UPDATE: Following last night’s explosive revelations about Cassie Sainsbury’s past – including allegations that she worked in a brothel in Sydney in the months leading up to her arrest – the 22-year-old has completely changed her story, saying she was “threatened” by an international drug syndicate after responding to a Craigslist ad.
Her lawyer, Orlando Herron told 60 Minutes last night that Cassie had seen an advertisement offering money for someone to fly return to London, but at the last minute, the trip was changed to Hong Kong, Los Angeles and then Bogota.
When Cassie tried to back out, Herron says the safety of her family was threatened, saying it was essentially, “If you don’t get to fly, we will be threatening or killing your family or you”.
ORIGINAL: Cassandra Sainsbury has been labelled a “compulsive liar” and a “scammer” by a woman who claims the accused drug mule once worked at a brothel in western Sydney.
Speaking to Channel 9’s 60 Minutes, the woman alleged Sainsbury spent the second half of 2016 employed as a sex worker at Club 220, near Penrith.
The woman said Sainsbury worked under the name “Claudia” and had a profile listing her as “19 years old, classy, fun and ready to please”.
RELATED: Cassie Sainsbury’s Fiancé Says She Was “Lured” To Colombia
“I just feel Cassandra is not the naive sweet little blonde girl that everybody thinks she is. She’s a very good liar,” she said.
The woman also claimed Sainsbury lied to staff at Club 220 by telling them her mother—who is still alive— had died of multiple sclerosis. Private hospital bills supposedly left her in crippling debt.
“We’ve been really scammed. It’s not like she just mentioned it once or twice, Cassandra would go on and on about it,” the alleged former colleague said.
“I think she’s manipulative, I think she’s a compulsive liar and I think she’s conniving.”
The program was quick to qualify that these revelations do not go hand in hand with being an alleged drug mule.
RELATED: Police Seize CCTV Footage Of Cassie Sainsbury’s Mystery Man
Sainsbury was stopped with 5.8kg of cocaine in her suitcase in Colombia seconds before boarding her flight home to Australia. The 22-year-old Adelaide woman claims she was unwittingly used as a drug mule.
In an exclusive interview with Channel 7’s Sunday Night, Sainsbury’s fiancé Scott Broadbridge asserts she was set up.
“I believe she was, I guess, set up as a drug mule without her knowledge,” he told the program.
When Broadbridge was asked how Sainsbury came “to work for them”, he replied, “can we stop… I don’t want to mention” them.
Broadbridge has been reportedly identified by Colombian authorities as a person of interest in his fiancée’s case.
On the program, Cassandra’s father, Stuart Sainsbury, alleged his daughter and her fiance had planned their visit to Colombia in January this year, contradicting claims it was a spontaneous trip.
Sainsbury will face a minimum of 21 years and four months in prison if found guilty.
