EXCLUSIVE
A brothel keeper who was found dead with her lover on board a luxury yacht may have been involved in sex trafficking and financial irregularities in the run-up to her death.
The lifeless bodies of Lixin Wang and her on-again, off-again boyfriend Peter Ray were found lying next to each other on a bed in the cabin of his $250,000 yacht off Cammeray, on Sydney’s Lower North Shore, on Wednesday night.
Police had been called to the scene by a concerned 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 46-foot vessel, the Taloha, wearing breathing apparatus amid concerns about a possible toxic gas leak on board.
Police subsequently inspected the yacht and found the couple, along with a number of items of interest, including illegal drugs, in the main cabin at the front of the ship.
Ms Wang has run four brothels in Sydney over the course of her life. In recent years these have included Xanadu Heaven and Flamingo Club Bondi. Both brothels are still registered at the same address in North Sydney.
The 60-year-old reportedly took over the running of the Flamingo Club after former owner Luke Nesbit was arrested for drug trafficking last year.
Avid sailor Peter Ray was found dead along with his on-again, off-again girlfriend Lixin Wang
Police boarded the Taloha after a concerned friend could not reach Peter Ray by phone
The lifeless bodies of Peter Ray and Lixin Wang were found in the cabin of his yacht
Lixin Wang recently sold her sprawling Sydney harbourside mansion for $16 million
A former employee, who worked at Flamingo for two years before leaving in November last year, said the new owner, a “Chinese woman” believed to be Mrs Wang, had brought a sinister tone to the business.
“Then it got very, very dark and very dangerous,” the employee said.
‘Eight weeks after I left, she closed down for good. She was embezzling money.
‘She owed the girls huge amounts of money, one girl even owed her $8,000 for six months.
‘She basically trafficked another girl and refused to pay her.
“She also refused to tell my clients that there was a trans woman working there who had just had surgery.”
Ms Wang was also the owner of Lixin Wang Xanadu Massage, whose business registration was cancelled in August last year after she sold Xanadu Massage’s business address for more than $16 million.
She bought the five-bedroom, four-bathroom mansion overlooking Middle Harbour waterfront for just under $10 million a decade ago, and is believed to own several properties in Sydney.
The former owner of the Flamingo Club was forced to sell the brothel after he was caught in a police operation with almost 500kg of methylamphetamine.
The operation took place after police determined Strikeforce Maneela went to investigate Nesbit’s drug trafficking and obtained a warrant to tap telephone conversations.
Undercover agents kept an eye on the 38-year-old, who had a total of 33.75 grams of cocaine and 13.11 grams of methylamphetamine in a two-week period in April 2022.
He was arrested the following month after wiretaps revealed he was planning a $50,000 drug deal in Canley Vale.
After the police checked the exchange, they arrested him with a plastic, heat-sealed bag containing 496 grams of methylamphetamine with a purity of 78 percent.
Nesbit was sentenced last year to three years and two months in prison for commercial drug trafficking.
He was released from prison on February 24, but will remain on parole until September 25, 2025.
Inside the Flamingo Club, a brothel that Lixin Wang had run in Bondi Junction
A former Flamingo Club staff member says Lixin Wang introduced a dangerous element into the brothel
The photo of Bondi Junction shopping centre killer Joel Cauchi who hoped it would get him a job in the sex industry
It’s not the first time the Flamingo Club has been in the news for all the wrong reasons.
The brothel was linked to another tragedy earlier this year after another former employee revealed that Bondi Junction shopping centre killer Joel Cauchi had signed up to work at the brothel in the months before his killing spree.
She said she was the manager of the now-closed brothel last August when she received a “bizarre” job application from a man called “Joel”.
‘Joel’ sent a photo of himself wearing a tight Manchester United shirt, sitting on a chair with his arms crossed, claiming he was ‘open to both men and women’.
“I said to my girlfriend, ‘It’s obvious this guy is an amateur,’ because this is a job, this is a business and if you want us to take you seriously, you have to present yourself as such,” she said.
‘We messed up because that’s what we do. I said “look at this guy, oh my God, he’s delusional” and my friend said “who the f*** would pay for that?”
“I thought, what the hell, these aren’t Green Street hooligans. Are you trying to sell sex with this picture? You’re not endearing yourself to anyone.”
Despite her immediate reaction, the employee politely replied to “Joel.” She told him that they didn’t accept men in the store, but that they could work out an arrangement where they could only come by reservation if they were interested in him.
Detective Inspector Siobhan Munro said on Thursday that police were still investigating the deaths of Ms Wang and Mr Ray.
“There’s nothing written off at this point,” she said. “We don’t know what happened. We’re still investigating.”
The couple reportedly suffered no physical injuries, although investigations are underway into a gas leak and a drug overdose.
Mr Ray, a qualified plumber, was preparing to enter Taloha for Airlie Beach Race Week, which starts next Thursday. He had been renovating the boat as a ‘love project’ for the past 18 months since purchasing it in 2022.
The 56-year-old was a keen sailor with the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, which organises the annual Sydney to Hobart yacht race, and previously owned a number of yachts including TEAZ, The Plumbers, Big Teaz and Barely Legal.
His ex-wife Andrea remembers Mr. Ray as a devoted father of three children, ages 29, 27 and 19.
She said he planned to move to Queensland next Wednesday to ‘start again’ and that he had already prepared the boat for the journey.
According to a boating expert who knows Taloha personally, the fumes concern is the result of a gas leak from the cooking equipment in the galley, or carbon monoxide from the engine or a heater.
“Every ship needs a gas certificate which has to be renewed every 10 years,” he said.
‘(A gas leak) is not unheard of. It has happened before and [especially] when the boat was completely closed because it was cold. What a terrible tragedy.’
A number of items found on the boat were taken by police for forensic examination. The two bodies were then carried off the ship.
An autopsy will be performed in the coming days to confirm the identity of the man and woman and determine the cause of death.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.