The former England rugby captain Lawrence Dallaglio made ‘payments of up to £10,000 at brothels’, it has been alleged.
The retired sport star, 47, is accused of spending money from his own bank cards during visits to a discrete Georgian townhouse in Holborn, London, which also offered clients cocaine, an open court heard.
Dallaglio’s alleged visits were revealed during the trial of a gang that was accused of providing prostitutes and the class A drugs inside the establishment, The Sun reported.
During the six-week trial at Wood Green crown court, North London, the father-of-two was not called to give evidence.
The former sports player has not been arrested and it was never established what his expenditure covered.
Lawrence Dallaglio, 47, allegedly made payments at a brothel in Holborn, London, a court has heard
The retired sports star has not been arrested and it was never established what he paid for, The Sun reported
It is also not known whether he was alone during his alleged visits.
Following the allegations, the sports pundit has been interviewed under caution by police in the presence of his solicitor.
The rugby player’s name was initially discovered after detectives raided the Holborn brothel in July and went through the 180,000 bank card receipts they had found inside.
The central London brothel has since been shut down.
According to The Sun, the receipts showed that Dallaglio had made four payments which totalled to £10,550 on March 22 last year – however it is not known what he paid for.
The retired star also sent £3,000 to an account under the name of Kristian Kodra, an Albanian employee at the brothel, and paid a total of £7,550 to an account controlled by the Romanian madam Alexandra Galis.
During the trial, the jury heard that just six months before the brothel closed the drug gang under investigation, who provided prostitutes worth £300 an hour to the Holborn location, was able to make at least £400,000.
The rugby player’s name emerged when police raided the discrete Holborn property in July and went through the 180,000 bank card receipts they had found inside
Dallaglio was not called to give evidence and it is not known whether he was alone during his alleged visits
Prosecutor Hugh Forgan told the court that during the police raid, detectives soon discovered that the establishment was not just selling sex but the illegal drug cocaine.
According to The Sun the prosecutor said: ‘It wasn’t just sex that was for sale there. We say cocaine was also available as well and it is an offence to run a brothel and to sell the Class A drug cocaine.’
During their raid, detectives discovered burner phones, payment machines, diaries and receipts that showed the amounts customers had paid for in order to purchase the class A drug.
The court also heard how police found boric acid, which is a cutting agent added to the class A drug, inside the brothel.
In 1999, Dallaglio stepped down as England captain after allegations began to emerge that he had used hard drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy, while celebrating the British Lions’ 2-1 series victory in South Africa in 1997.
The rugby star denied the claims and said: ‘The circumstances in which the supposed admissions were obtained amounted to an elaborate set up.’