OnlyFans Model’s Dubai Horror Story Raises Questions About Disappearance

A young Ukrainian model looking to. advance her career traveled to one of. the world's most glamorous cities. But. now she says her dream vacation turned. into a nightmare and she agreed to spend. time with a young Russian man and his. friends. We're digging into her recovery. after being found nearly dead on the. side of the road in Dubai and what she. says happened to her back in the spring. Welcome to Sidebar presented by Law and. Crime. I'm Elizabeth Milner in for Jesse. Weber. We have new information in a case we. first told you about a few months ago. involving 20-year-old Only Fans model. Maria Kovchuk. She was missing for 10.

days back in March after reportedly. attending a party in Dubai. The. Ukrainian model was found battered along. the side of the road with medical. personnel cataloging a slew of injuries. including shattered limbs, bruising, and. lacerations and even a broken spine. She. was in a coma for a while in the. hospital and reportedly underwent. multiple major surgeries. After a few. months in recovery with her mother, Anna. in Norway, Maria, known to her friends. and many online fans as Mary Lou, relies. on crutches in a wheelchair as she. learns to walk again. And in the.

meantime, she is speaking about what she. says really happened to her. And that's. providing a better timeline for what. happened, when, and who may have been. involved. Maria sat down for an. interview with high-profile Russian TV. presenter Zena Sochuk. Promotional. footage of the interview shows a large. scar across Maria's forehead, allegedly. obtained when she was attacked while in. Dubai. When Maria was first reported. missing, there was a lot of speculation. about what happened to her, whether she. had been kidnapped and sold into sexual. slavery, perhaps after attending what.

was referred to as Porter Potty parties. And yes, you heard that right. These are. evidently lavish parties thrown by some. of the richest men in Dubai, where young. women are paid huge sums of money to be. degraded and abused. They got their. names because the women lured to these. events are often treated as human. toilets. They were reported rapes, beatings, and even deaths. But Maria. told the reporter, "Men from the United. Arab Emirates weren't involved in that. harrowing ordeal." According to Maria's. interview, she was traveling in Dubai to. try to push forward her modeling career.

She overslept and missed a flight to. Thailand, where she was supposed to be. meeting with her friends. At her hotel, she says she bumped into a Russian man. she had met once before, and he invited. her to stay in his room, saying that. they could fly to Thailand together on. his father's private jet. He had three. friends with him, a woman and two other. men, and they all spent the day. together. But Maria says things started. to take a dark turn the next day, and. the young Russian and Ukrainian men. started to get aggressive with her and. hinted that they wanted to have sex with. her. Here's part of what she had to say. in the interview. They started to joke,

"You belong to us. We'll do whatever you. want." I tried to take it as a joke. because it was really weird. They. started behaving inappropriately, smashing bottles on the floor. The. entire floor was strewned with broken. glass. After that, they took my personal. belongings, which included my passport. Maria also claims that the woman who had. been with them put on one of Maria's. dresses and walked right out of the door. in it. According to Maria, she tried to. leave the hotel room, too, but she was. dragged back inside. She says she. managed to escape when the men went out. onto the room's balcony, reportedly.

running into an empty building nearby. that was under construction wearing only. a hotel robe. She says she tried to. hide, but the men found her. Maria told. the interviewer that she doesn't. remember the actual violence that led to. her horrific injuries, saying most. likely there was a blow to the head, I. suppose. The next scene I remember is me. asking for help from a passing car, which had already stopped and called an. ambulance and the police. I think that. maybe I was thrown or it was a beating. one of two options. The injuries looked. like either a beating or a fall. Maria's. catastrophic injuries would be.

consistent with the fall. She said in. the interview that there was a security. video of at least part of the chase or. attack, but claimed that Dubai police. intentionally waited months to access. it, giving the system time to overwrite. the footage. Despite the accusation that. police may have been trying to cover up. the bad behavior, Maria's mother told. the interviewer that the cost of her. daughter's medical treatments in Dubai. believed to have run into the millions. and that they were paid for by local. authorities in exchange for her not. saying anything to cast the United Arab. Emirates in a bad light. According to.

reporting from the outlets like The Sun. and the Daily Mail, the men Maria. accused of attacking her were detained. briefly by Dubai authorities but. released and it appears they won't be. facing any kind of charges. I want to. thank OD for sponsoring this episode of. Sidebar. ODU is a powerful all-in-one. business software that helps you manage. everything from sales to accounting and. yes, manufacturing. Schedule your. production, manage your assembly line, and fine-tune your work orders with. ODO's all-in-one easytouse platform. Need fully assembled manufacturing. software that'll put your business ahead.

of schedule? Well, ODU has you covered. Plus, ODO's manufacturing app syncs. seamlessly with your sales, your. inventory, and purchasing modules, so. everything stays connected and running. smoothly. Check out ODO to take your. manufacturing process to the next level. And get a free 15-day trial today at. odo.com/sidebar. manufacturing. Well, to talk about these. disturbing new details, I want to. welcome back international attorney. David Tofuri. David, thank you so much. for joining me. and you were on sidebar. um probably with Jesse to talk about.

this when this case first began and. Maria was first discovered on that Dubai. roadside. What do you make of Maria's. latest interview? >> Well, lots of surprises here. There was. speculation when we first did the show. about this story that maybe she had been. taken to one of these portaotti sex. parties in Dubai and that she had been. abused there. Uh but at that time she. was in the hospital and she couldn't. speak so she hadn't been able to tell.

her story yet. Now she's told her story. and it's a bit different than what. people expected. Apparently she was. actually uh beaten and abused by some. Russians. She met one Russian who. brought her to a party with some other. Russians and the abuse happened there. And what do you make of just seeing. those images of the visible scarring. that she has? And she also admitted that. she now has to use a wheelchair and she. gets around using crutches. It's really. sad, but honestly, she's just very lucky.

to be alive. But what do you make. overall about the injuries that she. sustained that she still seems to be. recovering from? >> Yeah, it's really concerning that she. went through this. She obviously has. very serious injuries. She was in the. hospital for a long time. She's still. recovering. very difficult circumstances. for her and for her mother and others in. her family. But there's also an aspect. of this that feels like she's sort of. the underdog. She's up against the big. system here. You she tried to deal with. the Dubai police and to go after the.

people that she thinks were responsible. It doesn't seem like she's going to get. justice or she certainly doesn't have. anything that it would be what we would. call justice at this this point. And. that's also concerning because if you. don't get justice in a case like this, this could happen again to another young. woman. >> And what do you make overall about the. sex trafficking conspiracy aspect to. this case? Um what do you think that um. kind of pointed investigators into that. particular direction?

>> Well, it's not clear if this is sort of. a one-off situation. this young man that. she met led her into these horrible. circumstances. Whether this was just the. first time he and his friends have done. this before or whether there's a pattern. here of them doing this to other women. and because of her injuries and how. serious they were, her incident was. reported and others were not. There's. also an interesting concerning aspect of. this that she's Ukrainian. So, she's a.

Ukrainian national in Dubai. The. perpetrators of violence against her are. Russian. There's no information to. suggest this links to the conflict in. Ukraine as a result of the illegal. invasion of Ukraine by Russia. But that. could be also part of this. Did these. Russians in sort of an act of uh. nationalism attack her because she's. Ukrainian or think that she's less human. because she's Ukrainian, has less rights. because she's Ukrainian? That would also. be a very concerning aspect of this.

because it could put other Ukrainians. abroad in jeopardy and danger as well. >> And I also want to go back um to a point. that you had made earlier about like the. whole porter potty parties. Now, it's. something that I've seen kind of on. social media where people talk about. these really degrading parties against. um people who are wanting to be models. or influencers and in this case she was. an only fans model. But in terms of the. whole porter potty parties, um, have you. ever heard of these before or have you. heard of these maybe? And they're called.

something completely different, but you. know, the whole gist of it is being that. they're essentially kind of what the. name is where these women are brought to. these parties and they're degraded upon. kind of similar to the way the name is, if that makes sense. >> Well, I've spent a good amount of time. in Dubai and in the United Arab. Emirates. I had never heard of these. parties. I'd never read about them or. heard about them from anyone. But when. we did the last story, I learned about. it as a result of preparing for that. story. And I was pretty shocked that.

this exists. It seems to be somewhat. commonplace in Dubai, very wellnown, and. a lot of women have found themselves. entrapped into very difficult. situations. So, I'm surprised that. Dubai, which is, you know, a very. conservative culture, would allow this. to go on. And I certainly hope that the. Dubai authorities are doing everything. they can to discourage these types of. parties and to crack down on those who. engage in violence against women.

>> And um how important to the story do you. think is the whole aspect of money and. influence and power where you know you. have kind of you know we're in a digital. age nowadays. A lot of people are kind. of becoming accustomed to getting their. career started online where they may. have fans, followers, and these women. are kind of putting themselves in a way. in these vulnerable positions in order. to kind of make money and maybe they. would end up in situations that they. would normally not end up in. But in. terms of just overall this aspect of.

beautiful young woman who is degraded. and demeaned allegedly in this case and. then something like this happens where. now she um is still recovering from her. injuries after being brutally beaten and. left for dead on the side of the road. But do you see these this kind of. commonality in these cases especially. overseas versus maybe here in the US? I think that's a significant and. interesting part of this that you know. these social media influ influencers.

seem to be the targets of these violent. parties in the case of the portaotti in. the case of this young woman from. Ukraine she was also a social media. influencer and model and maybe she was. targeted because of that as well it's a. bit concerning you know you wonder if. people in Dubai somehow think that gives. them um additional right to be violent. towards women like that because they. don't approve of their social media. activities. It's it's not clear, but it.

should be very concerning, especially. for the younger generation around the. world who are, you know, very active on. social media. They shouldn't be targeted. because of it, >> right? And especially because a lot of. young women may think like, oh, this is. something to look up to because they're. seeing the glamorous parts of it. They're seeing the jet setting and. they're seeing the beautiful handbags. and they're seeing all the great aspects. to it, but then there's kind of this um. underbelly that's kind of going on. behind the scenes that a lot of people. may not be aware of. And in your. opinion, you know, these um are just.

allegations and we do have to say that. here, but um do you think that sex. trafficking allegations are handled a. little bit differently overseas than. they are compared to here in the US? >> I think that's right. I think you the. United States has and and other western. countries have done a good job of. highlighting the dangers of sex. trafficking and our state department for. instance has ratings for countries that. are not doing well on combating sex. trafficking and the state department and.

our diplomats push this issue in. countries where there are sex. trafficking problems. So there's been a. lot of effort to highlight the dangers. of sex trafficking, but there are still. a lot of countries around the world. where I don't think it's taken. seriously, where it's been maybe part of. the culture for many years. And so. they're less concerned about it. continuing to go on in these modern. days, even though it's a bit shocking. when you see the underbelly of it as we. did in this case in a way. And going.

back to the whole kind of conspiracy. aspect of this case and just the case. overall in the investigation, there was. kind of this claim that there was. surveillance footage um of this attack, but investigators kind of waited too. long to access it. Do you think it was. wiped? Do you think that someone took. it? Do you think that they just moved. too slowly in this investigation and. that's why they have they no longer have. access to this footage? Why do you think. that we can no longer see or. investigators can no longer see what. happened to Maria? I was very interested. in that story and I couldn't learn.

anything from the reporting that I found. other than what she claims which is that. she believed that there was CCTV footage. that would have helped prove her story. about how she was attacked and how she. sustained her injuries and that for some. reason she believes that the Dubai. authorities didn't act quickly enough to. secure that footage and preserve it and. that somehow it was erased. I haven't. seen anything else. I haven't seen a. response from the Dubai authorities.

Certainly, it's possible that the police. in Dubai did not take this case. seriously that maybe they were even had. so little concern for it that they. wanted to protect the alleged. perpetrators. But we really don't know. without more information and evidence uh. to we don't know what happened with this. footage. But obviously in the United. States, one of the first things that. would happen when an investigation. happened is you would secure that. footage and preserve it. And. >> I think it's really brave for Maria to. speak out, especially speaking out so.

publicly about this, going to um you. know, a news reporter and speaking about. her story. But in your opinion, do you. think that there's kind of a counter to. that where maybe she might be putting. herself in danger? Again, I'm commending. her bravery for speaking about this cuz. I can only imagine what it's like for. her to do that, especially after. everything she's been through. But do. you think that that presents any type of. danger towards her? >> Well, I think it's very brave for her to. speak out as you said. One other oddity. about this case is she apparently spoke.

to a Russian reporter from a Russian. media uh company and it's surprising to. me given that the violence she alleges. was perpetrated against her by Russians. that she would have chosen a Russian. journalist instead of choosing for. instance a western journalist or. Ukrainian journalist or even a Middle. East journalist where this crime. occurred. And so I would hope that other. journalists will reach out to her and. perhaps from more substantive media. platforms where there's more a more.

trusted source to understand better the. case. And I hope she will talk to more. media. And if she really wanted justice, what she would do is hire a lawyer and. she would have that lawyer go to Dubai. and he would press the Dubai authorities. to explain what they did in this. investigation, why they didn't do more, why some of the evidence seems to have. slipped through the cracks. you would. hold a press conference, invite lots of. press to come and speak to the press. very candidly about the situation and. that might jin up more anger about this.

case and force the Dubai authorities to. do a better job of seeking justice. At. least from what she claims, it doesn't. sound like they did their job here. >> And for those who are trying to travel. overseas, internationally, do you think. that Maria's story is kind of a. cautionary tale? Do you think it's kind. of an outlier possibly in terms of. people who are just wanting to travel. who may have a following for themselves. or who are, you know, Only Fans models. or they're influencers or content.

creators or stuff like that and they go. to different portions of the world. Do. they need to kind of look out for. specific things, behaviors um while. they're traveling overseas? Well, >> I think this is definitely a cautionary. tale for women, especially women with. similar profiles as she has. And I think. that you you always need to be careful. when you travel and you're going out and. experiencing the night life, not to go. somewhere in a private party with. someone you don't know where you're.

going to be with lots of people that you. don't know, which is what happened here. I think Dubai and the UAE, they remain. very safe countries. There's not a lot. of crime in the United Arab Emirates, but there is a seedy underbelly to it. And if you put yourself in a situation. like this, you could be taken advantage. of as she was. >> And I'm hoping that she has a speedy. recovery and she continues her process. of healing because I can only again. imagine everything that she's going. through. But again, very brave of her to.

speak out and tell the world what had. happened to her. David Turi, I want to. thank you so much for your time and your. insight into this case. Before we sign. you off, is there anything else you. would like to add? Do you think that. possibly some arrests might be made in. the future? Well, I I hope that she hires a lawyer. to do what I mentioned, which is to, you. know, get attention for this case and. put more pressure on the police and the. prosecutors to explain why they haven't. brought anyone to justice. From what she. has told about the current situation, it.

doesn't sound like she's going to get. justice unless she does that. >> Just horrible because I hope and I hope. with all of our cases that everyone's. able to get justice in in their case, especially for Maria, too. David Tfuri, thank you again so much for your. insight. I really appreciate having you. on Sidebar today. >> Thank you. Thanks for having me. >> Well, that does it for this episode. To. watch more episodes, head over to our. Lawn Crime YouTube page or subscribe to. us anywhere you get your podcast, whether it's YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or. Spotify. I'm Elizabeth Milner in for. Jesse Weber, and this has been Sidebar.

presented by Law and Crime.