joh
24-06-2024, 08:55 PM
https://www.couriermail.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts-qld/paul-pisasales-brothel-madam-wins-240k-legal-fight-against-brisbane-barrister/news-story/1e953bb9e3f3eba32c4f5b691dc78f1a?amp
Corrupt ex-mayor Paul Pisasale’s brothel madam has won her $240,000 legal fight with barrister Sam Di Carlo.
On Monday, District Court Judge Suzanne Sheridan ruled that Mr Di Carlo must pay Choonhwa ‘Pam’ Lee $240,000 with interest, to be calculated by the parties.
Ms Lee, who lists her address in court documents as the Cloud 9 massage parlour in West End, sued Mr Di Carlo alleging she loaned him $290,000, paid in various amounts between on or about April and December 2015.
She says he only repaid her $50,000 and he told her he would lend her money to his clients at high interest.
Mr Di Carlo neither gave evidence himself nor called any evidence but in court filings he denied he owed any debt to Ms Lee and claimed Ms Lee “jointly loaned” money to “third parties” with him.
“I have concluded that the plaintiff gave the four cash loans to the defendant, as pleaded, totalling $290,000, and that the defendant repaid at least a total of $50,000, also as pleaded,” Judge Sheridan wrote in her decision.
Evidence at the hearing revealed that Mr Di Carlo told Ms Lee he had a fancy car, important friends and showed her several Rolex watches – including one with a diamond in it – and told her he had “gold statues” in his house.
Mr Di Carlo also “received massages from” Ms Lee and they became friendly, the decision states.
Ms Lee said she made a note in her diary for the loan in December 2014 which was made to “three clients”.
“If they don’t pay me, I still pay you back don’t worry,” Ms Lee alleged Mr Di Carlo promised her during her evidence.
She said Mr Di Carlo told her he was already lending money to people for high interest.
Ms Lee said she did not know who Mr Di Carlo lent her money to.
In June 2019 Korean-born Ms Lee was convicted in the Brisbane Magistrates Court of a charge of conducting unlawful prostitution between November 2015 and December 2017 at Cloud 9 on Stanley Street, East Brisbane.
She was sentenced to one year in prison, wholly suspended for three years.
She appealed but this was rejected.
She was found by the Magistrate to have provided finance for the business of providing unlawful prostitution from the premises, and she lived on site, the court heard.
The police found $18,860 in a manhole in the ceiling of Ms Lee’s bedroom, the Magistrates Court heard.
Ms Lee had become a person of interest in the same Crime and Corruption Commission probe that led a string of charges against Mr Pisasale, whose former driver alleged he had driven the then-mayor to Cloud 9.
Corrupt ex-mayor Paul Pisasale’s brothel madam has won her $240,000 legal fight with barrister Sam Di Carlo.
On Monday, District Court Judge Suzanne Sheridan ruled that Mr Di Carlo must pay Choonhwa ‘Pam’ Lee $240,000 with interest, to be calculated by the parties.
Ms Lee, who lists her address in court documents as the Cloud 9 massage parlour in West End, sued Mr Di Carlo alleging she loaned him $290,000, paid in various amounts between on or about April and December 2015.
She says he only repaid her $50,000 and he told her he would lend her money to his clients at high interest.
Mr Di Carlo neither gave evidence himself nor called any evidence but in court filings he denied he owed any debt to Ms Lee and claimed Ms Lee “jointly loaned” money to “third parties” with him.
“I have concluded that the plaintiff gave the four cash loans to the defendant, as pleaded, totalling $290,000, and that the defendant repaid at least a total of $50,000, also as pleaded,” Judge Sheridan wrote in her decision.
Evidence at the hearing revealed that Mr Di Carlo told Ms Lee he had a fancy car, important friends and showed her several Rolex watches – including one with a diamond in it – and told her he had “gold statues” in his house.
Mr Di Carlo also “received massages from” Ms Lee and they became friendly, the decision states.
Ms Lee said she made a note in her diary for the loan in December 2014 which was made to “three clients”.
“If they don’t pay me, I still pay you back don’t worry,” Ms Lee alleged Mr Di Carlo promised her during her evidence.
She said Mr Di Carlo told her he was already lending money to people for high interest.
Ms Lee said she did not know who Mr Di Carlo lent her money to.
In June 2019 Korean-born Ms Lee was convicted in the Brisbane Magistrates Court of a charge of conducting unlawful prostitution between November 2015 and December 2017 at Cloud 9 on Stanley Street, East Brisbane.
She was sentenced to one year in prison, wholly suspended for three years.
She appealed but this was rejected.
She was found by the Magistrate to have provided finance for the business of providing unlawful prostitution from the premises, and she lived on site, the court heard.
The police found $18,860 in a manhole in the ceiling of Ms Lee’s bedroom, the Magistrates Court heard.
Ms Lee had become a person of interest in the same Crime and Corruption Commission probe that led a string of charges against Mr Pisasale, whose former driver alleged he had driven the then-mayor to Cloud 9.