Known for its star-studded red carpets and award-winning film premieres, the Cannes Film Festival hides something much more salacious behind all its glitz and glamour, a new report claims.
The festival hosts a secret escort network where Arab, Russian and American billionaire businessmen buy and sell women’s companies via WhatsApp.
Agents are using the courier service to recruit models for their wealthy employers, sometimes paying up to 50,000 euros for one night, according to BILD.
The publication gained access to one of these WhatsApp groups, where ads are posted offering thousands of women to spend the night with wealthy festival attendees.
According to BILD, an advertisement said: ‘We are looking for real top models, pretty girls and amateur models. All nationalities, preferably Latin.’
A rich businessman pays women up to 50,000 euros for sex at the film festival (File image merely illustrative)
Another offered “top models” €10,000 for a day trip to Monaco, while a third was willing to pay “blonde models only” $10,000 a week for a yacht trip.
These massive WhatsApp groups ask women to send photos, along with their age and weight.
Many requests, often made by wealthy foreign businessmen, are for so-called “image jobs,” in which models are asked to accompany guests to high-end dinners or parties.
These men supposedly pay for entire groups of women to spend the night at their star-studded gatherings.
Other transactions, however, are known as ‘Image+’ jobs and see women receive a cash bonus in exchange for having sex with paying festival-goers.
These women often meet their hosts for the first time on site and receive very little prior information about the negotiations, BILD adds.
Surprisingly, the women often have their passports confiscated and are prohibited from using mobile phones during their trips, in a bid to prevent the identities of these wealthy men from being leaked to the public.
Some women reported having their passports confiscated when meeting men at the festival (file image for illustrative purposes only)
“This is not just modern prostitution,” a source revealed.
“It is also a lot of black money, there are no notes.
“Young women are often offered 3,000 euros for a dinner, 10,000 euros for a party and 50,000 euros for one night.”
Last year, a MailOnline investigation revealed that sex workers from across Europe, known as ‘putes de luxes’ in France, flock to the annual event to sell their bodies in luxury hotels and yachts.
Models, aspiring actresses and some Instagram influencers are invited to parties or stay aboard superyachts, enjoying champagne on tap.
But in some cases the unwritten expectation is that the so-called “yacht girls” will have to thank their hosts by having sexual relations with them or with other guests.
Unlike WhatsApp groups where escorts usually know in advance how much they will receive, these women are usually given an envelope full of cash once their visit is over.
One companion, from Slovakia, told MailOnline: ‘You have to be careful because hotels don’t like this happening but they can’t stop it. This is the oldest industry in the world and the movie business is all about glamor and excitement. Of course, people want to have sex.
Yachts are often used as discreet locations to conduct these transactions.
‘I charge 1,000 euros an hour, but there is a discount for two hours or more, and the price for the whole night is 5,000 euros, but in reality, people usually spend only a few minutes.
‘Then it’s just a matter of chatting to them for the rest of the hour if they can’t rise to the occasion again. It doesn’t help that they’re drunk or high, unless it’s Viagra and then I’m in for a tough time.
‘Money is not an issue if you can afford to stay somewhere like Le Majestic. But what they are paying for is discretion. I would never reveal anyone’s name.
A member of the yacht’s crew told MailOnline that the use of these boats for prostitution has become “much more discreet” in recent years.
He said: “I guess no one wants to be seen openly buying or selling sex.” Maybe you want to have beautiful women on your yacht, but you don’t want to be seen as a sleazy old man who takes advantage of girls.
‘Another factor is the sanctions against Russia because of the war in Ukraine. It has meant that Russian oligarchs have disappeared from European waters. Those guys knew how to have fun.
‘The term ‘yacht girl’ also seems to have changed in recent years. I’ve heard it used to describe any woman who goes out with a rich man, whether on a boat or somewhere at a resort.