Two newspapers link Placido Domingo to LatAm sex gang

Two newspapers link Placido Domingo to LatAm sex gang

News

norman lebrecht

August 17, 2022

La Nacion of Argentina and El Observador of Uruguay are reporting the contents of audio tapes that were seized by Buenos Aires police in a series of coordinated raids to smash a criminal cult, known as the Geishado VIP.

La Nacion reports: ‘In the last few hours, after the seizure of 37 properties, 13 cars and the freezing of assets of those charged by the Villa Crespo sect, one of the wiretaps that appears in the case emerged and involves the Spanish opera singer Plácido Domingo.

‘In the series of audios, an alleged sexual encounter of the tenor with a woman who is part of the sect known as “Mendy” in the audios in which he interacts with her in Spanish and also with the “Maestro” of the organization, Juan Percowicz.’

You can read further details here and here.

Placido Domingo is presently performing a poorly attended arena concert in Mexico.

Comments

  • Chicagorat says:

    Three quick stream of consciousness points:

    1. Sex obsession is a devastating pathology and Placido is entitled to our compassion.

    2. You never know when and where a tape, a text, a compromising picture – like the immortal ones sent by, say, Anthony Wiener or Jeff Bezos – will turn up. The more powerful the men involved in these pathologies, the more prone they are to disseminate the world of their garbage. Think about it: if you were Bezos, wouldn’t texting a picture of your own ‘pricker’ over the internet honestly be the last thing on your mind?

    3. Totally unrelated. Did we ever mention that Placido and Muti are buddies?

    • Eric says:

      you mean, if I were a sane version of Bezos, then, yes … i’d have better things to do than that. Besides, sending pics like that is truly evidence of a scary mental state, whether the person is powerful, or not

  • Tommaso says:

    This has nothing to do with arts and culture. Arts triumphs over all else, no? Time for Vienna to bring Domingo back.

    If the enlightened Austrians don’t rescue Domingo, who will?

    • Angelina says:

      It turns out that you can be a world-class artist without raping and trafficking women!

      You can find some tenors to enjoy who are not human dumpster fires.

      Unless Domingo’s nauseating behavior is for you a feature rather than a flaw, which I suspect is the case.

    • Paul says:

      What kind of an art is producing Domingo now??? Barking baritone roles?

  • The View from America says:

    The saga continues …

  • BB says:

    PD et les histoires de c…? what’s new about this? everybody forgot about co-funder and vice-president of HIS competition Operalia Lucienne Tell a.k.a. Katia la Rouquine, owner of parisian “De Monaco” hotel? https://www.lepoint.fr/societe/katia-ou-lucienne-une-vie-entre-son-hotel-de-passes-et-l-opera-15-01-2016-2010237_23.php

  • Cynical Bystander says:

    What possible purpose is there in reporting this? Another attempt to destroy Domingo and the final link to a ‘poorly attended’ concert in Mexico is more a sign of your muck raking mind where some people are concerned.

    • David says:

      What are you talking about? This is something that will be reported all over the world. He may be directly involved in criminal activity. Seriously, stop trying to look at what you want to and grow up and face reality.

    • Maria says:

      Yes, another knife put in Placido to bring him down mentally as now an old man. Some just love to do that kind of thing andvdestroy human beings, be judge and jury as they are so perfect of course.

      • Another orchestral musician says:

        Yes, poor guy being possibly involved in criminal activities. We shouldn’t be judging sexual predators, they deserve all of our compassion, especially when they’re old guys!!!! Besides, art must prevail!!!!

        Please.

    • Mary says:

      So just reporting the facts is now equivalent to an “attempt to destroy”?

      If this be “muck raking”, that’s because there is muck to be raked, and Placido is covered in layers of muck and mierda.

    • Dale says:

      Do you consider the original news sources to be muckraking as well ?

  • Gustavo says:

    Bendy Mendy

  • CSOA Insider says:

    Poor Mendy.

    We don’t envy her, as we don’t envy any young woman ensnared by famous and dirty octogenarian musicians.

  • kaf says:

    Why that little sneaky, perverted sex fiend.

    Of course his agents knew. As did Marta.

  • JM says:

    Can’t say I’m surprised. I wonder if this will be the final nail in the coffin for his career now or if he will be bullheaded as usual and desperately cling on.

  • Boris Godunov says:

    Where are the Domingo defenders? The ones who raved over his hypocritical statement regarding his marriage?

    We. Have. The. Tapes.

  • Tom Phillips says:

    No doubt his mindless supporters (much in evidence on this blog and elsewhere) will find a way to justify and rationalize this. Similar to Trump’s statement that “he could shoot someone on 5th avenue and not lose a single vote.” Such is a cult mentality.

  • Madeleine Richardson says:

    So who are all the other famous men who are alleged to have fallen victim to a hooker’s charms? Why not give out a list while the press is at it? It seems to me that it was the woman doing all the chasing in this case.

  • M McGrath says:

    Why do we keep having to read about Domingo – myth or fact?

    The innuendo in this report and its ‘sources’ borders on the unprofessional, even libelous.

    As an example: The ‘poorly attended’ concert may have to do with his voice being gone, the venue’s size, or covid – or all three.

    Finally, for a music website, the site and its readers certainly do spend a lot of time fantasizing about sexual escapades real or imagined. Which says more about the readers themselves than the objects of their fantasies. Readers’ comments often take a trip down into Trump-like rabbit holes into alternate realities. Disturbing, to say the least.

    Should we all perhaps focus on MUSIC, the arts, ‘culture’, its interpreters, the experience, etc., without wallowing in the personal and private dysfunctionalities real or imagined of others?

    I’d be much more interested in more reports from Lucerne. And how the last-minute-Hrusa-replaced-Chailly concert (slight point missing: which orchestra is involved here?) went if it wasn’t rehearsed. If it went well and was received enthusiastically, let’s talk about that. In a screwed up world, that kind of success is truly wonderful – and we don’t need even need to know about the personal kinks of individuals involved in order to have a story!

    • BB says:

      In case you haven’t noticed SD is the place to come for the latest news related to classical music, including gossip. Served in special NL style. This has been the case since the beginning of this site, that is, since 2006. If the tone of the publication puts you off why do you come here and post regularly instead of dutifully studying the collected works of Alex Ross (or something).

    • Angelina says:

      “I equate rape and the sexual trafficking of minors with the personal kinks of individuals “

  • Mary says:

    In Placido’s own voice caught on tape:

    https://www.c5n.com/sociedad/vinculan-placido-domingo-la-secta-villa-crespo-n23474

    Beginning at 6:06.

    As the commentator rightly puts it, Mendy is a human trafficking victim, who speaks of sacrificing herself, which makes Placido a rapist, a criminal.

    • Kaf says:

      The last time Domingo held a concert in Argentina was in April 2022, after a 50 year absence from the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires.

      We can surmise he was caught on tape at that time, when he was 81 years old about to proclaim to the world that God blessed his 60 year old marriage.

    • Jim C. says:

      Is she a minor? Was she forced to have sex at gunpoint?

      If not, it sounds like an obvious setup.

      • Angelina says:

        So what line would Domingo have to cross, for you to be grossed out and to lose enthusiasm for his singing?

        I don’t think there is one. I think you are vicariously enjoying his violent sexual exploitation of women.

    • Doretta says:

      Do not rely on what Lebrecht publishes here in excerpts. Do your own research and then comment.

      Mensa isn’t a victim. She ist a 75 year old woman who is a part of this organisation.

      And the only thing these people wanted was to exploit his contacts and influence.

      The so-called Mendy is Susana Mendelievich, who in the 90s also worked with greats like Astor Piazzola and Mstislav Rostropovich.
      https://danieldonaviola.com/piazzola-le-grand-tango/

      And the rest of the bunch:
      Rubén D’Artagnan González began his career as principal conductor of the Camerata Bariloche. Since then he has conducted major orchestras around the world, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, of which he was concertmaster for ten years. In November 1997, he was elevated to the rank of full member of the Argentine Academy of Music, due to the hierarchy and progression of his work.
      Mariano Krauz was elected one of the five best oboists in the world in the United States in 1993, and has been principal oboe soloist of the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Colón Theater in Buenos Aires since 1988.
      Susana Mendelievich, international pianist, has performed in concert halls in Madrid, Granada, Belgium, Berlin, Vienna, Prague, Stockholm and other European cities.

      So you can see that this group of musicians had contact with hundreds of other musicians from all over the world.

  • Save the MET says:

    Domingo should have retired years ago and now I suspect the door has finally closed. It boggles the mind that an 81 year old would be wrapped up in this, which makes everything that is known that he has done before pale by comparison. His oft used “If I rest I rot” takes on a whole new deeply disturbing and sinister meaning.

    • Mabel says:

      The incident in the recording took place quite a few years ago. However, the raid and investigation is recent. The tape recording was found when the authorities raided the organization’s many properties.

  • Calvin says:

    I hope all the rubes who, clinging to self serving alternative facts and denying past claims of his sexual harassment, feel happy about themselves now.

  • Jim C. says:

    It sounds like he did nothing wrong here:

    “In one excerpt from the wiretap recordings from Argentina, a man whom prosecutors say is Domingo is heard talking to “Mendy,” a woman with whom he is allegedly making plans for a sexual encounter. On the tape, the man describes details of his plans to leave a dinner separately from his agents and other representatives, to elude their notice, so that he could meet her. Another excerpt includes “Mendy” calling the alleged leader of the crime ring, Juan Percowicz, to celebrate that she has confirmed plans with the man, whom she refers to as “Plácido.””

    He made a date. She facilitated it.

    And I love the “ linked” headlines. Linked is the same term that the right-wing press has used to smear the Trump FBI judge in Florida. He is “linked” to Jeffrey Epstein…

    He once represented some of his employees in labor grievances. It’s a sleazy, innuendo-laden term.

    • JM says:

      I was waiting for this. Now the logic must be reversed to make Domingo appear pure and angelic again. He paid to exploit a woman sexually. Didn’t care how his victim was doing, what situation she was in. He paid for a piece of meat to feast on. It is not the least bit noble to pay for a woman’s body. It is abuse. It is as wrong as it can be and not that Domingo should be allowed to go unscathed when he commits such a disgusting act.

  • Jan Van Pelt says:

    Couldn’t Domingo with all his charm, wealth and power get a girlfriend? Was it really necessary for him to harrras abuse and pay for sex? Wasn’t he married in the first place?
    It’s pathetic … this is one truly sick man!!

  • Jaypee says:

    I have always admired his talents, but he should be tried and treated by a legitimate venue, not in the court of public opinion

  • JJ says:

    Tsk, tsk, what ongoing melodrama in the comment section of the two PD posts, on both sides. No, PD isn’t a sex trafficker, a criminal, and what not, but those who point out what PD _isn’t_ , forgot what he _is_, and forgot that it isn’t only criminals who inspire feelings of disgust in the normal population. Just an example, people who don’t pay attention to body hygiene aren’t criminals, but the rest of us are grossed out by them, with the exception of those who share the same cavalier attitude to personal hygiene, who aren’t bothered by the stench.

    The odor of decline clings on PD, or the stench of decay if you prefer a stronger expression, and it has clung on him for quite a while now. We are speaking both professional and moral decline/decay. He is a libidinous octogenarian who doesn’t mind by what means he gets it as long as he gets it, and styling himself as poster child for marital felicity in his spare time. Before that he was a libidinous septuagenarian, and before that, a libidinous sexagenarian. Before that he was still as libidinous as ever, but he also used to be a real opera singer, if not quite a tenor. That’s all. The attention span of the new generation being what it is these days, he will be remembered – if he will be remembered at all – , as libidinous octogenarian (possibly nonagenarian if he sticks to his hobby), and he has to blame only himself for it. This is what happens when you cling to the stage a few decades past your vocal sell-by date. Not a criminal, just a clown.

  • MOST READ TODAY: