Soho strip club where man says he was spiked and lost £98,000 shut down for three months
11 January 2023, 23:52 | Updated: 12 January 2023, 00:02
A strip club in Soho has been told to shut for three months after customers had £250,000 stolen from their accounts after saying their drinks were spiked.
One of at least 10 customers said to have been affected claimed he lost £98,000 at Vanity Bar and Nightclub.
Several say they cannot remember what happened after they paid for a private dance but later found they had lost thousands when they checked their balances.
The venue, in Carlisle Street, has been told to stay shut after the Met handed over evidence of breaches of conditions. Another 23 have been slapped on the club.
Three of the cases of money being taken are being investigated for theft and robbery but no arrests have been made.
A 49-year-old man who went in June last year said: "After the dance my memory goes hazy and there are parts I have no memory of at all. We decided to leave, however I do not know what time this was. I found myself inside the back of a car with the driver telling me he is taking me to see girls.
"I immediately gathered my things and left. I checked my bank account and found a total of £98,000 taken in various transactions to various locations. I found two needle marks on my hand and believe as a result I was drugged.
"I am certain this occurred in Vanity and believe this was done by someone working at the premises.
"I paid for dancers and I was the one that was drugged and then robbed. It is quite clear I was targeted as I was the one that had money and I paid for the dancers."
He said he suffers from anxiety now and had considered suicide.
One customer said he woke up in the street near his home and had no idea how he had got back. He could only recall heading to the club and buying a drink on November 26.
When he checked his bank account he found more than £19,000 was missing.
Westminster City Council said: "The male recalls entering Vanity and purchasing a drink. The male has no recollection after this point. The victim came around the next day and was in a street near to his home address.
"The victim has checked his bank and found approximately £3,000 payments were taken by Vanity over four transactions.
"There were numerous other transactions made to different people and companies to the approximate value of £16,000."
One said £37,500 was taken from his account and two more said £30,000 was taken from different accounts.
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Police said one victim was able to use Google Maps to find he left Vanity about two hours after he got there.
PC Steve Muldoon added: "He found himself at a location on Google Maps showing a car wash where he was for nearly two and a half hours.
"He was then dropped near his home. Google Maps has this down as a route he was driven. The victim does not know how he arrived at these locations or how he has returned home."
Vanity denies police claims that the venue is "associated with serious crime or serious disorder or both".
Its lawyers say the allegations emerged after customers' wives or girlfriends found out how much they spent so said they had been spiked.
