Resort Chain Sued for Recording, Selling Guests' Intimate Moments

JOHANNESBURG — A group called the Sun International Action Group is threatening to sue the Sun International resort, hotel and casino chain in South Africa for $500 million, alleging that the staff recorded guests’ intimate moments and sold them to porn sites, MoneyWeb reported today.

The group says it represents the victims, some of them celebrities, whose sexual acts were unlawfully commercialized by members of the Sun International staff.

Representatives for the alleged victims say that in 2005 staff members installed recording devices in rooms at the Lost City Hotel, Cascades Hotel, Sun City Hotel, Cabanas and Vacation Club apartments, claiming that 54 videos have been produced and 52 have been sold since then.

“There is a high likelihood that your private and most intimate sexual encounters during that particular time might have been secretly and illegally video recorded and sold to an international porn club,” the Sun International Action Group said in their blog.

The class action group is being spearheaded by the action group's chairman Nayan Naidoo and vice chairman Tim Dailyey.

According to the blog, Naidoo uncovered the scandal when he was approached by a business man who attempted to extort him for $100,000 in exchange for footage of him and his wife having sex at the hotel.

The man sent Naidoo a still photograph of the video to authenticate his threat.

“We are absolutely distraught and furious over the infringement of our privacy and find it inconceivable that our most intimate moments can be video recorded by third parties at a well-known five star resort like Sun City or Sun International,” he wrote.

The Sun international Action Group concluded its written statement by asking people to boycott all Sun International establishments and to spread the word of its misdoings through social media.

Journalist Steve Hofmeyr, whose name appeared on the blog, questioned the validity of the suit. In a tweet he asked “Was I good? Can you confirm this is a hoax?”  

The blog listed professional golfers Robert Allenby, Jim Furyk, Lee Westwood and Justin Rose as victims, claiming that they were recorded when they participated in the the annual Nedbank Golf Tournament.