Top cops raided over alleged links to Sydney brothel owner

The hierarchy of the NSW Police Force is in crisis mode after several of the state’s highest-ranking officers had their houses raided over allegations that they had previously accepted the services of sex workers courtesy of a Sydney brothel owner.

The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission, which investigates allegations of serious misconduct by police officers, executed search warrants on the homes of at least three senior officers last week.

Last year, several police sources told the Herald that CCTV footage from a decade ago had emerged that shows that at least two senior officers visited Stiletto, a Camperdown brothel.

It is alleged that the officers were provided with free services.

At the time, Stiletto was owned by high-profile gambler Eddie Hayson, 57, who is now awaiting trial over the supply of large commercial quantities of prohibited drugs.

There is no suggestion Hayson has any connection to or knowledge of the LECC raids.

There is also no allegation the officers and Hayson are guilty of misconduct, only that the raids took place.

The LECC refused to comment on last week’s raids, saying it divulged its operations only “whenever it is in the public interest to do so”.

“Disclosing information about a current complaint or investigation may jeopardise how our work progresses,” the LECC said. It was bound under confidentiality laws, it said.

“Accordingly, we are unable to let you know whether or not there is an investigation under way in the matter referred to.”

At a court hearing last April, Hayson was granted bail after a previous unsuccessful application. He’d spent a year behind bars following his arrest on the Gold Coast in February 2024.

Hayson had been arrested by officers from Strike Force Maimura, who were targeting an organised crime group that allegedly used private planes and encrypted devices to move drugs across the country.

At his successful bail hearing, the NSW Supreme Court heard Hayson had only a minor criminal record, which included charges for fraud and offensive behaviour.

The Crown said the allegations against Hayson were serious and that he posed a potential flight risk.

Central to the case appeared to be Hayson’s knowledge of what was in a suitcase that travelled from Sydney to Perth in August 2023. Police found it contained 16 kilograms of methamphetamine and five kilograms of MDMA. Hayson was charged with knowingly taking part in the supply of a large commercial quantity of prohibited drugs.

Hayson’s barrister, Ian Lloyd, KC, told the bail hearing “there’s no evidence my client had ever touched a suitcase”. Hayson also thought it contained cash, not drugs, said Lloyd.

A roll-over witness has said that Hayson said to him “there’s a shitload of money involved” but Lloyd said that referred to Hayson thinking “there was a large quantity of cash in that suitcase”.

The Herald has obtained a 2017 complaint to the Professional Standards Command detailing allegations about the connections of one officer to Hayson. “It is well known that [X]” invited other senior officers to “drug and sex parties with prostitutes at Eddie Hayson’s own premises,” the complaint read.

Several police sources also told the Herald that there had been some concern among senior ranking officers that they might have been photographed attending private parties at a Yowie Bay house once connected to Hayson.

In 2014, Hayson lost control of the brothel and declared himself insolvent with debts of $52 million. Once described as the “Taj Mahal of Sydney brothels”, Stiletto was taken over by a relative to whom Hayson owed millions of dollars.

At a press conference in 2016, Hayson said that judges, police officers and other people of influence had attended his brothel. Asked whether he had ever tried to use their attendance as leverage over them, he said: “No, definitely not.”

Hayson’s press conference was held to deny allegations that he had been involved in rugby league match-fixing. He agreed at his press conference that he had provided free sex for footballers and jockeys, but he denied he expected anything in return.

“That is how I was promoting my business,” Hayson said.

“Word of mouth is a very powerful tool.”

Be the first to know when major news happens. Sign up for breaking news alerts on email or turn on notifications in the app.