Sunday Times (Sri Lanka)

Brazilian student who sold her virginity for $780,000 insists she is a 'victim'

Catarina Migliorini, 21, believes the online auction was simply a publicity stunt

- By Lee Moran © Daily Mail, London

The Brazilian student who sold her virginity for a staggering $780,000 after she put it up for auction online, is now claiming she is a victim who was exploited into selling her body.

Catarina Migliorini, 21, says she is yet to see a single cent after selling her virginity in October last year to a Japanese man called 'Natsu' in an online auction organized by filmmaker Justin Sisely.

'I felt I was a victim ... I was misled by Mr. Justin Sisely,' Miss Migliorini, who says she is still a virgin, told the Huffington Post. 'I believe he is trying to defraud me and others.'

Natsu, 53, a Japanese millioniai­re fended off strong competitio­n from American bidders Jack Miller and Jack Right, and Indian big- spender Rudra Chatterjee, to secure a date with the physical education student - who said she would use the cash to build homes for poverty- stricken families.

The auction was supposedly part of an Australian documentar­y entitled Virgins Wanted, in which Mr Sisley would explore the lives of Miss Migliorini and Alex Stepanov, a male who auctioned his virginity for $3,000.

Miss Migliorini's move sparked outrage across the globe, with many claiming she was little more than a prostitute.

But she told Folha newspaper at the time: 'I saw this as a business. I have the opportunit­y to travel, to be part of a movie and get a bonus with it.

'If you only do it once in your life then you are not a prostitute, just like if you take one amazing photograph it does not automatica­lly make you a photograph­er.

'The auction is just business, I'm a romantic girl at heart and believe in love. But this will make a big difference to my area.'

But when Miss Migliorini went to meet her winning bidder, Natsu, in a Sydney restaurant, she claims that he didn't match the descriptio­n Mr Sisely had given her, and insists the pair did not have sex.

She also claims Mr Sisely did not cover her traveling expenses, or give her the $780,000 paid by Natsu; and she now believes that 'Natsu' doesn't exist, and that the auction was simply a ploy to gain media coverage for the documentar­y.

'I agreed to go along with [the auction], because Justin said it would be the best way to draw attention from the media about the project,' she said.

Mr Sisely, who first announced the documentar­y in May 2010 and said it would conclude with both of the virgins having sex, denies her claims.

'We have the footage to prove otherwise,' he explained.

In a bid to avoid prostituti­on laws, Miss Migliorini was to be 'delivered' to her buyer on board a plane between Australia and the U.S. - being interviewe­d before and after the sexual act.

The intercours­e itself would not be filmed, said Mr Sisely, and Natsu would retain a right to be anonymous, without his picture appearing in the media.

In exchange for her participat­ion, Miss Migliorini said she was promised 20per cent of documentar­y sales and all money from the winning auction bid of $780,000. Neither has materializ­ed, she claims.

Miss Migliorini previously said she wanted to give 90per cent of the final auction sale price to a non-government­al organizati­on constructi­ng modern houses in her southern home state of Santa Catarina.

She signed up to the project three years ago when she saw an advert by Thomas Williams Production­s looking for a virgin to film.

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