EXCLUSIVE
A millionaire brothel madam found dead alongside her lover onboard a luxury yacht may have been involved in sex trafficking and financial impropriety in the lead up to her death.
The lifeless bodies of Lixin Wang and her on-off boyfriend Peter Ray were found side-by-side on a bed in the cabin of his $250,000 yacht off Cammeray, on Sydney’s lower north shore, on Wednesday evening.
Police had been called to the scene by a worried friend who said they had been unable to reach the couple since they boarded the yacht for a night together on Monday.
Firefighters initially boarded the 47-foot vessel, known as the Taloha, wearing breathing apparatuses amid concerns about a potential noxious gas leak on board.
Police then inspected the yacht and discovered the couple, alongside a number of items of interest, including illegal drugs, in the main cabin at the front of the vessel.
Ms Wang has, at various times, operated four brothels across Sydney, most recently including the Xanadu Heaven and the Flamingo Club Bondi, which are both still registered to the same North Sydney address.
It is understood the 60-year-old had taken over running the Flamingo Club after its former owner, Luke Nesbit, was arrested for drug dealing last year.
A former employee, who worked at the Flamingo for two years before quitting last November, said the new owner, a ‘Chinese woman’ believed to be Ms Wang, had brought a sinister tone to the business.
‘That’s when it turned very, very dark and very dangerous,’ the employee said.
‘Eight weeks after I left, she shut the doors for good, she misappropriated funds.
‘She was owing girls huge amounts of money, owing one girl $8000 for six months.
‘She basically trafficked another girl and refused to pay her.
‘She also refused to let me disclose to clients that a post-operative trans woman was working there.’
Ms Wang also operated Lixin Wang Xanadu Massage, for which the business registration was cancelled last August, following her sale of Xanadu Massage’s property address, for more than $16 million.
She had bought the five-bedroom, four bathroom mansion with Middle Harbour water views for just under $10m a decade ago, and is believed to own multiple properties across Sydney.
The Flamingo Club’s former owner had been forced to sell the brothel after being caught with almost 500kg of methylamphetamine in a police sting.
The operation came after police established Strikeforce Maneela to investigate Nesbit’s drug business and were granted a telephone interception warrant.
Undercover officers surveilled the 38-year-old supplying a total of 33.75g of cocaine and 13.11g of methylamphetamine across a two week period in April 2022.
He was arrested the following month after phone taps revealed he was planning a $50,000 drug deal in Canley Vale.
After monitoring the exchange, police arrested him with a plastic heat-sealed bag containing 496g of methylamphetamine with 78 per cent purity.
Nesbit was sentenced to three years and two months behind bars for commercial drug supply last year.
He was released from prison on February 24 but remains on parole until September 25, 2025.
It is not the first time the Flamingo Club has made headlines for all the wrong reasons.
The brothel was linked to further tragedy earlier this year after another former employee revealed Bondi Junction shopping mall killer Joel Cauchi had applied to work there in the months before his murderous rampage.
She said she had been managing the now-closed brothel in August last year when she received a ‘bizarre’ application from a man called ‘Joel’.
‘Joel’ had sent a picture of himself wearing a tight-fitting Manchester United football club jersey while straddling a chair with his arms folded, claiming he would be ‘open to servicing both men and women’.
‘I said to my friend, “obviously this kid is an amateur” because this is work, this is a business and if you want us to take you seriously, you need to present yourself as such,’ she said.
‘We did b***h about it because that’s what we do. I said “look at this guy, oh my God, he’s delusional” and my friend was like “who the f*** would pay for that?”
‘I thought, what the hell, this isn’t Green Street hooligans. Are you trying to sell sex using this picture? You’re not endearing yourself to anybody.’
Despite her immediate reaction, the staffer sent ‘Joel’ a polite response, telling him they did not accept men in the establishment but suggested they could reach a ‘booking only’ arrangement if there was interest in him.
Detective Inspector Siobhan Munro said on Thursday that police were still investigating the deaths of Ms Wang and Mr Ray.
‘Nothing has been discounted at this time,’ she said. ‘We don’t know what has happened. We’re still making inquiries.’
It is understood the couple did not have any physical injuries, with a gas leak and drug overdose among the avenues of inquiry.
Mr Ray, a registered plumber, was preparing to enter Taloha into Airlie Beach Race Week – starting next Thursday – and had spent the past 18 months renovating the boat as a ‘love project’ since purchasing it in 2022.
The 56-year-old had been an avid sailor with the Cruising Yacht Club of , which hosts the annual Sydney to Hobart yacht race, and had previously owned a number of yachts, with names including TEAZ, The Plumbers, Big Teaz and Barely Legal.
His ex-wife, Andrea, remembered Mr Ray as a devoted father-of-three children aged 29, 27 and 19.
She revealed he was planning to move up to Queensland next Wednesday to ‘start afresh’ and had prepped the boat for the trip.
According to one boating expert with personal knowledge of Taloha, the concern over fumes suggests either a gas leak from the galley’s cooking equipment, or carbon monoxide from the engine or a heater.
‘Each vessel requires a gas certificate which needs to be renewed every 10 years,’ he said.
‘(A gas leak) is not unheard of. It has happened before and [especially] if the boat was completely closed up because it was cold. What a terrible tragedy.’
A number of items identified on the boat were taken away by police for forensic examination as the two bodies were seen being stretchered off the vessel.
A post-mortem examination will be conducted in the coming days to confirm the identity of the man and woman and to determine the cause of death.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.