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SCMP Reporter

PROSTITUTES working for controversial escort agency Europea profited from pillow talk with business clients by gleaning valuable inside information on local stocks and shares.

  The escorts, earning up to $5,000 an hour in tips-for-sex sessions, encouraged bankers, company executives and accountants to divulge market-sensitive information about their business or work.

  They were also encouraged to attend 'investment meetings' - held by money-men clients from local investment companies who advised them on the best deals for their earnings.

  Escorts were always told by their boss, Roberta Hilburn, to give customers the 'time of their lives'.

  But a friend of Ms Hilburn said the good times for the women often started when the sex stopped.

  'Afterwards some relief was required and discussing the stock exchange was a nice way to calm down,' the friend said.

  'These girls aren't stupid, they know they've only got two or three good years on the escort circuit.

  'Buying stocks and shares is the logical way to secure their future.'   In a letter to a colleague, Ms Hilburn said a meeting was being set up to discuss possible investment opportunities in Thailand and Indonesia.

  'This afternoon we're having our first monthly meeting in Discovery Bay - a barbecue will be a nice change,' she wrote.

  'We sold most of our losers - Benelux, Crocodile, Yaohan, Tomei and Lai Sun Development - and have been sitting on a lot of cash for the past two months while the markets have been so volatile.

  'Last week we finally bought Delta Gold, an Australian gold-mining stock that [a colleague] said looked very promising.'   Ms Hilburn, 51, told the Sunday Morning Post what the escorts and the clients talked about was 'up to the girls'.

  'We are an escort agency, nothing else,' she said.

  'I was not aware this was going on, but what the girls talked about with their clients is up to them.'   Ms Hilburn, whose list of clients included leading community figures, said she was unaware of their professions.

  A spokesman for the Hong Kong stock exchange said the clients were not breaking any laws - unless they were authorised members of the exchange.

  'If these people are brokers giving inside information, then they would be breaking our code of ordinance,' the spokesman said.

  'But if they are not, and are simply businessmen passing on information about shares, then it is up to them what they discuss in bed.'   The Wan Chai-based agency has been at the centre of controversy since Ms Hilburn was beaten senseless in her flat on October 21.

  Following the attack, the Sunday Morning Post revealed a senior inspector in the Hong Kong Police force worked as an escort for the agency, which supplied both men and women. He has repeatedly refused to comment on the case.



Prostitutes used pillow talk to get stock tips