November 26, 2024 • 45 mins
Glamour model Gabriella makes a terrible discovery, and confronts Luis about it.
The Bunny Trap is produced by Novel.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Novel.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hey listeners, I'm your host, Ellie Flynn. Before we get started,
I just wanted to let you know that this episode
contains swearing, explicit sexual language, and some upsetting scenes. 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,
(00:33):
but we 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 paid to play the practice
of charging models to appear in magazines. Our research into
his association to Playboy and their statement can be heard
(00:55):
in episode four, Last Time on the Bike.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Like Hi, my name is Louise. He told me he
likes making pictures in the room, so I didn't think
much of it. And then your slowly, step by step
also get into the content of making nude pictures, and
I to ask him again, You're not gonna put them anywhere? No,
they're just for you. He was putting the camera down,
and after he put it down, he started his way
(01:24):
up from my feet and legs, kissing me upwards. I
was scared to leave at this point when I was
with him alone in the room, So what other options
do I have?
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Just let him have it.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Just close your eyes and it's done.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
After her shoot with Luis Gaimez, Gabriella is trying to
take her mind of what's just happened. She can't leave
the hotel yet. Her mom is on the way to
join her for a holiday when the event is over,
so for now she's start here. Thankfully, She's met a
great group of models at the event and sports them
at the hotel restaurant.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Four girls invited me to join, so we had lunch
together and we were talking about a little bit of
making pictures and shooting ideas about the background.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Gabriella doesn't tell the other models about her experience with Louise,
but she does mention that she shot with him.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
One of them looks worried.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
She told me, just be careful of Louise Gomez.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
He has Patreon.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Sorry, my English is pretty good, but I don't understand
that word.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
Can you please explain what it is?
Speaker 5 (02:30):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Patreon just like an online challenge, just like only fans
Okay Patreon.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
It's an online platform and subscription site where subscribers pay
to access content. Gabrielle has never heard of it, but
the other models have.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Basically, what Louise is doing with all the girls that
he's making pictures with, He's putting that onto his page
and he's getting money for that, and I was like what.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Gabriella's mind instantly jumps to the explicit photos and videos
she's shot with Louise, the content he promised her would
never go anywhere and was just for her.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Is that now online for sale?
Speaker 3 (03:12):
I'm gonna throw up.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
That's how disgusted I felt.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
And at that moment, I knew that I was fucked.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Gabriella can't hide the panic on her face. She's terrified
the photos she took with Louise might end up on
the internet. She's never shot nude like that before, so
what now? Luckily the other models have an idea.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Make a recording of him definitely saying make it clear
that you do not give consent to him spreading your
pictures and or videos.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
A recording she can use as evidence if she ever
needs to prove that she didn't want her content being
published online.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
This is the act of my life. If I can
act through this, I can be a world famous actor,
can be a Golden Globe already.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
So that's exactly what Gabrielle is going to do. She's
going to confront Luis. I'm Ellie Flynn and from the
team at Novel. This is the Bunny Trap. Episode six,
We Got Him Girls, Thank you. A few days on
(05:03):
from her shoot with Luise, Gabriella meets him again. Her
phone is already recording.
Speaker 6 (05:10):
Wait, I'll just go get my water.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Yes, good, I'm just gonna take that.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
While with me.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
When I entered his room, I was super nervous. I
was super scared, trying to not show it because I
in this moment felt like right now I am in
court and this is the recording that is gonna be
helping me.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Gabriella wastes no time getting into the reason why she
wants to speak to Luise. She wants to get on
tape that the explicit photos that he pressured her to
take won't appear online. What you're hearing is the secret recording.
Gabriella maid a warning it's upsetting to listen to.
Speaker 6 (05:55):
Did you put my videos on your internet page.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Please don't because you didn't tell me.
Speaker 6 (06:02):
If I'm asking you, please do not put anything online.
Because girls told me you have Patreon.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Yes, everything that goes in the magazine goes to the Patreon. Okay,
I did not know.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
I thought the pictures just for the magazines.
Speaker 6 (06:15):
Okay, I did not know. You didn't not tell me
pictures from the magazine come to Patreon.
Speaker 7 (06:21):
Yes, I'm gonna have money for my pictures and you
can use it too.
Speaker 6 (06:25):
Yes, but please do not put me here on Patreon,
because I do not know if I want anything published.
Because when you and I make the pictures, I thought,
you know, maybe just for me, So I have for
me on my computer.
Speaker 5 (06:38):
No Instagram, no nothing.
Speaker 6 (06:40):
Do you understand what I mean?
Speaker 5 (06:41):
Oh? But because so, if not, why we do photos
for me?
Speaker 6 (06:46):
I make pictures because I like making pictures for me. Okay,
But when we do normally, it's like you're gonna use
it and I'm gonna use it.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
That is the way that money you do, like the motels.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
It's just for me.
Speaker 6 (06:58):
Listen, But when we we're shooting, I told you I
can use it or I cannot use it. You never
told me that you also have Patreon, and I did
not know, and I do not want you to use
it because I do not know if I want the
videos on the internet.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Photographer does have to tell you, like, hey, I have
a patron, or I want to open a or I don't.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
Understand why not.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
This is my pussy I do not want.
Speaker 8 (07:28):
I mean, it's your pussy, but it's the photos of
the photographer.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
I felt super humiliated. You just just stop behind my back,
and how you think that you have the right to
do anything. What in the actual fucking fuck.
Speaker 6 (07:46):
I just do not want my nude pictures on the internet.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Please do not do this.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
Yes without my approval?
Speaker 9 (07:53):
Yeah, yeah, So it's like that if you don't want that,
no one uses you, just buy it.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
If you didn't quite catch that, Luise seems to be
saying that Gabriella can purchase nude pictures of herself from him.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
I was just so nervous and frustrated and angry at
this point that I was ticket depressed.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Gabriella focuses. She asks Louise to delete the photos.
Speaker 4 (08:25):
We can delete it.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
I don't have to use it.
Speaker 6 (08:28):
I do not need for me.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
I just do not want them on the Internet.
Speaker 6 (08:32):
Please do not put them on the internet.
Speaker 5 (08:34):
Understand this?
Speaker 6 (08:35):
And why am I afraid of this? My vagina is
showing and I do not want stranger people to see
me on the internet because I.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Told you at the beginning and I'm not ready. Okay,
do you understand.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
I was really really careful of my choice of words.
You have to understand English is not my first language,
is my third.
Speaker 10 (09:00):
So I was.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Really really careful to try to get him many many times,
to see easy answers like yes or no.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Finally, Louise offers a compromise. Okay, so what we want
to do is is this.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Okay, I don't want to put it in the internet.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
Okay, but I'm gonna keep the content because I.
Speaker 5 (09:20):
Don't want to erase the content. If you don't.
Speaker 7 (09:22):
Want to put that in the Internet, I don't want
to do it, think you, But I don't want to
erase the content.
Speaker 5 (09:28):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
This is insane to me. It's difficult to comprehend how
Louise can be so callous when Gabriella is clearly distressed,
but at least she managed to record him saying that
he won't put her content on the internet. The conversation
isn't over yet though. What you're hear next is Louise
coming on to Gabriella on tape. It's distressing, so please
(09:54):
skip ahead two and a half minutes if you don't want.
Speaker 5 (09:56):
To hear it.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Everything I do for you are you're gonna do for me?
Speaker 5 (10:03):
You're gonna be good to me.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
I am always good to you. It's covered.
Speaker 5 (10:09):
I like it, totally cover.
Speaker 6 (10:11):
I like this amazing body you.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Want to do.
Speaker 11 (10:15):
I take everything out way.
Speaker 5 (10:17):
You're so beautiful, thank you.
Speaker 6 (10:19):
But let's concentrate you, see, because I want just to
finish this.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Well, that is taking out everything now.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Perfect, beautiful.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
Well that's everything. Are you hungry?
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Yeah, I'm very hungry. That is you say that you
want to be with me always always, Well, let's go
eat something.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
But don't worry.
Speaker 6 (10:43):
I'm always good to you, just like you're good to me.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Was I not good to you?
Speaker 6 (10:48):
Yes, so don't worry.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
You won't be all at least give me five minutes
or something.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
You are hungry, aren't you?
Speaker 5 (10:56):
Can you say by yourself if you're hungry? Huh? Say
hello to this? Okay?
Speaker 3 (11:04):
It was the next he was trying to crest me here,
kissed me on the shoulder neckish part. He was trying
to come closer to me. Just say hello, hello, Yeah,
say hello. You can say hello.
Speaker 5 (11:21):
M hmmm, yes I can say hello to this. Yes,
just a little bit. Let's go just like a five.
Speaker 6 (11:29):
Minutes your hungry.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
And I put my hazily set five minutes time.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
I did not see that coming. I did not, so
I was like, what the fuck in my head? I
had to rewire my brain and manage a new situation.
Oh my god, you're a moment pets. Just use the
exact excuse of your life of them.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
The thing is, I got my period.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Yes, that is that is That is so bad.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
But that's the thing you just say around your apparent
and men are grossed.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
I was like, I'm glad that Gabrielle is able to
find something to laugh at in this horrific situation, but
it makes me angry that she has to make excuses
to get out of that hotel room. Yet a novel
woman having to play pretend just to get someone to
back the funk off.
Speaker 6 (12:42):
Thank you, ladies, I got that.
Speaker 12 (12:53):
I got it all.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
I got it all. I got it all, I got
it all.
Speaker 5 (13:03):
Who was I talking to you?
Speaker 3 (13:05):
When I was saying that at this point, I was
just thinking of the ladies who were advising me to
do that, But it goes out for all the ladies
who needed that, all the ladies on this planet Earth.
Speaker 11 (13:15):
We got him Ross, so we got him.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
It's been years since Gabriella confronted Luis in that Mexican hotel.
She doesn't know for sure if he kept his word
about keeping her content private. To find out what he
is sharing online, me and my producer Elenor and our
assistant producer Amalia go to his patron ourselves. It just
seems to have just opened up a whole new what's
(14:09):
the world I'm looking for?
Speaker 4 (14:11):
It's like a whole a whole new ye, but also aside.
Speaker 8 (14:17):
To the story, I guess, but he makes money off
them twice.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
It's so fucked up. So yeah, we're logging onto the patron.
I'm in, You're in, I'm in, right well done.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Luis's patroon, like his website and Instagram, is run under
the Moniker Universe one three seven studios. We can't see
how many subscribers he has. His content is separated into
different tiers, which you have to pay to access. He
calls them levels, and the more you pay, the more
explicit the content seems to get.
Speaker 8 (14:50):
Hul We pay one hundred pretty much one hundred and
fifteen quid for the most basic tier, but through clicking
around the website you can see how much he charges
for the different levels.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Patreons behind a paywall and it's impossible to access any
other way, and we've really sort of had to wrestle
with the fact that we know that money is going
to him, and obviously we don't want to be doing
anything that financially supports him, but we've needed access to
it to keep on top of what he's posting on there.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
We start scrolling, Oh, here we go, what's this?
Speaker 2 (15:26):
So he's uploaded a photo of a model who's completely
naked with her legs spread and he's pixelated her most
intimate areas. And who's uploaded that with a caption Some
more super exclusive girls coming to the Vault don't miss out.
(15:47):
Sign up today to get the link. The Vault the
most expensive tier of all. It promises Luis's most explicit
content for an eye watering price three thousand dollars a month.
Speaker 8 (15:59):
Three thousand dollars. That is absolutely wild.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
We can't see what's inside the vault, but Luise teases
what's in there. If there's a model I've shot with
that you're looking for, it's probably posted here. Most of
the photos we can access our images from Luisa's shoots.
But then we find something really disturbing.
Speaker 13 (16:23):
One of the posts on the Patreon just has a link,
a dropbox link, no image, just the link. So we're
gonna put it in the browser and test it out.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
Oh my god, what the fuck?
Speaker 2 (16:46):
It's a self shot video of a model masturbating with
a sex toy.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
It's clearly not from a professional shoot. Oh my god,
this is so upsetting. I know who that is. Oh
my god, I feel so upset.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
The woman in the video is someone I've come across
in my reporting. It's just that I think I know
she is, and I think she had a bad experience
with him. I don't know whether she sent him that,
but somehow he's got that video and he's trying to
charge one thousand dollars a month.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Maybe she knows about it, but my god said, she's
probably got no idea. As we scroll further down the
page and through seemingly endless posts with sexually explicit content.
I recognize more faces some of the British models from
the group who called out Luis or nine and twenty
twenty Emily HERA, oh.
Speaker 8 (17:38):
God, just more and more girls, more and more girls.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
This girl as well, I know.
Speaker 13 (17:46):
He's everywhere and has been everywhere. There are so.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
Many girls, There are so many girls. This is so groom.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
And then I support another familiar face from a post
made just five days ago. It's a model in America
who I'm due to speak to about Luis in a
few hours time. I mean, that's her, right, Yeah, that's her.
I've seen and heard now the impact of these shoots
(18:22):
on so many models, and just looking through here and
realizing that there's still so many that I haven't spoken
to and that I don't know. It's it's like actually
wags heavy, just like thinking what have they been through?
Is it the same as the other girls I've spoken to?
(18:45):
The model Luise posted five days ago on his Patreon
is an American woman who we're calling Anna. She's worried
about being identified, so her words are also voiced by
an actor. Like many of the other models we've spoken to,
Anna was young and new to the industry when she
(19:07):
met Louise in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 12 (19:09):
He had like the lanyards that said, you know, publications
for Playboy Maxim and I was like, oh, he's a
big deal.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
Anna says.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Louise told her she'd be great in Playboy, but she
couldn't afford his rights.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
Instead, she says he made her another offer.
Speaker 12 (19:27):
He told me he had like a proposition for me.
He was like, I'll be like a sugar daddy of
sorts and I'll get you published.
Speaker 5 (19:37):
What did he ask for and what did you agree
that you would give in exchange?
Speaker 12 (19:42):
Basically just photos of myself, like touching myself or playing
with myself and just like sexy things.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
It was a turbulent time in Anna's life. She just
had a bad breakup and was drinking heavily. Modeling was
her escape.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
She says.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Louise promised her the explicit photos she sent him would
be for his eyes only. As for their shoots, Anna
had set levels.
Speaker 12 (20:07):
I made it clear. I was like, hey, no photos
of me topless, like I don't want anything compromising, but she.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Says that Luise level pushed her. I've seen some of
the fire ties from Anna's shoot that Louise said was
for Playboy. She's in a dingy looking hotel room. The
lighting is harsh, and Anna looks bleary eyed. Bruises are
visible on her arms. She says there's signs of nutritional
deficiency from her drinking.
Speaker 5 (20:36):
What happened on that photo shoot.
Speaker 12 (20:39):
I mean, I'm sure that I was drunk. I don't
really know. I just know that it wasn't It wasn't
good for me, It wasn't healthy. It's hard because I
want to share, you know, because I want If I
can share it and it helps the situation, I will,
(20:59):
you know. But at the same time, it's like stuff
that I just feel so dumb for. I can't believe
that I allowed myself to get caught up in that.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Anna doesn't want to talk in detail about her shoot
with Louise, but she says they did end up shooting
much more explicit content than she'd planned to, so now
Louise didn't just have the photos and videos that she'd
been sending him as part of their arrangement. He also
had nude photos from their shoot. After the shoot, Anna
says she signed a model release form. They're pretty standard
(21:35):
contracts between models and photographers, which set out how the
photos can be used, but Anna didn't understand the extent
of what she was signing. She says she begged Louise
to keep all of her explicit content private.
Speaker 12 (21:48):
He kept assuring me, no, babe, like, that's for my
eyes only. You think I'm gonna put you on a
porn website? Ha ha ha, like acting like it was
a joke. I tried to be cautious. I was like, look,
I want to have another career. This isn't my ultimate goal, Like,
I do not want photos of me out there, And
(22:10):
he kept assuring me, no, babe, like that's for my
eyes only.
Speaker 5 (22:13):
Did she believe him? Did she feel reassured?
Speaker 4 (22:16):
I did.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
But then a friend of Anna's got in touch. He'd
see in explicit photos of her on Louise's Patreon. An
I was furious. She'd never imagined her photos would end
up there, so she confronted Luis.
Speaker 12 (22:32):
I showed him a picture. He just denied it. He's like,
where's that published? That's not anywhere. I'm like, it's right
in front of my fucking face. What are you talking about.
There's literally a picture of you know, my vagina just
out there. It was just insane, Like the level of
uncreed that he showed about what he posted.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Anna wanted to know what else Louise was prepared to sell,
so her friend posed as a prospective buyer.
Speaker 12 (23:00):
That's when shit got real messy, because my friend kind
of started conversing with him and was like, Oh, I
like this girl, right. He's like, Oh, if you send
me four thousand dollars, I'll send you a video.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Of her, a video, a video she says he'd promised
was for his eyes only. According to Anna's friend, Louise
was now offering that up for sale for thousands of dollars.
Speaker 5 (23:27):
How did you feel when your friend told you that?
Speaker 12 (23:30):
I was pretty broken. It just made me feel really
fucking dumb. I'm not sure what the word is. It's
not like grooming, when you know, predators groom a young child,
but similar.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Her friend set her up with a lawyer who helped
her send Louise a ceased desist letter. Louise reacted badly.
Anna says he told her that he'd only removed the
content from his Patreon if she paid him five thousand dollars.
Speaker 12 (23:57):
It's a whole plan he has. It's a whole scheme
that he's got going I just thought, Wow, that just
shows what a fucking psycho he is.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
When Anna refused, she says Louise made her account offer,
citing the model release form she signed after their shoot
as a reason why she should pay up.
Speaker 12 (24:15):
He basically said that, in the spirit of closing this
matter and not wasting any more time, I am willing
to accept a thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Payment, one thousand dollars to remove explicit content that Anna
never wanted him to share, let alone sell.
Speaker 12 (24:30):
That's fucking ridiculous and I'm not going.
Speaker 5 (24:33):
To do that.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
So that's why Anna's photos are still on Louise's Patreon,
the same photos we just saw. Anna's moved on with
her life, but she's still angry.
Speaker 12 (24:56):
I finally did contact him maybe three months later, and
I just said, like, I cannot believe how evil you
are and the level of disrespect you showed. You'll surely
get what's coming to you, and he just blocked me.
I'm really frustrated with how powerless I feel. God, I'm
(25:18):
just you know, talking about it now. I'm like, I
was so stupid.
Speaker 10 (25:22):
You know, I really don't want you to feel stupid.
You are not the only person that has experienced this.
You're not the only person that he's done this too,
and this is all on him. So please don't blame
yourself in any way, and don't feel stupid, because I
think anybody could have ended up in the same situation.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
Because Anna isn't alone.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
We've spoken to multiple models who've been caught out by
signing Luise's release forms. We don't have Anna's specific contract,
but we did get hold of a few model release
forms Luise has been using. We ask the lawyer if
they do give Luise the right to post content like
Anna's on Patreon. Unfortunately, the answer might be yes. The
contracts grant Luis the right to use almost any content
(26:03):
he has of the models. They state he's allowed to
use images from their shoots and also quote any other content,
so Luis could maybe even argue that he's allowed to
use the explicit content sent by models for his eyes only.
The contracts also grant Luis the right to post that
content wherever he wants. They're so broad that he can
post to quote any and all media, so Luise could
(26:27):
argue that he's allowed to post content to Patreon, for example,
and even make money off it. Legally, it could be
difficult for the models to argue that Luis is doing
anything wrong, but regardless of legalities, this is morally and
ethically fucked. Many of the models we've spoken to say
Luis pressured them into signing contracts. Many say they didn't
(26:48):
know or understand what they were signing. Many say Luis
level pushed them into taking more explicit photos, photos that
Luise can now do whatever he wants with if Luise
knows models like Anna yesperbably don't want these pictures online,
if they've explicitly told him that he can't possibly give
a shit. All Louise seems to care about is getting paid.
(27:09):
It's all so bleak. I feel really shaken up by
discovering Louise's patron and speaking to Anna. I call Eleanor
for a debrief. Nobody is stopping him, and he's getting
away with it. It feels like he is caring less
and less. He thinks that he's untouchable.
Speaker 4 (27:32):
Yeah. I agree.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
This proves like the trauma doesn't for so many reasons,
doesn't end with that photo shoot. It's not just one
awful experience. It's not just a bit of level pushing.
It's a prolonged abuse of his position that it's just
it's really really upsetting. It's horrific financially, it's sexually, it's
all about him getting what he wants, and he is
(27:57):
just trampling over people's lives in the process.
Speaker 8 (28:00):
Yes, I feel that we have responsibility to these women.
There are so many of them. We're at the point
now where people are referring their friends to us. The
modeling community is very close, like there's a really strong,
powerful sisterhood, and I actually find it quite frightening how
(28:22):
many lives he has affected.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
I just I can't I can't understand what it's going
to take to stop this man. I want to catch
(28:50):
up with some of the other women I've seen on
Luis Gomez's patron including Emily and Herra from the group
of models who spoke out about Luise in twenty twenty.
They might not even know that Louise is profiting from
their photos, and I need to tell them.
Speaker 4 (29:09):
I go to see Hera.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
She was one of the WhatsApp group's leaders when Louise
and Herra shot together.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
She was very new to modeling.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
It was during the pandemic, she was out of work
and she'd started an OnlyFans to support her family. HERA
says her shoot with Louise was a horrible experience. She
says he pushed her into shooting open leg images before
sexually harassing her afterwards. But now years on, Louise's posted
dozens of explicit images from their shoot on his Patreon,
(29:38):
and as if that's not bad enough, he repeatedly uses
her real name in the posts, which she never shares online. Ever,
it can be really risky for glamor models to share
their real identities, and nearly everyone we meet uses an alias,
but Louise has exposed hera. He's also promoting her images
on x formerly known as Twitter. He's shared one of
(30:02):
her open leg photos on there. He's covered her intimate areas,
but you can clearly see her face. His caption teases
that you can find the uncensored image on Patreon. I
go to see her on a gray and rainy day
and I'm absolutely dreading telling her so I felt. He
(30:23):
posted this last month.
Speaker 11 (30:26):
Oh my god, are you kidding on Twitter.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
With a link to his patron.
Speaker 10 (30:37):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
Sorry, mh.
Speaker 14 (30:50):
Okay, but it's like, do you know I was for
something I did for such a short period of time
it haunts you.
Speaker 11 (31:10):
You feel so betrayed, like I didn't deserve that. I
knew that I didn't want to do it forever because
I have children, and you know, it's I don't want
(31:31):
that stuck to me. I don't want to be attached
to that anymore. And then you know, you've got something
like that that pops up and you just think, and
someone's just posting it, like I don't know if like
my child's friend would see, you know, like it's not
ever going to fully go away. And I've not even
seen that, not seen it. I've not you know, it's
(31:52):
just it's just absolutely awful. But I didn't even ask
for it to go anywhere. I just wanted to support
my family, And like, what do I even do with that?
What can I do with this? That's the thing. It's
completely out of my control. And that's what's scary is
not being in control. It's something that you have concerned over,
(32:17):
like that's my body, Like how dare that's something that
I would only I'm allowed to share with people, no
one else, And it's just such a oh, I can't
even I cannot even like I'm so angry.
Speaker 4 (32:48):
For me what I found most.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Upsetting and I think despicable is the fact that this
has come do you years after you publicly said I'm
unhappy with them and I don't want you to use them,
and I wish they'd never been taken, and I can't
understand how someone can still be publishing them after you've
(33:14):
explicitly said that, and seeing a photo of you that
you've never seen to be posted on Twitter, like, it's just.
Speaker 11 (33:25):
Oh, it's the not knowing and not having the control
and not being able to stop.
Speaker 4 (33:31):
That is really.
Speaker 11 (33:34):
Terrifying.
Speaker 4 (33:38):
In London, I meet up with Emily.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
She's the first model I met who started off my
investigation into Luise. I recognized Emily in a video tased
on Luise's Patreon account. It's of her engaging in a
sex act. Okay, so we found some what looks like
it's going to be videos of you on his maturan account.
(34:01):
I don't have access to the videos themselves because he's
charging between either three hundred and eighty three pounds a
month or seven hundred and sixty five pounds.
Speaker 4 (34:09):
A month, absolutely vile.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
But there's a screenshot of one of them that I
can see, So is that you.
Speaker 9 (34:17):
Yeah, that's me? That's from twenty twenty. That's from my
birthday in twenty twenty with the next boyfriend.
Speaker 4 (34:25):
I'm literally shaken.
Speaker 9 (34:26):
That was filmed on my iPhone, this iPhone actually, so
he has played no part in filming or being party
to that. I don't think I hadn't even shot with
Luis at this point, So this content doesn't belong to him.
Speaker 4 (34:43):
And he's selling that video for.
Speaker 9 (34:45):
Seven hundred plus pounds, like that's almost my mortgage payment,
you know, Like that's ridiculous. Oh, it's actually making me shake.
Speaker 4 (34:56):
Have people paid him for this? That's absolutely vile.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Crucially, unlike Anna, Emily says she never signed a release
form that might allow Luis to post this. Watching out
about the law around him using that content and charging
that amount of money for it.
Speaker 9 (35:14):
Going based purely on our insurrections that we have had.
They haven't been pleasant. He obviously doesn't like me. People
obviously prosecuting people for this.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
What Emily is talking about is image based sexual abuse,
when someone shares explicit photos or videos of another person,
often online, without their consent.
Speaker 9 (35:37):
He probably thought I was never going to see this.
I'm so angry. I'd like unlost for words.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
Would you like to see him prosecuted.
Speaker 9 (35:45):
I would if I had a chance, I would happily
stand up in a court and tear him to shreds.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
Because I know there's people who back me up.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
It's not just me.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Could some of what Louise has been doing be image
based sexual abuse? I want to understand whether Emily, who
says she never signed a release, and some of the
other models could have a case against Luise if they
never gave legal consent. So I go with my producer
Eleanor and Emily to meet a legal expert, water or anything.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
My name is hans A Charinka. I am a lawyer
both here in England and Wales and in California. I
work at a law firm called McAllister Olivarius, which specializes
in representing victims of discrimination, harassment and image based sexual abuse.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
While we're getting the microphone set up, Hansa explains that
he isn't acting as Emily's lawyer. He can only give
us general advice based on his experience working with victims.
Emily explains her story.
Speaker 7 (36:57):
I was given an opportunity to work with a photographer
who was well known in the UK and America, along
with a lot of other girls.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
She tells Hansa about the level pushing on her, shoet
with Luis, that she didn't sign a release form, and
how she's found out that he's shared a sexually explicit
video of her from twenty twenty on his Patreon account.
Hansa says that the laws dealing with image based sexual
abuse are complex.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
There's a patchwork of legislation and court made laws that
kind of define the legal parameters of this situation. It
doesn't cover the taking of the photographs, it doesn't cover
the retention of those photographs, and it only covers distribution
of those images with the intent to cause the victim distress.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Basically, to make a case for image based sexual abuse,
Emily would need to prove that the video was shared
without her consent and with an intent to cause her harm.
But Hansa says intent is a very difficult thing to
prove in a courtroom.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
Sometimes a perpetrator in their defense say, oh, I didn't
do it to cause her distress. I just did it
to show off to my mates that I had sex
with a hot girl. I didn't. Oh gosh, the last
thing I would want to do is to cause her distress.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
The laws in the UK did change recently. They were
actually strengthened in January twenty twenty four. You now no
longer need to prove that the perpetrator intended to cause
you harm. But the new laws only apply to offenses
since January, so they're no help to Emily. And to
further complicate things, Luis is a US citizen living outside
(38:42):
of the UK and so it'd be tricky to prosecute
him under UK law anyway.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
It is very common in my experience for victims of
image based sexual abuse to find very little by way
of legal recourse where they're in a different country from
the perpetrator, and so the law still has a lot
of catching up to do in terms of how to
(39:10):
tackle internet crimes or crimes and civil wrongs that have
an online aspect.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
What needs to change do you think for women like
Emily to be able to see justice more easily.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
A whole lot of things, to name a few. I
think that there needs to be greater awareness of the
problem as a whole, of the specifics of the types
of challenges that sex workers face, the sort of abuse
that can happen in those circumstances, how deep seated shaming
(39:45):
of the sex industry can result in very real barriers
to justice. I think the police need to be better
resourced and better trained with not just their handling of
sexual crimes, but also of their handling of online crimes
(40:07):
and online evidence.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
So many of the cases reported to the police eventually
get dropped. In fact, between twenty fifteen and twenty twenty
one in England and Wales, more than a third of
image based sexual abuse cases were dropped by the victims themselves.
Only six point two percent led to a suspect charged
or summoned to court. So Hansa says that for some
(40:30):
victims pursuing justice in the courts isn't the best way forward.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
I have advice people do not pursue legal recourse in
the past. It's difficult advice to give because fundamentally, I
in many of those cases, believe that there should be
legal recourse for them to pursue. But with the difficulties
(40:56):
in place, it can be a process that's likely to
not be successful. The actual reality of seeing a case
through to trial, it's a hard road. The justice system,
I would say, by definition, is retriggering of the trauma,
(41:20):
and I've seen firsthand how traumatic that can be for
many people to recount the ways that they were sexually
assaulted or had their most intimate images shared online for
the whole world to potentially see.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
I'm not gonna lie. At this point, everything feels pretty hopeless.
It seems so hard for Emily and all the other
models to get legal justice. And even if they sink money,
time and emotional energy into this, what are the chances
that would be found guilty when the odds are stacked
against them? But then Hansa says something that gives me
(42:05):
an idea.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
There are different parts of justice. Justice is an amorphous term.
Different people give you different interpretation of what justice means.
It doesn't always mean going to court.
Speaker 2 (42:26):
So is there a different path to justice here? What
does Emily want? What would you like to achieve from this?
So as we come to the end of this investigation,
is there anything that you're hoping can come from this?
Speaker 7 (42:42):
I would love closure. I would just love even an
apology for his behavior, for not only to myself, rather
than just that you've been naughty, slap on the wrist
of if you go continue doing exactly what you've been
doing this entire time, there needs to be some consequence.
Speaker 2 (43:02):
And so that's what we set out to do. In
our final episode. We're going to track down Luis and
make him face the music coming up on the final
episode of The Bonnie Trap.
Speaker 4 (43:17):
I'm just hoping that he's not suspicious and that we
get a meetings up.
Speaker 5 (43:24):
Ah.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
I can't believe that this is all finally happening. Feels
so so surreal. Thanks to the women who shared their
stories with us. We contacted Luis Gomez multiple times for comment,
(43:45):
but we never heard back. He has not been charged
with any crimes and has presumed innocent under the law.
We also sought comment from Playboy USA. They declined our
request for an interview, but stated that they asked their
licensees to blacklist the photographer mentioned in this series and
that they prohibit paid to play the practice of charging
models to appear in magazines. The Bonnie Trap is produced
(44:16):
by Novel. For more from Novel, visit novel dot Audio.
The show is hosted by me Ellie Flynn. You can
find me on social media by searching my name that's
eble l I E Fly double N. This season is
produced by Elena Biggs and written by me Ellie Flynn
and Eleana Biggs. Our assistant producer is Amalia Sortland, with
(44:36):
additional production from Lee Meyer and Saskia Collette. Additional research
by Valeria Rocker. The editors 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 Scherie Houston
and Charlotte Wolf. Sound design, mixing and scoring by Daniel
(44:56):
Kempson and Nicholas Alexander. Music supervision by Nicholas Alexander, Eleanor
Biggs and Max O'Brien. Original music composed and performed by
Jake Long, and additional production by Nicholas Alexander, Louisa.
Speaker 4 (45:09):
Gersteine and Daniel Kempson.
Speaker 2 (45:11):
The series artwork was designed by Christina Limcol Willard Foxton,
its creative director of development.
Speaker 4 (45:17):
Anna was played by Megan Martin
Speaker 1 (45:29):
Novel
Novel.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hey listeners, I'm your host, Ellie Flynn. Before we get started,
I just wanted to let you know that this episode
contains swearing, explicit sexual language, and some upsetting scenes. 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,
(00:33):
but we 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 paid to play the practice
of charging models to appear in magazines. Our research into
his association to Playboy and their statement can be heard
(00:55):
in episode four, Last Time on the Bike.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Like Hi, my name is Louise. He told me he
likes making pictures in the room, so I didn't think
much of it. And then your slowly, step by step
also get into the content of making nude pictures, and
I to ask him again, You're not gonna put them anywhere? No,
they're just for you. He was putting the camera down,
and after he put it down, he started his way
(01:24):
up from my feet and legs, kissing me upwards. I
was scared to leave at this point when I was
with him alone in the room, So what other options
do I have?
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Just let him have it.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Just close your eyes and it's done.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
After her shoot with Luis Gaimez, Gabriella is trying to
take her mind of what's just happened. She can't leave
the hotel yet. Her mom is on the way to
join her for a holiday when the event is over,
so for now she's start here. Thankfully, She's met a
great group of models at the event and sports them
at the hotel restaurant.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Four girls invited me to join, so we had lunch
together and we were talking about a little bit of
making pictures and shooting ideas about the background.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Gabriella doesn't tell the other models about her experience with Louise,
but she does mention that she shot with him.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
One of them looks worried.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
She told me, just be careful of Louise Gomez.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
He has Patreon.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Sorry, my English is pretty good, but I don't understand
that word.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
Can you please explain what it is?
Speaker 5 (02:30):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Patreon just like an online challenge, just like only fans
Okay Patreon.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
It's an online platform and subscription site where subscribers pay
to access content. Gabrielle has never heard of it, but
the other models have.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Basically, what Louise is doing with all the girls that
he's making pictures with, He's putting that onto his page
and he's getting money for that, and I was like what.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Gabriella's mind instantly jumps to the explicit photos and videos
she's shot with Louise, the content he promised her would
never go anywhere and was just for her.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Is that now online for sale?
Speaker 3 (03:12):
I'm gonna throw up.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
That's how disgusted I felt.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
And at that moment, I knew that I was fucked.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Gabriella can't hide the panic on her face. She's terrified
the photos she took with Louise might end up on
the internet. She's never shot nude like that before, so
what now? Luckily the other models have an idea.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Make a recording of him definitely saying make it clear
that you do not give consent to him spreading your
pictures and or videos.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
A recording she can use as evidence if she ever
needs to prove that she didn't want her content being
published online.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
This is the act of my life. If I can
act through this, I can be a world famous actor,
can be a Golden Globe already.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
So that's exactly what Gabrielle is going to do. She's
going to confront Luis. I'm Ellie Flynn and from the
team at Novel. This is the Bunny Trap. Episode six,
We Got Him Girls, Thank you. A few days on
(05:03):
from her shoot with Luise, Gabriella meets him again. Her
phone is already recording.
Speaker 6 (05:10):
Wait, I'll just go get my water.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Yes, good, I'm just gonna take that.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
While with me.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
When I entered his room, I was super nervous. I
was super scared, trying to not show it because I
in this moment felt like right now I am in
court and this is the recording that is gonna be
helping me.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Gabriella wastes no time getting into the reason why she
wants to speak to Luise. She wants to get on
tape that the explicit photos that he pressured her to
take won't appear online. What you're hearing is the secret recording.
Gabriella maid a warning it's upsetting to listen to.
Speaker 6 (05:55):
Did you put my videos on your internet page.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Please don't because you didn't tell me.
Speaker 6 (06:02):
If I'm asking you, please do not put anything online.
Because girls told me you have Patreon.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Yes, everything that goes in the magazine goes to the Patreon. Okay,
I did not know.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
I thought the pictures just for the magazines.
Speaker 6 (06:15):
Okay, I did not know. You didn't not tell me
pictures from the magazine come to Patreon.
Speaker 7 (06:21):
Yes, I'm gonna have money for my pictures and you
can use it too.
Speaker 6 (06:25):
Yes, but please do not put me here on Patreon,
because I do not know if I want anything published.
Because when you and I make the pictures, I thought,
you know, maybe just for me, So I have for
me on my computer.
Speaker 5 (06:38):
No Instagram, no nothing.
Speaker 6 (06:40):
Do you understand what I mean?
Speaker 5 (06:41):
Oh? But because so, if not, why we do photos
for me?
Speaker 6 (06:46):
I make pictures because I like making pictures for me. Okay,
But when we do normally, it's like you're gonna use
it and I'm gonna use it.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
That is the way that money you do, like the motels.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
It's just for me.
Speaker 6 (06:58):
Listen, But when we we're shooting, I told you I
can use it or I cannot use it. You never
told me that you also have Patreon, and I did
not know, and I do not want you to use
it because I do not know if I want the
videos on the internet.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Photographer does have to tell you, like, hey, I have
a patron, or I want to open a or I don't.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
Understand why not.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
This is my pussy I do not want.
Speaker 8 (07:28):
I mean, it's your pussy, but it's the photos of
the photographer.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
I felt super humiliated. You just just stop behind my back,
and how you think that you have the right to
do anything. What in the actual fucking fuck.
Speaker 6 (07:46):
I just do not want my nude pictures on the internet.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Please do not do this.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
Yes without my approval?
Speaker 9 (07:53):
Yeah, yeah, So it's like that if you don't want that,
no one uses you, just buy it.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
If you didn't quite catch that, Luise seems to be
saying that Gabriella can purchase nude pictures of herself from him.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
I was just so nervous and frustrated and angry at
this point that I was ticket depressed.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Gabriella focuses. She asks Louise to delete the photos.
Speaker 4 (08:25):
We can delete it.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
I don't have to use it.
Speaker 6 (08:28):
I do not need for me.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
I just do not want them on the Internet.
Speaker 6 (08:32):
Please do not put them on the internet.
Speaker 5 (08:34):
Understand this?
Speaker 6 (08:35):
And why am I afraid of this? My vagina is
showing and I do not want stranger people to see
me on the internet because I.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Told you at the beginning and I'm not ready. Okay,
do you understand.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
I was really really careful of my choice of words.
You have to understand English is not my first language,
is my third.
Speaker 10 (09:00):
So I was.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Really really careful to try to get him many many times,
to see easy answers like yes or no.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Finally, Louise offers a compromise. Okay, so what we want
to do is is this.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Okay, I don't want to put it in the internet.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
Okay, but I'm gonna keep the content because I.
Speaker 5 (09:20):
Don't want to erase the content. If you don't.
Speaker 7 (09:22):
Want to put that in the Internet, I don't want
to do it, think you, But I don't want to
erase the content.
Speaker 5 (09:28):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
This is insane to me. It's difficult to comprehend how
Louise can be so callous when Gabriella is clearly distressed,
but at least she managed to record him saying that
he won't put her content on the internet. The conversation
isn't over yet though. What you're hear next is Louise
coming on to Gabriella on tape. It's distressing, so please
(09:54):
skip ahead two and a half minutes if you don't want.
Speaker 5 (09:56):
To hear it.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Everything I do for you are you're gonna do for me?
Speaker 5 (10:03):
You're gonna be good to me.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
I am always good to you. It's covered.
Speaker 5 (10:09):
I like it, totally cover.
Speaker 6 (10:11):
I like this amazing body you.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Want to do.
Speaker 11 (10:15):
I take everything out way.
Speaker 5 (10:17):
You're so beautiful, thank you.
Speaker 6 (10:19):
But let's concentrate you, see, because I want just to
finish this.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Well, that is taking out everything now.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Perfect, beautiful.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
Well that's everything. Are you hungry?
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Yeah, I'm very hungry. That is you say that you
want to be with me always always, Well, let's go
eat something.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
But don't worry.
Speaker 6 (10:43):
I'm always good to you, just like you're good to me.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Was I not good to you?
Speaker 6 (10:48):
Yes, so don't worry.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
You won't be all at least give me five minutes
or something.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
You are hungry, aren't you?
Speaker 5 (10:56):
Can you say by yourself if you're hungry? Huh? Say
hello to this? Okay?
Speaker 3 (11:04):
It was the next he was trying to crest me here,
kissed me on the shoulder neckish part. He was trying
to come closer to me. Just say hello, hello, Yeah,
say hello. You can say hello.
Speaker 5 (11:21):
M hmmm, yes I can say hello to this. Yes,
just a little bit. Let's go just like a five.
Speaker 6 (11:29):
Minutes your hungry.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
And I put my hazily set five minutes time.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
I did not see that coming. I did not, so
I was like, what the fuck in my head? I
had to rewire my brain and manage a new situation.
Oh my god, you're a moment pets. Just use the
exact excuse of your life of them.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
The thing is, I got my period.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Yes, that is that is That is so bad.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
But that's the thing you just say around your apparent
and men are grossed.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
I was like, I'm glad that Gabrielle is able to
find something to laugh at in this horrific situation, but
it makes me angry that she has to make excuses
to get out of that hotel room. Yet a novel
woman having to play pretend just to get someone to
back the funk off.
Speaker 6 (12:42):
Thank you, ladies, I got that.
Speaker 12 (12:53):
I got it all.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
I got it all. I got it all, I got
it all.
Speaker 5 (13:03):
Who was I talking to you?
Speaker 3 (13:05):
When I was saying that at this point, I was
just thinking of the ladies who were advising me to
do that, But it goes out for all the ladies
who needed that, all the ladies on this planet Earth.
Speaker 11 (13:15):
We got him Ross, so we got him.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
It's been years since Gabriella confronted Luis in that Mexican hotel.
She doesn't know for sure if he kept his word
about keeping her content private. To find out what he
is sharing online, me and my producer Elenor and our
assistant producer Amalia go to his patron ourselves. It just
seems to have just opened up a whole new what's
(14:09):
the world I'm looking for?
Speaker 4 (14:11):
It's like a whole a whole new ye, but also aside.
Speaker 8 (14:17):
To the story, I guess, but he makes money off
them twice.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
It's so fucked up. So yeah, we're logging onto the patron.
I'm in, You're in, I'm in, right well done.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Luis's patroon, like his website and Instagram, is run under
the Moniker Universe one three seven studios. We can't see
how many subscribers he has. His content is separated into
different tiers, which you have to pay to access. He
calls them levels, and the more you pay, the more
explicit the content seems to get.
Speaker 8 (14:50):
Hul We pay one hundred pretty much one hundred and
fifteen quid for the most basic tier, but through clicking
around the website you can see how much he charges
for the different levels.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Patreons behind a paywall and it's impossible to access any
other way, and we've really sort of had to wrestle
with the fact that we know that money is going
to him, and obviously we don't want to be doing
anything that financially supports him, but we've needed access to
it to keep on top of what he's posting on there.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
We start scrolling, Oh, here we go, what's this?
Speaker 2 (15:26):
So he's uploaded a photo of a model who's completely
naked with her legs spread and he's pixelated her most
intimate areas. And who's uploaded that with a caption Some
more super exclusive girls coming to the Vault don't miss out.
(15:47):
Sign up today to get the link. The Vault the
most expensive tier of all. It promises Luis's most explicit
content for an eye watering price three thousand dollars a month.
Speaker 8 (15:59):
Three thousand dollars. That is absolutely wild.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
We can't see what's inside the vault, but Luise teases
what's in there. If there's a model I've shot with
that you're looking for, it's probably posted here. Most of
the photos we can access our images from Luisa's shoots.
But then we find something really disturbing.
Speaker 13 (16:23):
One of the posts on the Patreon just has a link,
a dropbox link, no image, just the link. So we're
gonna put it in the browser and test it out.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
Oh my god, what the fuck?
Speaker 2 (16:46):
It's a self shot video of a model masturbating with
a sex toy.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
It's clearly not from a professional shoot. Oh my god,
this is so upsetting. I know who that is. Oh
my god, I feel so upset.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
The woman in the video is someone I've come across
in my reporting. It's just that I think I know
she is, and I think she had a bad experience
with him. I don't know whether she sent him that,
but somehow he's got that video and he's trying to
charge one thousand dollars a month.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Maybe she knows about it, but my god said, she's
probably got no idea. As we scroll further down the
page and through seemingly endless posts with sexually explicit content.
I recognize more faces some of the British models from
the group who called out Luis or nine and twenty
twenty Emily HERA, oh.
Speaker 8 (17:38):
God, just more and more girls, more and more girls.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
This girl as well, I know.
Speaker 13 (17:46):
He's everywhere and has been everywhere. There are so.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
Many girls, There are so many girls. This is so groom.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
And then I support another familiar face from a post
made just five days ago. It's a model in America
who I'm due to speak to about Luis in a
few hours time. I mean, that's her, right, Yeah, that's her.
I've seen and heard now the impact of these shoots
(18:22):
on so many models, and just looking through here and
realizing that there's still so many that I haven't spoken
to and that I don't know. It's it's like actually
wags heavy, just like thinking what have they been through?
Is it the same as the other girls I've spoken to?
(18:45):
The model Luise posted five days ago on his Patreon
is an American woman who we're calling Anna. She's worried
about being identified, so her words are also voiced by
an actor. Like many of the other models we've spoken to,
Anna was young and new to the industry when she
(19:07):
met Louise in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 12 (19:09):
He had like the lanyards that said, you know, publications
for Playboy Maxim and I was like, oh, he's a
big deal.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
Anna says.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Louise told her she'd be great in Playboy, but she
couldn't afford his rights.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
Instead, she says he made her another offer.
Speaker 12 (19:27):
He told me he had like a proposition for me.
He was like, I'll be like a sugar daddy of
sorts and I'll get you published.
Speaker 5 (19:37):
What did he ask for and what did you agree
that you would give in exchange?
Speaker 12 (19:42):
Basically just photos of myself, like touching myself or playing
with myself and just like sexy things.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
It was a turbulent time in Anna's life. She just
had a bad breakup and was drinking heavily. Modeling was
her escape.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
She says.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Louise promised her the explicit photos she sent him would
be for his eyes only. As for their shoots, Anna
had set levels.
Speaker 12 (20:07):
I made it clear. I was like, hey, no photos
of me topless, like I don't want anything compromising, but she.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Says that Luise level pushed her. I've seen some of
the fire ties from Anna's shoot that Louise said was
for Playboy. She's in a dingy looking hotel room. The
lighting is harsh, and Anna looks bleary eyed. Bruises are
visible on her arms. She says there's signs of nutritional
deficiency from her drinking.
Speaker 5 (20:36):
What happened on that photo shoot.
Speaker 12 (20:39):
I mean, I'm sure that I was drunk. I don't
really know. I just know that it wasn't It wasn't
good for me, It wasn't healthy. It's hard because I
want to share, you know, because I want If I
can share it and it helps the situation, I will,
(20:59):
you know. But at the same time, it's like stuff
that I just feel so dumb for. I can't believe
that I allowed myself to get caught up in that.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Anna doesn't want to talk in detail about her shoot
with Louise, but she says they did end up shooting
much more explicit content than she'd planned to, so now
Louise didn't just have the photos and videos that she'd
been sending him as part of their arrangement. He also
had nude photos from their shoot. After the shoot, Anna
says she signed a model release form. They're pretty standard
(21:35):
contracts between models and photographers, which set out how the
photos can be used, but Anna didn't understand the extent
of what she was signing. She says she begged Louise
to keep all of her explicit content private.
Speaker 12 (21:48):
He kept assuring me, no, babe, like, that's for my
eyes only. You think I'm gonna put you on a
porn website? Ha ha ha, like acting like it was
a joke. I tried to be cautious. I was like, look,
I want to have another career. This isn't my ultimate goal, Like,
I do not want photos of me out there, And
(22:10):
he kept assuring me, no, babe, like that's for my
eyes only.
Speaker 5 (22:13):
Did she believe him? Did she feel reassured?
Speaker 4 (22:16):
I did.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
But then a friend of Anna's got in touch. He'd
see in explicit photos of her on Louise's Patreon. An
I was furious. She'd never imagined her photos would end
up there, so she confronted Luis.
Speaker 12 (22:32):
I showed him a picture. He just denied it. He's like,
where's that published? That's not anywhere. I'm like, it's right
in front of my fucking face. What are you talking about.
There's literally a picture of you know, my vagina just
out there. It was just insane, Like the level of
uncreed that he showed about what he posted.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Anna wanted to know what else Louise was prepared to sell,
so her friend posed as a prospective buyer.
Speaker 12 (23:00):
That's when shit got real messy, because my friend kind
of started conversing with him and was like, Oh, I
like this girl, right. He's like, Oh, if you send
me four thousand dollars, I'll send you a video.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Of her, a video, a video she says he'd promised
was for his eyes only. According to Anna's friend, Louise
was now offering that up for sale for thousands of dollars.
Speaker 5 (23:27):
How did you feel when your friend told you that?
Speaker 12 (23:30):
I was pretty broken. It just made me feel really
fucking dumb. I'm not sure what the word is. It's
not like grooming, when you know, predators groom a young child,
but similar.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Her friend set her up with a lawyer who helped
her send Louise a ceased desist letter. Louise reacted badly.
Anna says he told her that he'd only removed the
content from his Patreon if she paid him five thousand dollars.
Speaker 12 (23:57):
It's a whole plan he has. It's a whole scheme
that he's got going I just thought, Wow, that just
shows what a fucking psycho he is.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
When Anna refused, she says Louise made her account offer,
citing the model release form she signed after their shoot
as a reason why she should pay up.
Speaker 12 (24:15):
He basically said that, in the spirit of closing this
matter and not wasting any more time, I am willing
to accept a thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Payment, one thousand dollars to remove explicit content that Anna
never wanted him to share, let alone sell.
Speaker 12 (24:30):
That's fucking ridiculous and I'm not going.
Speaker 5 (24:33):
To do that.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
So that's why Anna's photos are still on Louise's Patreon,
the same photos we just saw. Anna's moved on with
her life, but she's still angry.
Speaker 12 (24:56):
I finally did contact him maybe three months later, and
I just said, like, I cannot believe how evil you
are and the level of disrespect you showed. You'll surely
get what's coming to you, and he just blocked me.
I'm really frustrated with how powerless I feel. God, I'm
(25:18):
just you know, talking about it now. I'm like, I
was so stupid.
Speaker 10 (25:22):
You know, I really don't want you to feel stupid.
You are not the only person that has experienced this.
You're not the only person that he's done this too,
and this is all on him. So please don't blame
yourself in any way, and don't feel stupid, because I
think anybody could have ended up in the same situation.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
Because Anna isn't alone.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
We've spoken to multiple models who've been caught out by
signing Luise's release forms. We don't have Anna's specific contract,
but we did get hold of a few model release
forms Luise has been using. We ask the lawyer if
they do give Luise the right to post content like
Anna's on Patreon. Unfortunately, the answer might be yes. The
contracts grant Luis the right to use almost any content
(26:03):
he has of the models. They state he's allowed to
use images from their shoots and also quote any other content,
so Luis could maybe even argue that he's allowed to
use the explicit content sent by models for his eyes only.
The contracts also grant Luis the right to post that
content wherever he wants. They're so broad that he can
post to quote any and all media, so Luise could
(26:27):
argue that he's allowed to post content to Patreon, for example,
and even make money off it. Legally, it could be
difficult for the models to argue that Luis is doing
anything wrong, but regardless of legalities, this is morally and
ethically fucked. Many of the models we've spoken to say
Luis pressured them into signing contracts. Many say they didn't
(26:48):
know or understand what they were signing. Many say Luis
level pushed them into taking more explicit photos, photos that
Luise can now do whatever he wants with if Luise
knows models like Anna yesperbably don't want these pictures online,
if they've explicitly told him that he can't possibly give
a shit. All Louise seems to care about is getting paid.
(27:09):
It's all so bleak. I feel really shaken up by
discovering Louise's patron and speaking to Anna. I call Eleanor
for a debrief. Nobody is stopping him, and he's getting
away with it. It feels like he is caring less
and less. He thinks that he's untouchable.
Speaker 4 (27:32):
Yeah. I agree.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
This proves like the trauma doesn't for so many reasons,
doesn't end with that photo shoot. It's not just one
awful experience. It's not just a bit of level pushing.
It's a prolonged abuse of his position that it's just
it's really really upsetting. It's horrific financially, it's sexually, it's
all about him getting what he wants, and he is
(27:57):
just trampling over people's lives in the process.
Speaker 8 (28:00):
Yes, I feel that we have responsibility to these women.
There are so many of them. We're at the point
now where people are referring their friends to us. The
modeling community is very close, like there's a really strong,
powerful sisterhood, and I actually find it quite frightening how
(28:22):
many lives he has affected.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
I just I can't I can't understand what it's going
to take to stop this man. I want to catch
(28:50):
up with some of the other women I've seen on
Luis Gomez's patron including Emily and Herra from the group
of models who spoke out about Luise in twenty twenty.
They might not even know that Louise is profiting from
their photos, and I need to tell them.
Speaker 4 (29:09):
I go to see Hera.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
She was one of the WhatsApp group's leaders when Louise
and Herra shot together.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
She was very new to modeling.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
It was during the pandemic, she was out of work
and she'd started an OnlyFans to support her family. HERA
says her shoot with Louise was a horrible experience. She
says he pushed her into shooting open leg images before
sexually harassing her afterwards. But now years on, Louise's posted
dozens of explicit images from their shoot on his Patreon,
(29:38):
and as if that's not bad enough, he repeatedly uses
her real name in the posts, which she never shares online. Ever,
it can be really risky for glamor models to share
their real identities, and nearly everyone we meet uses an alias,
but Louise has exposed hera. He's also promoting her images
on x formerly known as Twitter. He's shared one of
(30:02):
her open leg photos on there. He's covered her intimate areas,
but you can clearly see her face. His caption teases
that you can find the uncensored image on Patreon. I
go to see her on a gray and rainy day
and I'm absolutely dreading telling her so I felt. He
(30:23):
posted this last month.
Speaker 11 (30:26):
Oh my god, are you kidding on Twitter.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
With a link to his patron.
Speaker 10 (30:37):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
Sorry, mh.
Speaker 14 (30:50):
Okay, but it's like, do you know I was for
something I did for such a short period of time
it haunts you.
Speaker 11 (31:10):
You feel so betrayed, like I didn't deserve that. I
knew that I didn't want to do it forever because
I have children, and you know, it's I don't want
(31:31):
that stuck to me. I don't want to be attached
to that anymore. And then you know, you've got something
like that that pops up and you just think, and
someone's just posting it, like I don't know if like
my child's friend would see, you know, like it's not
ever going to fully go away. And I've not even
seen that, not seen it. I've not you know, it's
(31:52):
just it's just absolutely awful. But I didn't even ask
for it to go anywhere. I just wanted to support
my family, And like, what do I even do with that?
What can I do with this? That's the thing. It's
completely out of my control. And that's what's scary is
not being in control. It's something that you have concerned over,
(32:17):
like that's my body, Like how dare that's something that
I would only I'm allowed to share with people, no
one else, And it's just such a oh, I can't
even I cannot even like I'm so angry.
Speaker 4 (32:48):
For me what I found most.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Upsetting and I think despicable is the fact that this
has come do you years after you publicly said I'm
unhappy with them and I don't want you to use them,
and I wish they'd never been taken, and I can't
understand how someone can still be publishing them after you've
(33:14):
explicitly said that, and seeing a photo of you that
you've never seen to be posted on Twitter, like, it's just.
Speaker 11 (33:25):
Oh, it's the not knowing and not having the control
and not being able to stop.
Speaker 4 (33:31):
That is really.
Speaker 11 (33:34):
Terrifying.
Speaker 4 (33:38):
In London, I meet up with Emily.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
She's the first model I met who started off my
investigation into Luise. I recognized Emily in a video tased
on Luise's Patreon account. It's of her engaging in a
sex act. Okay, so we found some what looks like
it's going to be videos of you on his maturan account.
(34:01):
I don't have access to the videos themselves because he's
charging between either three hundred and eighty three pounds a
month or seven hundred and sixty five pounds.
Speaker 4 (34:09):
A month, absolutely vile.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
But there's a screenshot of one of them that I
can see, So is that you.
Speaker 9 (34:17):
Yeah, that's me? That's from twenty twenty. That's from my
birthday in twenty twenty with the next boyfriend.
Speaker 4 (34:25):
I'm literally shaken.
Speaker 9 (34:26):
That was filmed on my iPhone, this iPhone actually, so
he has played no part in filming or being party
to that. I don't think I hadn't even shot with
Luis at this point, So this content doesn't belong to him.
Speaker 4 (34:43):
And he's selling that video for.
Speaker 9 (34:45):
Seven hundred plus pounds, like that's almost my mortgage payment,
you know, Like that's ridiculous. Oh, it's actually making me shake.
Speaker 4 (34:56):
Have people paid him for this? That's absolutely vile.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Crucially, unlike Anna, Emily says she never signed a release
form that might allow Luis to post this. Watching out
about the law around him using that content and charging
that amount of money for it.
Speaker 9 (35:14):
Going based purely on our insurrections that we have had.
They haven't been pleasant. He obviously doesn't like me. People
obviously prosecuting people for this.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
What Emily is talking about is image based sexual abuse,
when someone shares explicit photos or videos of another person,
often online, without their consent.
Speaker 9 (35:37):
He probably thought I was never going to see this.
I'm so angry. I'd like unlost for words.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
Would you like to see him prosecuted.
Speaker 9 (35:45):
I would if I had a chance, I would happily
stand up in a court and tear him to shreds.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
Because I know there's people who back me up.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
It's not just me.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Could some of what Louise has been doing be image
based sexual abuse? I want to understand whether Emily, who
says she never signed a release, and some of the
other models could have a case against Luise if they
never gave legal consent. So I go with my producer
Eleanor and Emily to meet a legal expert, water or anything.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
My name is hans A Charinka. I am a lawyer
both here in England and Wales and in California. I
work at a law firm called McAllister Olivarius, which specializes
in representing victims of discrimination, harassment and image based sexual abuse.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
While we're getting the microphone set up, Hansa explains that
he isn't acting as Emily's lawyer. He can only give
us general advice based on his experience working with victims.
Emily explains her story.
Speaker 7 (36:57):
I was given an opportunity to work with a photographer
who was well known in the UK and America, along
with a lot of other girls.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
She tells Hansa about the level pushing on her, shoet
with Luis, that she didn't sign a release form, and
how she's found out that he's shared a sexually explicit
video of her from twenty twenty on his Patreon account.
Hansa says that the laws dealing with image based sexual
abuse are complex.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
There's a patchwork of legislation and court made laws that
kind of define the legal parameters of this situation. It
doesn't cover the taking of the photographs, it doesn't cover
the retention of those photographs, and it only covers distribution
of those images with the intent to cause the victim distress.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Basically, to make a case for image based sexual abuse,
Emily would need to prove that the video was shared
without her consent and with an intent to cause her harm.
But Hansa says intent is a very difficult thing to
prove in a courtroom.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
Sometimes a perpetrator in their defense say, oh, I didn't
do it to cause her distress. I just did it
to show off to my mates that I had sex
with a hot girl. I didn't. Oh gosh, the last
thing I would want to do is to cause her distress.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
The laws in the UK did change recently. They were
actually strengthened in January twenty twenty four. You now no
longer need to prove that the perpetrator intended to cause
you harm. But the new laws only apply to offenses
since January, so they're no help to Emily. And to
further complicate things, Luis is a US citizen living outside
(38:42):
of the UK and so it'd be tricky to prosecute
him under UK law anyway.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
It is very common in my experience for victims of
image based sexual abuse to find very little by way
of legal recourse where they're in a different country from
the perpetrator, and so the law still has a lot
of catching up to do in terms of how to
(39:10):
tackle internet crimes or crimes and civil wrongs that have
an online aspect.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
What needs to change do you think for women like
Emily to be able to see justice more easily.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
A whole lot of things, to name a few. I
think that there needs to be greater awareness of the
problem as a whole, of the specifics of the types
of challenges that sex workers face, the sort of abuse
that can happen in those circumstances, how deep seated shaming
(39:45):
of the sex industry can result in very real barriers
to justice. I think the police need to be better
resourced and better trained with not just their handling of
sexual crimes, but also of their handling of online crimes
(40:07):
and online evidence.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
So many of the cases reported to the police eventually
get dropped. In fact, between twenty fifteen and twenty twenty
one in England and Wales, more than a third of
image based sexual abuse cases were dropped by the victims themselves.
Only six point two percent led to a suspect charged
or summoned to court. So Hansa says that for some
(40:30):
victims pursuing justice in the courts isn't the best way forward.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
I have advice people do not pursue legal recourse in
the past. It's difficult advice to give because fundamentally, I
in many of those cases, believe that there should be
legal recourse for them to pursue. But with the difficulties
(40:56):
in place, it can be a process that's likely to
not be successful. The actual reality of seeing a case
through to trial, it's a hard road. The justice system,
I would say, by definition, is retriggering of the trauma,
(41:20):
and I've seen firsthand how traumatic that can be for
many people to recount the ways that they were sexually
assaulted or had their most intimate images shared online for
the whole world to potentially see.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
I'm not gonna lie. At this point, everything feels pretty hopeless.
It seems so hard for Emily and all the other
models to get legal justice. And even if they sink money,
time and emotional energy into this, what are the chances
that would be found guilty when the odds are stacked
against them? But then Hansa says something that gives me
(42:05):
an idea.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
There are different parts of justice. Justice is an amorphous term.
Different people give you different interpretation of what justice means.
It doesn't always mean going to court.
Speaker 2 (42:26):
So is there a different path to justice here? What
does Emily want? What would you like to achieve from this?
So as we come to the end of this investigation,
is there anything that you're hoping can come from this?
Speaker 7 (42:42):
I would love closure. I would just love even an
apology for his behavior, for not only to myself, rather
than just that you've been naughty, slap on the wrist
of if you go continue doing exactly what you've been
doing this entire time, there needs to be some consequence.
Speaker 2 (43:02):
And so that's what we set out to do. In
our final episode. We're going to track down Luis and
make him face the music coming up on the final
episode of The Bonnie Trap.
Speaker 4 (43:17):
I'm just hoping that he's not suspicious and that we
get a meetings up.
Speaker 5 (43:24):
Ah.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
I can't believe that this is all finally happening. Feels
so so surreal. Thanks to the women who shared their
stories with us. We contacted Luis Gomez multiple times for comment,
(43:45):
but we never heard back. He has not been charged
with any crimes and has presumed innocent under the law.
We also sought comment from Playboy USA. They declined our
request for an interview, but stated that they asked their
licensees to blacklist the photographer mentioned in this series and
that they prohibit paid to play the practice of charging
models to appear in magazines. The Bonnie Trap is produced
(44:16):
by Novel. For more from Novel, visit novel dot Audio.
The show is hosted by me Ellie Flynn. You can
find me on social media by searching my name that's
eble l I E Fly double N. This season is
produced by Elena Biggs and written by me Ellie Flynn
and Eleana Biggs. Our assistant producer is Amalia Sortland, with
(44:36):
additional production from Lee Meyer and Saskia Collette. Additional research
by Valeria Rocker. The editors 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 Scherie Houston
and Charlotte Wolf. Sound design, mixing and scoring by Daniel
(44:56):
Kempson and Nicholas Alexander. Music supervision by Nicholas Alexander, Eleanor
Biggs and Max O'Brien. Original music composed and performed by
Jake Long, and additional production by Nicholas Alexander, Louisa.
Speaker 4 (45:09):
Gersteine and Daniel Kempson.
Speaker 2 (45:11):
The series artwork was designed by Christina Limcol Willard Foxton,
its creative director of development.
Speaker 4 (45:17):
Anna was played by Megan Martin
Speaker 1 (45:29):
Novel
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