EXCLUSIVE: Relief for Kings Cross strip club baron, 46, as rape charges are dropped over amateur stripper 'rubbing her naked body on him during a private show'
- Charges dropped against ex-operator of notorious Kings Cross Dreamgirls club
- Michael Frank Amante, 46, was accused of sexual assault by an amateur stripper
- The woman 'rubbed her naked body on him' while giving her first 'private show'
- Mr Amante was meant to stand trial but prosecutors dropped charges last week
- He is the son of Frank 'Ashtray' Amante and childhood friend of John Ibrahim's
A Kings Cross strip club baron has been partying all week after prosecutors dropped charges claiming he sexually assaulted a nude customer giving him a 'private show'.
Sydney man Michael Frank Amante, 46, was due to stand trial on Monday on four charges of sexual assault without consent.
He was preparing for his time in the spotlight when his lawyer texted last week with news that prosecutors had pulled the charges after 14 months.
'I think there was only one night I didn't go out last week,' he laughed, as he revealed his account of a naked rendezvous that threatened to end with a long jail sentence.
'She was in the nude ... rubbing herself all over me': Michael Frank Amante, 46, is celebrating after four sexual assault charges against him were dropped before the case went to trial
Mr Amante said he invited the woman to receive a private show. These pictures show scenes from parties at Dreamgirls, not the woman who made the claims about Mr Amante
Party scenes at Dreamgirls - the strip club which Mr Amante ran for more than seven years
Michael Frank Amante with his childhood friend and fellow Kings Cross identity John Ibrahim
Mr Amante, a childhood friend of fellow 'king of the Cross' John Ibrahim, ran the red light district's iconic Dreamgirls strip joint for more than seven years. He started running Dreamgirls after his father, Frank 'Ashtray' Amante, split his famous Porky's club into two separate clubs in 2007.
After a tumultuous time running the strip club, he was shocked in August 2017 when police turned up, asking questions about his late night encounter with a wannabe stripper.
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Four months later, he was arrested and charged, after detectives obtained DNA evidence officers argued backed up their case.
The public only heard vague details of the incident at a bail hearing, including that a woman had 'rubbed her naked body on him'.
Mr Amante was freed on conditional bail, with a magistrate saying 'it's not the strongest case, but not the weakest', revealing there was DNA evidence and incomplete CCTV.
The woman claimed Mr Amante had digitally penetrated her four times, without her consent - which he strongly denied.
Telling his version of events for the first time to Daily Mail Australia, Mr Amante said: 'Four gentlemen came into the strip club, right?
'It was about 2 (o'clock) in the morning and they wanted to take four girls for an hour's show.'
But the group only wanted three strippers from Mr Amante's club. The men wanted a woman who had accompanied them to the club to be the fourth.
Mr Amante has left the hospitality industry and is pursuing a career as an electrician
Mr Amante was banned from ever being a licensee to a licensed premises in NSW after undercover police raided Dreamgirls in 2016 (above)
Mr Amante recalled: 'So she's come up to me and she's asked me (if she could do it).
'I said, "that's no dramas, have you ever done a private show, love, do you have any idea what you're doing'?''.
The woman said no and Mr Amante said: 'Well, do you want me to show you?'
The pair then retired to a small private room.
'She started dancing for me, and she jumped all over me,' Mr Amante said.
'She was getting right into it.
'It only went on for about three or four minutes.
'Anyway, she was in the nude, she was rubbing herself all over me.
'So my DNA was all over her and then the next thing I know the detectives were down the club the next night saying, "are you Michael, can we have a word with you?'
Michael Amante, left, and his father, Kings Cross identity Frank 'Ashtray' Amante
Mr Amante denied what happened at the club was rape, telling police while something happened, it was all consensual.
'Anything that happened in that room was all consensual and she had no problems with anything.'
Detectives seized CCTV footage but not all of their encounter was captured by motion sensor cameras, which cut out.
Mr Amante said footage at the end of their rendezvous showed 'I gently closed her legs, I can't remember why.
'Then (the footage showed) I was no longer in the room and she was (at) the mirror doing her make up.'
Afterwards, Mr Amante suggested the woman may have been scolded by a girlfriend over their private encounter before she decided to take it to police.
A Dreamgirls sign where the strip club promises 'full nudie dancers' and private lap dances
A file photo of a bikini-clad woman at Dreamgirls
Prosecutors continued to pursue the case until February 11, when the NSW District Court was told the charges would be dropped. (The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions declined to comment.)
Mr Amante is no longer in the hospitality business - and there is a reason why it would be difficult for him to go back into managing strip clubs.
In late 2016, the Office of Liquor and Gaming (OLGR) banned him from ever managing or being the licensee of licensed premises.
It came after undercover police caught strippers selling cocaine at Dreamgirls and claimed he operated a 'clandestine illegal bar'.
Mr Amante was convicted of operating an unlicensed bar in May 2016. (Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting that Mr Amante was involved in the sale of cocaine.)
The club changed, with the owners deciding not to sell alcohol. Meanwhile, Mr Amante is now working for an electrical company and studying at TAFE to become an electrician.
In the past week, Mr Amante has been making the most of the fact his restrictive bail conditions are finished.
Under the conditions, he was banned from leaving home after 8pm and could not drink for 'two Christmases'.
He still can't believe the ordeal is over.
'I couldn't believe it - it came through on the text last Monday...
The message said 'Michael, I've got good news, the DPP have dropped the charges'.
'I was worried ... but accepting I was going to trial,' he said.
'As it turns out, I'm just very relieved.'
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