“I definitely feel responsible for, just luring people in and, you know, manipulating them,” Karina Pascucci told "20/20." "I would like to think Samantha was the CEO and I was the CFO," Keo said.
The women who participated would walk away with a cut. She was a veteran and she was somebody you wanted to have on your side."īarbash and the others would go "fishing," the term Keo said is used for luring clients into the strip clubs to get them to spend as much money as possible. She wasn’t a dancer, but Keo said “he had connections with the hosts and the customers. "Girls were doing dirty things.and I was like, 'Oh my gosh, I can't do that."įaced with the choice of making less money or having to perform sex acts to keep her income where she needed it to be, Keo said she teamed up with Samantha Barbash, an ambitious single mom from the Bronx.
"You weren't getting paid to sit and talk anymore and hang out," Keo said. Keo, who said she was used to making $10,000 a night by that point, needed a new plan of action. With money tight, companies began clamping down on costly expenses, like nights out at clubs. Keo's wealthy Wall Street clientele were no longer spending like they once did. (MORE: The G-string scholarship: College students strip to pay tuition costs) A new hustleĪfter the 2008 financial crisis, banks collapsed and trillions of dollars in wealth were gone. She would soon have another major curveball coming her way. I show up to work every day, miserable, drinking to be here, putting up with nonsense… What did you do? You came in a suit,'" Keo said of having to give up her earnings. "You're like, 'No, I'm doing all the work. Additionally, dancers tipped other employees like bartenders to get sent the right clients. It was $300 to work at a club and then management would claim 40% of the night's earnings, Keo said. Though the cash was rolling in, Keo, like others in the industry, was forced to pay hefty fees to the club's management just to be given a slot on the schedule. "I was making my tuition in one night and I was like, 'Oh my gosh, school can wait,'" she said, laughing. To make that kind of money in one night, she said "it felt great to have that power. On her first night there, she said she made $2,000 to $3,000 in a matter of hours. Roselyn "Rosie" Keo is seen here during an interview with "20/20."Īfter getting her start at Lace, Keo worked at a number of New York City gentlemen’s clubs, eventually getting a job at Scores in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood.