The Monaco Court of Appeal has overturned a previous acquittal and delivered guilty verdicts in a long-running pimping case involving Sass’ Café, a well-known nightlife hotspot in the Principality. As reported by Monaco-Matin, the court handed down suspended prison sentences to the establishment’s current manager, its former director, and four other individuals connected to the venue.
The verdict, issued on Monday, May 5, marks a dramatic reversal from the initial trial in May 2024, where the Monaco Criminal Court cleared the defendants of all charges. The appellate court, presided over by Judge Francis Jullemier-Millasseau, has now found that the club operated under what investigators described as an “institutionalised system” supporting and benefiting from the presence of sex workers on the premises.
Manager Samuel T. (known locally as “Samy”) and former director Pascal C. were both handed one-year suspended prison sentences. In addition, Sass’ Café itself, operating under the SARL legal entity, was fined €18,000. Prosecutors argued that the management facilitated prostitution through a regulated system involving entry fees, quotas, and coded software designations for the workers—claims which the defence had previously dismissed as simply managing a “Monegasque reality.”
Three other former employees—identified as a receptionist, a physiognomist (a type of doorman), and a security guard—were also convicted for their roles. Among them, Konan Thierry D. received the heaviest sentence: 18 months suspended and a €3,000 fine. He was the only defendant to admit to organising escorts for high-paying clients and even chauffeuring them to private residences. Jérémy C. received 12 months suspended and a €2,000 fine for accepting tips from sex workers. Assia A. was sentenced to four months suspended and fined €1,000 after bank records revealed she received multiple transfers totalling €4,600 from women she described as “friends” giving her gifts for her wedding and the birth of her child.
A separate conviction was handed down to Veronika M., a Russian national unrelated to the club but found guilty of renting out several Beausoleil flats in cash to prostitutes without leases. She received an eight-month suspended prison sentence and a €100,000 fine. She was also the only defendant found guilty of money laundering.
The ruling has triggered fresh controversy, with questions raised about selective enforcement in a country where prostitution is not technically illegal. Defence lawyers are reportedly preparing to appeal the decision, denouncing what they claim is an inconsistent and unfair judicial approach that singles out Sass’ Café as a scapegoat in a broader culture of tolerated vice.
The case, which originated from a Franco-Monegasque investigation launched in 2020, has peeled back the velvet curtain on Monaco’s luxurious nightlife scene, exposing tensions between legality, morality, and long-standing social norms in the Principality.
