An Air France official has become embroiled in a sex scandal after being accused of using cheap staff tickets to fly prostitutes from Brazil to work in his escort agency.
The business is alleged to have earned him and his wife at least €8 million over four years.
The staff tickets are only meant to be used by the carrier’s staff and family members – 2.3 million are made available every year by he carrier which is seeking to halve its €4.5 billion debt.
But the executive at Paris Charles du Gaulle airport, named only as Alain D, is accused of flying prostitutes from Brazil to France for as little at €75 a time, The Times reported. He is said to have passed off the women as relatives of his wife, who is Brazilian.
The executive and his wife are reported to have been placed under formal investigation by prosecutors in Paris on suspicion of pimping, human trafficking and participating in organized crime.
Inquiries are said to have begun when a young Brazilian woman who arrived in France in 2010 contacted police to say she had been threatened when she tried to leave the prostitution ring. She said she was expected to have sex with five men a day at a rate of €150 each.
The airline executive’s wife allegedly took charge of the logistics, advertising on the internet and booking appointments for clients. The couple are said to have earned €2 million a year since 2012, the newspaper reported.