Gossip Gentlemens Club attorneys ask judge to dismiss sex trafficking lawsuit

The owners of a Melville strip club have asked a state court to dismiss a 2025 lawsuit which alleged that female dancers were trafficked to customers and forced to perform sex acts in locked and soundproofed rooms, arguing the claims are time-barred and belong in front of an arbitrator, records show.

The Sept. 2 court filing in New York Supreme Court argues a June 18 amended complaint, filed by former exotic dancer Christine DeMaria against Gossip Gentlemens Club and Lounge, its owners, managers and several employees, should be dismissed, attorneys wrote, because many of the allegations are barred by statutes of limitations.

In addition, attorneys for Gossip contend DeMaria and other dancers signed a Entertainer License Agreement which stipulated all disputes between the club and its employees “will be governed and settled by an impartial independent arbitrator” in Suffolk County.

“The ELA contains a broad and mandatory arbitration clause governing all disputes between the parties,” Alexandra Kolod, Gossip’s Manhattan-based attorney, wrote in the filing.

In its amended lawsuit — the original suit was filed in late 2025 — DeMaria’s attorneys argued Gossip’s managers forced its dancers to sign the agreement as a condition of their employment and the legal significance of the document was never explained.

“Plaintiff was not given time or an opportunity to consult with an attorney before signing, and no one advised her to do so,” wrote Megan Goddard, DeMaria’s Manhattan-based attorney. “The ELA was presented at a time when Gossip management was actively misrepresenting to dancers that the club enforced a no-touching policy, that the private rooms were safe and monitored, and that prostitution was prohibited … Plaintiff signed the ELA, to the extent she did so, in reasonable reliance on those ongoing misrepresentations.”

Attorneys for both sides did not respond to requests for comment from Newsday on the new filings.

The suit contends Gossip facilitated sexual acts on dancers by high-paying customers in private VIP rooms, despite the venue’s public “no touching” rules.

DeMaria, who filed similar lawsuits against two Manhattan-based strip clubs, said when she refused to engage in sex acts — in spite of pressure by Gossip management, other dancers and affluent customers — she was sexually assaulted by patrons, fired after reporting the unsafe working conditions to management and blacklisted from working at other clubs.

“The discrimination and hostile work environment plaintiff experienced at Gossip were not discrete or episodic events,” the amended complaint states. “They were a continuous, daily reality that pervaded every shift plaintiff worked, from her first weeks at Gossip through her termination on May 28, 2022. On every single occasion plaintiff worked at Gossip, she was sexually assaulted — on the main stage, in the Rouge Room, and in the private VIP rooms. This was not an aberration; it was the foreseeable and routine consequence of Gossip’s business model.”

The suit states claims of sexual harassment, human trafficking, gender discrimination, hostile work environment, violations of New York State’s Human Rights Law, fraud, unlawful wage deductions and whistleblower retaliation, and names Gossip owner Brian Rosenberg, senior manager Spiro Anastasiadis and seven other managers, dancers or bouncers.

Raised in New Jersey, DeMaria survived childhood sex trafficking at the age of 15 and began stripping in 2014, her attorney said.

After leaving the life of exotic dancing behind, DeMaria completed her bachelor’s degree, graduated from New York Law School, passed the Bar exam and founded the nonprofit Sex Workers in Transition Compassion Home. SWITCH provides assistance to dancers, sex workers and trafficking victims, helping them transition to other careers.

The amended complaint contends the “retaliatory campaign” against DeMaria continued after news stories were published about her lawsuit, with Gossip management instructing dancers and employees to sever all contact with her and to block her on social media.

Gossip attorneys contend the claim is not substantiated and “a social media block does not adversely impact employment.”

In May, the Suffolk County Police Department, including members of its Human Trafficking Unit, raided Gossip and issued Rosenberg five citations related to alcohol licensing and signage, while the Town of Huntington fire marshal issued seven fire code violations, records show. The club was not cited for prostitution or sex trafficking.

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.