. Later, he said he realised £98,000 had been transferred from his bank accounts.
In another example, the BBC reported that a man claimed to have blacked out when he visited the club in November. When he checked his account, he saw that £16,000 had been sent to a number of other accounts he did not recognise.
He said he remembered drinking, dancing and being led to a separate area, but said he had no other memories until he woke up in a street near his home the next day.
Tracing his movements with Google Maps, the man said the app showed he had spent two hours at a car wash before being dropped off near his home.
The venue, represented by barrister Gary Grant, claimed that men who visited the venue had come up with excuses to make to their loved ones, saying:
"There are instances of when the wives, girlfriends and partners have found out because they've been pinged by their bank about what's going on,"
"It is not uncommon during allegations for those men to say: 'I'm sorry it wasn't me, I must have had my drink spiked and that explains why I spent our summer holiday money on strippers.'"
Following the seven-hour meeting, Westminster City Council suspended the venue's licence for three months and banned the bar's managers from working there.
The council also added 23 conditions to the strip club's licence including staff having to be retrained.
Source: BBC News