This article might seem like a distraction from the collapse of American democracy, but it's not. It's the same insidious disease of fake tans, private planes, gold, and worship of luxury at the price of anything and everything.
Meanwhile, California burns, the oceans die, most of the world is running out of potable water, and no one is trying to stop any of it.
933
@dK: " no one is trying to stop any of it." I am. Are you?
37
@dK
"Fake tans, private planes"
Are you referring to the fake tan of the man in the White House, who loves everything dipped in gold and built himself gaudy little copies of Versailles?
114
@dK I'm trying to get people to actually figure out what personal emissions they create and then reduce them. So I am doing something about this mess. But you are partially correct, most Americans - who have one of the highest emission rates per capita- are "concerned" about the state of the world, but it ends there.
7
What has happened to the real style section of the NYT? Why do I keep reading articles about woman who only want to date rich men so they can buy expensive clothing? What kind of style are you reporting on? This is nothing new. Woman have been doing this for centuries. Move on to something more interesting like reporting on real style.
41
Who goes "furniture shopping" in Venezia?
20
“For once we want to just focus on ourselves.”
Precious.
51
Funniest article I’ve read in weeks! And everyone, stop the shaming! If rich men are more than willing and able to be fleeced by a pair of clever sisters, who am I to criticize? They can afford it.
36
Where has the class of courtesans gone? Doesn’t say much for the low bar standards of billionaires these days, either.
31
I clearly shouldn’t have deleted all those emails by Nigerian Princes.
88
Even more interesting than the article are the incensed comments. The authors present themselves as sullied and even contaminated by the story ("I am ashamed to have read it") and criticize the Times for not publishing something more uplifting. These comments are so much posturing by the writers, consciously or otherwise. The article is in fact intriguing, well presented and clear sighted ethnography of a corner of our society -- whether we like it or not. Write on, Times.
25
The article is depressing.
16
https://torontolife.com/city/life/untold-story-canadian-kardashians/
For those who want more, an earlier article published in Toronto Life Magazine. Fascinating.
5
I subscribe to the print edition so that my children can experience newspapers and enjoy them, as I did and still do. This article is making me rethink my subscription. This isn’t the “news that’s fit to print.” I feel sorry for these women, not girls, and sorry for all of us that with all of the bright, hardworking successful women in the world we are still objectified even by the venerable NYT. Page 2 was about Victoria’s Secret, with a huge color picture of women in lingerie. Give me a break!! When will #metoo change the Gray Lady???
6
Give me a break, indeed!
As if a story about Victoria's Secret is on a par with the sexual harassment and abuse addressed by the MeToo movement. Wait... come to think about it, it might be the make analog. How many poor shnooks get taken advantage of by women plying their sexuality?
7
They’re operating a kind of reverse Nigerian Prince scam.
33
It seems quite a dangerous proposition to 'date' men in such corrupt countries, they could have been wiped out if one of those rich men wanted them gone. I think having each other made it much safer and allowed them to give each other support. I wouldn't risk my life for a bunch of high heels!
20
When you receive cars, jewelry and clothes of great value, don't you need to declare those gifts as income? I kept expecting to learn they'd been jailed for tax evasion for not declaring any of their gifts or earnings. I guess it's different for some people.
18
I can't finish the article. These women are nitwits.
17
@Sarah D. OK, some of the comments make them sound more interesting and complicated than that, in which case it's too bad the author didn't get to the heart of the matter earlier in the piece, to indicate that it's worth reading. It sounds instead like it's a fluff piece intended to make fun of the women (who are indeed portrayed as nitwits in the first few paragraphs), and it didn't seem worth the time.
2
Darn, I was hoping for some advice on how to date *female* billionaires.
16
As I read this funny piece, Fergie's "Clumsy" was imagined as a looped background theme. I suggest the movie title: "Jyoti & Kiran do Nigeria". (No pun intended.)
5
I guess that the Matharoos' adventures are reasonable fodder for the Times in that they aren't so very different from much of the social set(s) that the Times advertises to and highlights. They aspire to the multimillion dollar homes, and the expensive jewelry and high end brands (and dogs who go to expensive day camps) that are advertised, and highlighted as news and feature articles. Avarice is encouraged by by showcasing luxury.
It is a very old story: people are often celebrated for being wealthy, no matter the source. And from more serious stories, we know that most people will never come near having the kind of wealth that they were pursuing - and that to start businesses - usually - connections matter. They learned well, had enough grit to go after what they thought they wanted.
And it's still all very sad.
16
I’m surprised Canada isn’t taxing some of the gifts they’ve received, especially cash and cars.
17
@Lawyermom I was thinking the same thing! I kept waiting for that part.
10
If this was the public version of what they had to go through to earn their lifestyles, I'd hate to think what things these men made them do behind closed doors. All for some clothes, shoes and bags made in Italian sweat factories (NYT had a great article a few months back about the true manufactured cost of designer goods...eg. People getting paid something like $20 to hand sew a max mara coat selling for $2000. These girls think they are winning but the greatest happiness can't be bought. I'd be interested to hear them reflect on their lives 10 years from now.
16
Why I am not surprised this article/its characters is the feature presentation in a section where every single page contains an ad for Gucci, Barney NewYork, Dior, Bergdorf Goodman, Bvlgary, Lois Vuitton, Christie's auctions, Valentino, Bloomingdales and Chanel, among others. I believe it is a perfect combination: advertisement and subtle (?) directions on how to realistically acquire the advertised goods.
13
@Annette Peck What made you click on the story?
1
@Brandon "What made you click on the story?"
I have a hard copy version, you know, a newspaper, no clicking necessary; however, cannot skip the NYT ads for luxurious goods.
8
So...they had strict parents? Perhaps the parents were strict for a reason.
And, on the flip side, my mother used to say "a fool and his money are a girl's best friend." Now I know what she meant.
11
They are 35 and 32 which means that they are 1-3 years from having their own "Times Up" moment.
When men will ignore ignore ignore....
22
They aren't really gold diggers because they haven't married yet.
7
A whole bunch of commenters need to loosen up. This was funny. The two women are creative, smart, they work hard, and they have a wonderful sense of irony. And I think they are pretty much poking fun at . . . us.
Oh yeah--I forgot, women are supposed to be ashamed of their sexuality, while men get to fuel a pornography industry so large it is difficult to even put a number on it.
The jail time, though, and the ease with which a billionaire can get someone who crosses him put on the interpol list! The sisters were in a dangerous situation in Nigeria, I'm glad they got out OK.
For what it's worth, US customs officials apparently make a habit of taking young women to interrogation rooms and asking if they are prostitutes--it also happened to my 17-year-old neighbor.
302
@Lisa Cabbage If they were worried about being arrested in other countries, maybe the smart thing would have been to stay put in Canada and do something with their lives. They don't sound the least bit intelligent to me, and their only work seems to be shopping and dating.
71
@Lisa Cabbage Soon to be a major motion picture, no doubt. If movies didn't so often have fashion and makeover montages, would they have had these desires?
6
There are a lot of people disparaging the sisters for their materialism, and for flaunting their wealth and their bodies. Did you all somehow miss the story about the horrifying blind spot in Interpol's red flags, where apparently anyone can put a name in the system with little to no oversight? Is our anger over human rights abuses now dependent on the moral virtue of those whose rights have been abused?
169
Super interesting. They may rent out their company but they haven't sold it to the most mediocre bidder.
I don't know who they donate to.... or if they do.... But I know there are plenty of us who wouldn't bother to consider sending our kid to a public school to feed a starving children else where in our own country let alone another part of the world. Maybe downgrade that car or remodel plan and spend those thousands funding a school.
For the most part those of us living in first world countries are just as bad, if not worse than them, to someone living in the bottom 80% of the world's wealth.
Maybe they are taking the savings they are getting from being Walmart consumers (Instead of Whole Foods consumers) and donating it their favorite charity.
All I know is that at the end of the day, if someone followed my life, to a starving child in another part of the world I'm no better than them.
Who the hell am I to judge.
24
These two are actually quite resourceful. It's not until deep in the article (which I too began to read with pious contempt) that we learn the sisters are a resilient, determined pair who can sew, and cook, and stage and style and film it all. I wouldn't know where to begin. I don't get it, but they have a product -- their audacious lifestyle -- which people can choose to buy or not.
157
This story comes the day after my musing about how wrong my attitudes were regarding women - like these sisters - who we'd label shallow gold-diggers.
It struck me that unlike me for most of my adult life, these ladies had a real plan, and they stuck with it, and by the looks of things it paid off! Surely there were rough spots - that could have gone seriously wrong for them- but whatever their talents may be - they seem to have mad-skills at extricating themselves from impossible situations. I'm pretty sure I'd be be languishing in a Nigerian jail for simply arguing with a Nigerian cop over a crosswalk mistake.
Are these sisters actions all that bad compared to how men pursue wealth? How males seek to associate with wealth and power. Sure most times sex might not be involved, but it often does involve doing really despicable things to please their benefactors.
Take Michael Cohen and Trump. Maybe now Whitaker and Trump. Mafia capos and their soldiers. I'm sure many of us worked in environments where there were middle-level managers doing rather dirty work for the owners/executives. There's MBS and his traveling henchmen who disassembled Khashoggi.
Lots of males seeking the blessings of rich and powerful males, doing really despicable things to stay in their good graces.
These sisters and others like them...just wanna have fun, and get nice things. Who do they directly hurt? Besides some commenters here?
Plus, their proclivities actually contribute to the economy!
154
@Boregard
how are they contributing to the economy??
I have one question: why are they shopping at Walmart?
19
@yogaheals they’re shoppingatwalmart because they got no regularsource of income (or didn’tatthe time) — No sugar daddy, no way totravel without being arrested, no job, and closests full of expensive junk that seems to be the only thing that matters to them, so they’re not selling it. Welcome to the shallow end!
31
@yogaheals
Because they're paying.
33
It seems the most interesting story here gets a little buried in some kind of desire to just talk about and see pictures of sparkly things. The interesting part of this story is the power that a man was able to wield over these women in an apparent retaliation. I have very little in common with these women, but it's frightening that they were treated as so disposable, not only in Nigeria, but also in Italy. And the US customs officers were truly disgusting, if that's really how they acted. I don't have respect for this kind of conspicuous consumerism, the values it supposes, and the environmental destruction of so much jet setting and needless accumulation, but at the same time, the only thing really wrong with any form of what you might call prostitution, in my mind, is the power imbalance and precariousness it can entail. That's really where the meat of this story is.
212
@reader Not too familiar with the Italian legal system, are you?
It generally has a reputation as a travesty for both sexes.
3
The harsh names, criticisms and disgust directed toward these women is rather amazing. Where is the same contempt for the men who buy them? The billionaires who've most certainly stolen their wealth through exploitation and violence and at the expense of the poor in their countries. While I can't imagine this lifestyle - these gals have made a choice to live a certain way and they don't harm anybody. The men who pay for their lifestyle - I can't say the same about - and they are the ones who deserve the contempt.
281
@Dana I think if you accept goods obtained in unethical ways (and don’t tell me they have no idea about how these men became so wealthy), then you, too, are guilty. Would you accept a large gift from a bank robber, knowing where the money came from? I’d inform on them. The women could have had very exciting lives by going undercover and exposing the corruption that these men engage in while the regular citizens in their countries suffer. The disgust towards these women is warranted.
31
@Dana Well, the billionaires may be driven by women like this. Everybody is complicit in this story. Including those who click on the story. Or not. But your point is taken. These women are bearing the brunt.
Regardless, the inhumane atrocities these billionaires commit tops the white collar atrocities (low pay/benefits to those who actually "earn" the money, tax evasion, wealth hoarding, etc.) committed by the majority of billionaires. All but a handful do good and no evil.
11
@Dana,
The NYTimes calls these Canadian sisters "flamboyant." I call them what they are: "prostitutes." As you and other commenters have noted, of course the sisters should not have been subjected to legal harassment, and of course the men they "dated" are unsavory. But those topics are the context and not the focus of this article. The article focuses on these shallow women. So let's not pretend they didn't jump into the beds they made.
28
Gifts?
They *earned* those Louboutins.
13
I loved the last sentence--punch line!!!
4
Let's say these young women worked at Walmart, and had to share an apartment because $11 an hour isn't enough to pay rent. Let's say they had to work two jobs, as a lot of Walmart employees do, and from all that work, couldn't afford clothes or vacations.
Let's say they had their lives sucked out of them, so a billionaire can profit.
Would the comments here be more admiring?
13
@Eric Hit the nail on the head
4
If they possess so many luxury items, why is the fur coat on one of the sisters threadbare (fur-bare?) at the edges? I am not a fur-wearer but that coat looks worn out.
5
I never thought you guys would do a long read feature on a couple of big zeroes like them.
19
I’m Nigerian and I live in Lagos. First of all, these girls weren’t dating only billionaires. They were dating around, pretty much anyone who could afford to pay for them. They were a menace to us as impoverished as Nigeria is. They came, brandished wealth gotten from these corrupt leaders and even government officials all in our faces without a care. Broke homes, marriages etc. they did all of these with reckless abandon even insulted women, who pleaded with them to leave their husbands. They came with superiority complex and would insult our culture, our economy even our country as a whole but yet WE sponsored your exotic lifestyles at the expense of impoverished Nigerians. Such a shame! Indeed our leaders are truly our problems in this country because a lot of politicians and government officials were on their client lists. I’m appalled at how ny times will glamourise this.
33
@Ibi
Who broke the homes and marriages? The men who chose to break their vows and pay for "exotic" courtesans? Or the girls themselves? Think your answer over carefully.
13
@NewYorkTimes: So many strong, morally courageous young women doing great work in medicine, science and the arts and in Doctors without Borders.... and you chose to waste column inches and reporting time, on this? And give a boost, to .....Walmart? I’m ashamed I wasted time reading it, and I am embarrassed that I am irritated enough to write a response letter. Do your readership proud and find women to write about who actually serve humanity, not just themselves.
38
@NewYorkTimes: So many strong, morally courageous young women doing great work in medicine, science and the arts and in Doctors without Borders.... and you chose to waste column inches and reporting time, on this? And give a boost, to .....Walmart? I’m ashamed I wasted time reading it, and I am embarrassed that I am irritated enough to write a response letter.
Do your readership proud and find women to write about, who actually serve humanity, not just themselves.
5
But seriously folks, there’s a dark side to this story.
Ken Saro-Wiwa died so Otedola and his ilk could finance the girls’ lifestyle.
If you don’t know who Saro-Wiwa was, please Google him. His legacy as a peaceful community activist who lost a noble battle with Nigerian oil interests should live longer than he did.
This is partly where the petroleum in our cars comes from, ladies and gents.
31
Interesting story.
Is prostitution legal in Canada?
Is it in Nigeria?
It is legal in some parts of India and Europe. In these corners, prostitutes are known by the endearing phrase, "Sex Workers."
11
In some circles of people these sisters are to be admired and are highly successful, also emulated. Don't think so? Take a gander at You Tube. They are considered winners by many millions.
The Kar-Jenner lifestyle is totally acceptable today. Maybe not by you or I but to those in deep poverty, you betcha. Some parents groom their daughters to aspire and do this sort of thing. Yes, they do. They are trained to be strippers too. Not joking. Some parents even sell their own children into prostitution and pornography.
8
There is surely more to this story than the writer is letting on. You don't spend time in jail in an EU country or have an Interpol warrant for nothing. These two sociopaths were doing something over there, no doubt including scamming or otherwise robbing their "marks". And Nigerian billionaires are not exactly the genteel, civilized type to start with. It seems like both sides deserved each other, and the writer got duped by the con.
15
I would be very interested to hear commentary on this ambitious use of feminine power from the #metoo perspective.
5
The saying beauty is in the eye of the beholder rings true here, the Matharoo sisters are not attractive at least in my mind. They kind of remind me of the type of women that seem to populate the media today. Housewives of this or that or constantly seen with rappers or other publicity seekers.
10
@General Noregia, Game show contestants or Judge Judy and Jerry Springer material comes to mind.
3
I have a teenage girl who loves science, history and sports. These is not enough money in the universe for me to want to see her life choices approach the utter emptiness of these two clowns.
14
How does one get a billion dollars in Nigeria? How big is that crime?
14
Since I’m reading the online version of this sorry mess, all I can say is, what a waste of electrons. Oh, and the two protagonists? A waste of carbon.
7
These women are so shallow, the deep end is measured with a micrometer. And being relatively, not gorgeously attractive, they must have something in the tackle box to reel the big fish in. What it is ? Heavens, I wouldn't know.
2
Maybe the worst thing about the rich and their lovers nowadays is the fact that they've become almost unbearably boring. If I had insomnia, I'd attempt to finish this article. Their whole lifestyle of wearing dead animals is antediluvian. I can listen to a working class guy like Loki rattle on for hours, and read his book over and over, but just looking at one photo of these androids (are they real?) puts me to sleep. Sort of like watching ants crawl around. The lives of parasites.
13
@Stephanie Wood
So true, except insulting to ants. Ants have complex cultures, aren't parasites, and are far more fascinating than the dismal subjects of this article (which to be fair, I've merely skimmed until I got bored and baffled by the point of the content).
5
Doesn't anyone remember that Eartha Kitt song in which she lists all the things her old fashioned millionaire can give her?
Monroe singing about diamonds being a girls' best friend?
"Men grow cold
As girls grow old
And we all lose our charms in the end"
and start a fashion label.
I think it's very nice that NYT has given them a start in their new careers.
You wouldn't want them to end up like Madame de Pompadour.
8
So much misogynistic judgement in these comments! These women have had adventures; been in serious peril; seen the world; observed human nature under peculiar circumstances; been loyal friends to each other. They package themselves on social media at the insipid limits of those platforms, but do you think the entire contents of their brains are "sex = handbag"? They will have fascinating memoirs to write.
To dismiss them as "prostitutes" is to keep them in a box that denies them humanity beyond sex, and judges their sexual agency. Oh my gosh, could they be interesting and smart and witty and kind -- and sexual?
1
@Andy
"could they be interesting and smart and witty and kind -- and sexual?"
Yea, they could, and when their services were obviously paid for, it was/is a pure and simple prostitution.
8
For context there are thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of Malaysian princes. My landlord for instance.
4
The world is on fire and we're publishing stories like this? Our species probably deserves to be wiped out.
10
The Times has done a good job documenting abuse and threats to women worldwide.
It seems strange that this piece also appears, somewhat legitimizing women subjecting themselves to misogynistic treatment as objects as long as it leads to designer clothes, shiny trinkets, and world travel.
But gold and cash and riches are great disinfectants these days, aren't they?
3
I admit I read this with the expectation that it would confirm my revulsion of the ultra-rich. I also admit I am a masochist. Thank you: you delivered my fix.
And a double thank you for confirming my revulsion of social media’s self-invented spoiled ego brats. I had not expected such bounty in a single article.
If only parasites (these two), feeding on other parasites (so-called tycoons) could result in the extinction of both. Throw in corrupt police for good measure, and I would happily - and no doubt easily - find some other gross behavior that flies in the face of human dignity.
10
Bollywood material story.
2
Fascinating how so many are condemning these women. Like they are personally insulting some of the commentators.
Who are they hurting? And by the looks of things, they are very likely to not fall apart physically, like so many women are wishing on them. They clearly take care of themselves, and can take care of themselves.
How many here could extricate themselves from a Nigerian jail? Or figure out how to get themselves off an Interpol red list? How many of you heard of Interpol before reading this article? Getting off that list is not easy. As difficult as even knowing you're on a US DHS watch list is, and then getting removed!
Women like these have always existed. Most of them are merely arm-candy for the rich males they "date". Its not always all about sex. And there are male counterparts. Except in most cases the males are doing really despicable things to gain the favors of their masters. And in the male case, master is the best term, they are owned. These sisters clearly were never "owned", by any of the men they "dated".
Independence is clearly at the heart of the sister's plan. Whereas we have thousands of examples of unscrupulous men aligning with other unscrupulous men performing criminal acts.
Look at the powerful men and their soldiers. Murderers. Obstructing justice. Stealing, denying health care to the sick, undermining native peoples claims to their lands.
Men are far more despicable when they pursue wealth and power by pleasing other males.
4
you gotta admire their honesty. they are utterly materialistic and have no issue reaching their goals by dating rich men, one after the other, and dont pretend otherwise. its fascinating that shoes and bags and cars can make people so happy. somehow, they never tire of another dress, another piece of jewelry, another handbag, when i would literally commit suicide if i led that life.
5
Geez, who raised these women so lacking in dignity and values? Is this the direction the world is headed back to Louis XIV sensibility? Obtaining obscenely priced designer items and sleeping with wealthy men definitely doesn't equate decency nor good taste. How's about more uplifting and news of value for young people to aspire to in NYT instead of all the glitz with nothing to hold up?
Thank you.
7
This is an odd article to me: not sure why it is in Style. While these women's way of life is not something I would agree with personally, what is concerning in the article is how they appeared to have been falsely accused in Nigeria and then had their names marked by Interpol preventing them from travelling. THAT's what's news to me.
Perhaps the author fell for the sisters hook, line, and sinker: any mention in the NY Times is worth at least $40K in advertising dollars and the sisters know it.
7
Pity the poor things. At least they weren't forced to wear a $35 jacket that said "I don't really care, do U?" when they got on the Presidential helicopter.
8
The funniest line in this article is “their strict parents.”
12
These ladies did this all to themselves, and they obviously get a thrill on living on this edge..
however, why don’t they ever smile in any of their pictures?!
I don’t envy their lives, would rather work for my own wages and not be financially dependent on any guy.
5
Whether these girls are actual prostitutes, or merely social media celebrities with rich boyfriends, or somehow blurring the lines between the two; what is disturbing is the fact that they could be detained and threatened with international legal harassment for getting on the wrong side of a rich man . No private citizen should have that kind of power.
12
Given all the letters I've received from Nigerian "Ministers of Petroleum" offering to share the loot stashed in a secret bank account, if only I first transfer some cash for expenses and "minor payments to unlock the funds", I find it amazing that someone figured out how to scam some wealthy Nigerians. That would be like Trump finding out his gold-plated bathroom fixtures were really nickel with gold Hobby Lobby craft paint.
17
I'm sure many will find this article interesting, but it probably should have been published in one of those magazines that are on sale near the checkout counter of the supermarket.
11
A veritable lesson in capitalism. Advertise and peddle your assets, but hedge against downturns in third world markets.
5
The question this raises for me is "does this behavior indicate the sharp and accelerating decline of civilization, or has this sort of thing always been with us, the only difference being it is now multiplied by the concentration of so much money in the hands of so many shallow and low-class individuals, such as but certainly not limited to Nigerian oil m/billionaire thieves and their offspring and their "girlfriends"?
2
Do they know trump and, if so, would they be willing to share their story about that?
4
And people say money doesn't buy class...
8
We get one ride on this planet and it appears they both know it. The rub is men know this as well and have no qualms when it comes to exercising whatever control they can. Money talks.
1
A few have preceded these 2 and worked it in more exotic places like Monaco. They’re all the same in the end as members of the world oldest profession.
7
Those who say the sisters lead pointless lives are wrong.
Serving as a cautionary tale to those who might otherwise seek happiness through the acquisition of adulation-and overpriced "stuff"- is a very useful vocation. Heaven only knows how many others will choose to avoid the sisters' career choices after reading about their misadventures in materialism.
3
I find it interesting to reflect on the ancestors whose success at reproduction and child-rearing resulted in me and my family. This is the story of one strategy for success: we all probably have a few maternal ancestors who used it to achieve slightly less unpleasant lives. Even today it's a way for women who happen to be born beautiful in miserable countries to find a way out (and raise beautiful offspring who get to live their own lives until some descendant finds herself again in miserable circumstances.)
These kids don't need a way out, but maybe they somehow inherited threads of personality that make this path attractive. At the same time, whatever strategy we adopt for life, women can never avoid the risks of living under the power of men, whether it's physical, cultural or financial power.
4
These girls were treated terribly and they are lucky they've escaped unscathed.
On the other hand , pursuing a life of extreme materialism with billionaires from corrupt countries...they could not be the brightest bulbs on the tree. Not to mention the empty vacuous goal of acquiring clothes , shoes and cars.
Do something useful with your life. You won't be beautiful forever.
8
“For once we want to just focus on ourselves.”
Priceless irony.
50
A rapacious appetite for public displays of material wealth is their birthright
1
This is the most fantastically interesting story. It's like some futuristic costume drama Henry James never lived long enough to write. These sisters are true buccaneers.
14
No, as many here have noted, these women have not devoted themselves to saving humanity. And one does wonder how this story wound up in the Style section.
BUT - What they have done to earn a living (and I do mean earn a living, not "earn a living") is no different from what most of us who are not saints do: Use our talents and abilities, whatever they may be, to accumulate funds and material goods, and then use these, if we are reasonably successful, to live whatever we consider a pleasant and enjoyable life.
The condescension and condemnation of so many comments, unless the writers have patterned their lives after Mother Theresa or MLK Jr, is unjustified, and says more about the unwarranted prejudices of those writing than about the subjects of their abuse.
16
Sounds like they got a taste of the kind of corruption and brutality that makes a Nigerian billionaire. Naturally they were more than happy to enjoy the spoils of that corruption when he was stuffing their closets with expensive garbage.
138
What I cannot grasp: why do they grocery shop at Walmart?????????
125
@Janet
My thought too.
I’m Canadian and I’ never heard of them
2
@Janet
It may be a socioeconomic marker that goes beyond money.
2
@Janet
Value for money. I don't understand your question.
1
“There’s always going to be a guy saying, ‘Let me spoil you,’ who wants to fly us somewhere,” Jyoti said.
Hmm, I don't know if there is always going to be.
126
All these comments are expressing disgust and judgement for these sisters, but no one is concerned with the human rights violations indicated in their story. To be jailed with no explanation and forced to confess to an uncommitted crime is morally degenerate, and to be held for extradition to a country that treats people in such a way by a country that should know better is shocking.
314
The article made it seem like even the Canadian government was unconcerned with their incarceration in Nigeria. The government finally relented to help them obtain emergency documents to leave the country only after they provided coerced confessions. And the fact that American immigration employees accused them of prostitution is disturbing.
27
@Emily suppose a lot rests on how far you believe in the exculpatory value of willful ignorance. The two were willing to take hundreds of thousands that came from a corrupt system. While I feel bad about the innocent victims if that system, I have trouble finding them innocent.
24
@Emily I guess no one is asking because it kind of comes with the territory, dear. When you are in the business of dating Nigerian rich men, and making them angry, you can expect anything, including being jailed. I would not be surprised if something even worse happened to them. And spare me the "blame the victim" comments because these two are no victims. They know perfectly well what they are doing, and the risks their activities entail. They are nothing but ambitious escorts, to put it mildly, and if they want their rights respected, they should start by fulfilling their responsibilities. For instance, I wonder if they have paid taxes on all the expensive gifts they have received.
50
I have to say, the article made me happy. Happy that I'm not a billionaire and happy that I am not interested in "dating" the sisters
40
What I’m a little puzzled about is that if you’re a billionaire, why can’t you do better than these two? I suppose they must have something going for them if you’re prepared to use the local police and Interpol to arrest them for rejecting you. I mean seriously, why not just move on. It all speaks volumes about the men.
185
@Kay
These men just want eye candy
3
@Kay
It's amusing that you would try to turn this story into an indictment of men.
6
Without judging the sisters lifestyle, this will make a better movie than the Bridget Jones story, and its unny and refreshing to read a story that doesn't have to do with politics and tragedies. Thank you Nytimes!
28
Wow!!!
What a lot of judgmental people here!
You do know, that the Style Section, isn't always about mendicant saints, but quite often, superficiality and people who make money off of superficiality? And that you have to be rich to partake in almost any of it?
I guess you have to inherit it for people to respect your love of money.
Or own Goop.
People should remember, nobody really "deserves" to be rich. People with money, sure some work hard, or are smart, but all of them are incredibly lucky.
These girls have had quite the adventure.
55
Not all rich people are lucky. As you said some, I would say many, worked for it for decades.
5
@BH
No person "earns" billions, in the sense of having done productive work that is worth that amount.
10
Couldn't they work hard AND be lucky?
2
They don't come much shallower than these two sisters. What meaningless lives they lead.
98
@Pam Shira Fleetman
They're in a dead heat with the Kardashians....
52
I am trying so, so hard to feel sorry for these women, locked up in jails....
Where they couldn't be with their high heels that cost more money than most families make in a moment...
And all their handbags, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth...
And all their selfies, so precious.
Hang on...maybe I'll feel sorry for them now...
Or now...
I'm trying...
Sigh...
What shallow, silly, ridiculous, inane, irritating, manipulative, spoiled women.
Still trying to feel sorry for them!
92
They should not have been jailed. They committed no crimes.
7
@Katie The real question is, how shallow, silly and irritating is our society, and its role for women? These sisters are just surfing the wave. Where are the glossy magazine stories about pioneering female scientists and smart women? Not a lot, compared to profiles of Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton. There aren't even as many glossy magazine profiles of female writers, compared to the men. These women are exploiting a gendered value system, but they didn't create it.
11
Word to the wise; don’t mess with billionaires from countries with ambiguous law and order while in their country, their yacht, or country with little regard for women and/or powerless.
These sisters were treated despicably. I’m amazed and dismayed at the lack of professionalism by US customs officers, but I suppose that regrettably reflects our President.
But man, what shallow people. I’m glad I don’t waste my time following the Kardashians. It was a good reminder of what’s important in life.
70
I was wondering when someone would get around to blaming Trump. Good job!
3
@historyRepeated
Ambiguous law and order. I think the US would presently fall into that category.
Editor’s note: This comment has been anonymized in accordance with applicable law(s).
Does this count as wealth redistribution?
23
I don't mean to sound judgmental but I read about the excesses and got sick. I simply could not go further. I don't understand the desire to accumulate lots and lots of things. Is it me?
245
@kim Be glad you can find fulfillment in watching the miracle of a monarch emerge from its chrysalis. We can't understand others desires. We can, however, be happy that they are not our own.
46
@kim
look around. there''s glut & greed & materialism, consumerism & capitalism all around. just go into a Walmart- lower scale
having millions of dollars of designer bags (when you can only carry one) & those ridiculous obscene shoes (with a walk in closet FULL)- and mega-mansions where one dining room chair costs over $5K -
think of what you could do with all that money -spent on THINGS accumulated with no reason or purpose except waste and temporary fulfillment -
money doesn't buy happiness.
you could feed children in Yemen-compare the photos of these 2 compared to that dying child - and this is the world we live in.
giving and helping to benefit others is the real purpose of life - not shopping, consuming & acquiring things & $$
46
kim
Most of us threw up while reading this article.
It's not you.
118
They may not be likable but what happened to them is not right. It speaks to the patriarchy smacking down one of its adherents for stepping out of the box. No, I don’t admire any bit of who they are but that doesn’t mean they are criminals worthy of harassment.
234
True, but they probably just peeved off the wrong billionaire. When I hear "Nigerian billionaire" (or any billionaire, to be honest), I immediately think "Person with probable shady ties or businesses". I wouldn't assume the billionaires were morally upstanding people to get involved with.
34
Well, women bear responsibility as well for supporting and submitting to the misogynistic patriarchy by acting like high-priced prostitutes. If you engage in "billionaire shopping" in third worlds, you are the other half of the equation.
18
Bingo, everything you said.
6
Social media is a place you go to get sick.
54
Other scenarios of this same story are about very wealthy men physically attacking women. That is to say, rape.
5
Live & let live. Works for all of them, & doesn’t hurt anyone else.
12
Au contraire. There is a reason that the masses in this country have descended into poverty as the 1% have prospered.
There is a reason that Bezos in the richest man in the world while Amazon workers toil in low paying factory jobs, where they face consequences for taking bathroom breaks.
Conclusion
1 People are suffering as the wealth accumulates at the top.
2 Nobody is worth a billion dollars. Nobody.
84
@bruceb: Who exactly are these particular people in this particular story hurting? No need to extrapolate every story into everything.
Are Jyoti and Kiran's immigrant parents saddened by their behavior? This is the opposite to what immigrant families that I know aspire to: hard work, clean living, being upstanding members of the community. Or, does the apple (or apples) not fall far from the tree?
34
@Mary Why do immigrants need to work harder or live cleaner than the locals? That's nativism.
15
@Mary As an immigrant myself, immigrants are just like anyone else and your comment -- although not intentional -- betrays stereotypes of what immigrants are. Not every immigrant comes from a poor, uneducated, traditional family or a rural area. People might be surprised to learn that at one point, 25% of the population of Beverly Hills consisted of former Iranian refugees, who escaped with their riches intact. (An Iranian-American friend told me this) Or that your Lyft driver in NYC was a physician in his prior country yet doesn't have the funds or license to practice in the US.
22
@Van Basten
I am not implying that immigrants have to work harder than the locals and didn't compare them to locals - only that the ones I know value hard work/live cleaner and this was instilled in them by their parents since they were young. I know a little about Jyoti and Kiran's culture - a close relative is from the same culture and I admire her greatly.
10
Why do so many commenters place the onus on the sisters? They have a product that has a lot of buyers. The sisters are quite entrepreneurial in marketing their talents/skills. They are the supply side of this economic marketplace. Why not address the behavior of the demand side?
50
@tinhorse maybe it's their lack of taste? What they do is their business, but as Dolly Parton once famously said, "it costs me a lot of money to look this cheap."
You'd think the could get the sugar-daddies to buy nicer stuff?
5
Instead of wishing the article you read about the sisters was about something else, why don't you write the article you want us all to read?
2
@Andy you are from Paris, the center of the fashion industry. I'm a hick from Richmond VA, where wealthy people still wear loafers without socks. So if we agree on their lack of taste, you and I should co-author our own piece about these gold-diggers' tastes in clothing. Fame and a NY Times byline await us.
2
The "Comments" contain a lot of criticism directed towards these women, the NYT and excessive materialism. However, most of these commenters did read the article as did I. It opened my mind to a way of life I was not aware of and any time we open our mind to the unknown our awareness is expanded. Just hold off on judgements and it turned out to be a fascinating story.
37
Baby Kardashians. Sad what the public likes to spend their time following.....
Working hard and helping others tends to lead to a much more fulfilling life and a shot your children may turn out closer to normal. Not the case, generally, for such self centered people.
I wish them good luck!
11
You didn’t mean your last sentence, so why say it.
2
They seem to be accomplished cooks and seamstresses. It's good that they can make a reasonable living at these and the related feminine skills.
16
@David Lloyd-Jones What a marvelous comment and charming provocation in this sea of umbrage. Watch this one. What sharks will rise to the bait?
6
“The modern art of idle glamour pioneered by Paris Hilton and perfected by Kim Kardashian West.”
Brilliant line. I had a good laugh reading the article. A nice distraction, what with all the craziness going all around.
The sisters may yet have the last laugh if their clothing line takes off....
38
It's hilarious that they shop at Walmart with Birkin handbags while tottering on 4 inch heels. There is a reality show in there someplace. On second thought they could start their own museum and call it the International Museum of Swag.
53
@gourmand
"On second thought they could start their own museum and call it the International Museum of Swag"
or as we'd call it in Australia: the International Museum of Shag(ging)
3
From the 1931 translation of the German song "Just a Gigolo" made famous in the US by Bing Crosby:
Was in a Paris cafe that first I found him
He was a Frenchman, a hero of the war
But war was over
And here's how peace had crowned him
A few cheap medals to wear and nothing more
Now every night in the same cafe he shows up
And as he strolls by ladies hear him say
If you admire me, hire me
A gigolo who knew a better day
Just a gigolo, everywhere I go
People know the part I'm playing
Paid for every dance
Selling each romance
Every night some heart betraying
There will come a day
Youth will pass away
Then what will they say about me
When the end comes I know
They'll say just a gigolo
As life goes on without me
24
@stan continople dear stan...thank you for sharing these poignant and sad verses. reality bites, doesn't it? i think these two subjects of the article, the beautiful and talented sisters, have come to terms with reality and must have felt what the gigolo felt, the emptiness. so good for them that they are discovering their strengths and potential for a life with more meaning and independence and strength.
1
At least the girls are honest about their motives, and not trying to do a “METOO” number on any of the marks,...yet.
19
These girls look like they live the high life better than most celebrities with jets lavish trips fancy fine dining of tiny foods one can only hope tastes worthy of the price!! In my next life, I want to be a beautiful woman who has time to color coordinate her Instagram when I barely have time to color coordinate my socks.. Don't mind me, just got home from a long day of work lol
9
The Matharoos remind me of the Bouvier sisters, Jackie O and Lee Radziwill. They were big game hunters as well.
44
Perhaps. But they were not ostentatious.
9
Turns out all that free stuff wasn't really free.
36
This elevates a person? Such a notion is not progress in any society and is certainly nothing from which Canadians should take pride. I’d rather see spiritual enlightenment than money grubbing.
9
@Neil MacLean With all due respect, I doubt that this story was meant to elevate or cause pride—it’s merely notable and newsworthy, and an interesting social commentary.
It is also older and more widespread than you think (at least the starting premise is). Google Lillie Langtry or Lady Hamilton, or read “The Lady of the Camellias” or “Gigi.”
I suppose one could say about the sisters Matharoo is that they're "Smooth Operators"
3
Operators sure, but anything but "smooth"
1
Who was it who said, "People become famous for all the wrong reasons."?
I think he must have meant these two.
10
The new Gilded Age needs Gilded Women. Read "The Theory of the Leisure Class" by Veblen to understand.
13
. . .. a closet full of shoes, an Interpol record and words to live by, too: “If you want to date me, you have to spoil me,” she said.
Next!
12
Why don't you focus on humans that are leading a meaningful life.
This is about nothing but vanity and ego.
These two are doing nothing worthwhile with their lives.
Find someone making an important and consequential contribution to society, that would actually be uplifting and inspiring. And write about them.
73
@dre
Because those people are incredibly boring. I'm one so I'm speaking from experience. No one wants to read about that, but if you do, the NYT does do articles about those individuals fairly often.
6
I have a guy friend who who have no problem living their risky, indulgent money hunting lifestyle.
I think there's a huge element of danger in it.
But the participants are so high on adrenaline they don't seem to care.
3
It's just business for them. I prefer them to the toxic Kardashian parade of stupidity. At least these sisters are honest about what they do.
15
The Kardashians actually make their money from legit businesses. They don’t live off wealthy men.
1
I think they just chose the wrong billionaire.
7
They’re selling it while they’ve got it, but what happens when their sell-by date expires?
44
That’s why they started their business. Presumably, their billionaire boyfriends can give them stock tips for their profits.
6
@Lee Hover, D. Med. Hum. I think that’s why they still shop at Walmart—frugality in terms of basic survival will see them through the days when they have only their savings to fall back on. (This is an old tradition of shrewd courtesans.)
6
@Lee Hover, D. Med. Hum.
It already has.
3
I didn't read past the first few paragraphs and instead went straight to the comments ( if I missed an important theme let me know), Unlike many of the commentators, I have no animus towards the sisters. They are, simply put, practitioners of the oldest profession. It doesn't make them evil. Are they naive and foolish? Probably. But I won't judge them; it's too easy to pin scarlet letters on women we love to hate. I applaud the Times for including this in the style section. It obviously is making people think.
35
@andy b Prostitution is not “the oldest profession.” That distinctive n probably belongs to medicine.
6
@MidcenturyModernGal Come on, lighten up. It has been called the world's "oldest profession" since I was a little kid, 60 years ago.
16
Actually the oldest profession is hunter-gatherer.
17
Is there any explanation for all these negative comments other than misogyny? If it’s ok for the patriarchy to objectify women for free why is it not ok for women to capitalize on their bodies for personal gain?
35
@Qnbe Because objectification is demeaning and de-humanizing regardless of the person doing it.
17
@Qnbe I guess those of us who believe women can do anything hope they do something more worthwhile than sleeping with men for cash and prizes.
22
You can’t ask women to be saints but not men.
NYT should do a story about 'Instagram' influencers and models. Mostly, well-off men fund their destinations and photos ops for, well, sex and other goodies.
Women who want to be perceived as jet setting and wealthy are basically just having well-off men Direct Message them and setting stuff up but never admitting to it. The colloquial term for this is 'tag the sponsor'. Everything is mostly fake on the Internet.
12
'“For once we want to just focus on ourselves.”, because it was never, ever about me, me, me before was it?
63
The times when a girl could look good, be stylish, attractive and enjoy good company will soon be gone with tales such as these. (Such times existed, believe me. My mother and grandmother lived in them, despite two world wars.) What should be women's well owned privilege or natural right to beauty and taste is not really being honored by articles (and girls) such as these.
Several years ago, I was stopped by ICE at Dulles Airport upon return from a seaside resort in the Netherlands. The reason I went there was to commemorate my recently deceased father, with whom I took my first steps as a toddler about a ten minutes walk from the resort (where I lived as a child incidentally). Needless to say, ICE with their severely repressed and suppressive ill guided 'enforcement mentality' associated the trip with promiscuity and with sleazy grins (sic.) wanted to know if I had consumed alcohol. Well, ignorance is the best defense, and since I did not have a clue of what they were trying to get at, they had to let me go. Today I have come to know that I simply looked too good for ICE, so they had to inflict punishment.
Morale of the story: Ladies have a right to be fabulous that has nothing to do with anything portrayed in this article. Don't drag God's gift to women through the mud, while reserving the more serious pages to wrinkled overweight office admins (who certainly won't get the incentive to take care of themselves from it). Or putting the gloss on the sex trade in Dubai.
10
World’s oldest profession, yes, but it’s never been so publicly glorified. That’s what bothers me. Sure, they’re empty headed vessels and if some men find that attractive, they deserve each other. I’ll be thrilled with the ones who want more. I just don’t care for the endless bragging. Just do what you do and leave us out of it.
btw, I had never heard of them, and have already forgotten their names.
53
@Louisa Glasson It was very heavily glorified in certain social strata of Paris at the turn of the century, in fact. Whole magazines such as the “Gil Blas” devoted themselves to chronicling the adventures of famous kept women and their keepers. This was considered quite entertaining to the public.
3
@Louisa Glasson It was very heavily glorified in certain social strata of Paris at the turn of the century, in fact. Whole magazines such as the “Gil Blas” devoted themselves to chronicling the adventures of famous kept women and their keepers. This was considered quite entertaining to the public.
Edit: If you mean to say that Instagram has a much bigger circulation than the “Gil Blas” ever could, then I stand corrected. That is an important point.
And that’s a fine screen name, too.
This very interesting article makes an excellent companion piece to one published by the NYT about a month ago, also in the "Style" Section:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/19/style/the-sugar-dater-seeking-arrangement.html
13
Normally, I have sympathy for women in the sex industry; i.e., actual prostitutes who actually provide a service to men who can be menacing. However, these women are just revolting and vulgar. They actually cheapen the oldest profession.
44
@KIMBERLY BALL its about relevance in the times right now that instagram is a popular medium. During older times, they would have used a medium that was popular in those times, so why compare?
2
What is vulgar about them? Their love of the high life? Or their honesty about how they attained it?
@KIMBERLY BALL The world's oldest profession is mother.
4
In this new media era accomplishments get less coverage than provocative noise by celebrity leaders. No better example than Trump. These young women meet the new criteria. Substance does not matter. All that counts is style.Like Trump they seem to have no core values.
17
@Milton Lewis
Sorry, none of these people have any style.
15
@Jeffrey Hedenquist The primary similarity is the superficiality of Trump and the sisters.
3
@Milton Lewis
Yes, they "know the price of everything, and the value of nothing."
11
This article gave me some details on a subject that I had kind of heard of but basically had no idea about. So in that sense it is interesting, similar to reading an article about an unusual zebra in the sub Sahara region.
However, I wished the author had interviewed the parents and given us their perspective. The article seems to say that the parents were ok if they were flown by some rich guy to France and Greece but not Nigeria! I find it astonishing that immigrant parents from India would approve of any of this.
25
I think very few parents from any country or any socioeconomic class would approve of this...
24
Courtesans exist. Thanks for ten minutes of entertainment. Now, back to what I do for a living.
33
I may be wrong in my assumptions; however here are my impressions...
The article seems to profile shallow, materialistic persons and the antithesis of the pursuit of the good -- meaning, living a life devoted to doing good things for the benefit of humanity -- when particularly endowed with great wealth. Certainly, the unexamined life seems to prevail as the model to emulate, but for me, that would be the absence and antithesis of the value of living the good life by helping others.
I would rather, were I to be given such wealth, assume that I had been given ethical and moral obligations to drive me to ensure that much of the material largess would be channeled to the benefit of humanity. Those with great wealth must also bear an awesome responsibility towards their fellow humanity.
Furthermore, enrichment through self-awareness and knowledge would be paramount, mandating that I be of service in addressing the needs of others to become better educated, more highly skilled, and more fulfilled and better behaved human beings who not only respect and revere but also follow the paths of kindness towards others.
I know that, on this planet, my preferences may not resonate with many others, but I would rather engage in doing good during my life, even without recognition, knowing that one of life's greatest rewards is to know that one made a difference in helping others in need. That would be reward enough.
33
@Chromatic
You're taking these two far too seriously.
6
@Chromatic
YES! thanks for acknowledging there is more to life than just accumulating more money to buy more stuff-
the world doesn't need more people, the world doesn't need more greedy people or people who are not kind to their fellow man (or woman) or animals
to be of service to others-for the Benefit of All Beings -
that is the true meaning of life. not feeding your Ego-
A lot of criticism in the comments here for the NYT but I thought the article was very interesting. I don't 'follow' anyone and barely use social media, so this is all pretty eye-opening to me. And I learned something - I thought the idea of a Nigerian prince was nothing but a worn out scam.
33
This sounds like the high-end Gig economy.
Seriously, these women are not the first or anywhere near the last to use their skill-set in this manner. But- the picture of the walking barbie-dolls-in-fur at the Walmart makes me think these two are just to misunderstood *ladies*.
14
Despite all the high horsers here I enjoyed this tale of international intrigue. It was funny and I needed a laugh after last week.
66
Fascinating women. The NYT only gives a very narrow look at their lives. The Toronto Sun (or is it the Star?) gives a much more balanced and interesting portrait. After reading a couple more articles, I came to the conclusion that these sisters are shrewd business women much more than party girls.
BTW, I am a 55-year-old woman, I always behaved the right way, and I sometimes wonder why I missed having all the fun;-))
55
@ANon Selling yourself for a pair of LaBoutins is fun???
24
@FRONTINE LeFEVRE
I can't say that I agree with your underlying assumption ... that they are sex workers -- though there would be nothing wrong with that if they were. But, really, what makes me respond to you comment is the rudeness of the of the terms, so often used, "selling herself" or "selling her body". What is it with that -- some kind of slavery fantasy??!! Or is it just an overwhelming desire to diminish someone who, if it were true, would obviously be in a very unfortunate and desperate situation? It seems to me that the lives of these girls are a good deal more complicated than being paid by the hour but even in a situation in which there is a straight forward agreement that for a certain set price Person A will spend an hour doing what Person B wishes (sex) the arrangement would correctly be described as that person being hired ... not bought. That person is being employed to do something. Their services are being engaged. Where else in the gig economy does extremely short-term freelance work convey ownership of the independent contractor to the person hiring them? If these terms, which accurately describe the situation, rankle some people it is because those people wish to convey their own feelings of superiority and their condemnation wrapped up into the way they describe how another (hopefully) is able to make ends meet.
8
@ANon
The article glosses over the most repugnant aspect of their activities which I will not detail here out of modesty. You had a reason you “behaved the right way” and you should trust your judgement.
10
On balance, I think this article is significant, a timely reminder that there are women who treat men as walking wallets -- not that the men are being exploited; they know what they're buying, and all parties are consenting adults (at least, chronologically adults).
Real harm comes when the women are held up as role models per the Kardashian/Jenners: fawning press, manipulated social media convincing young girls that their major value, power and glory are as a collection of body parts .
192
Is this story a bookend to the "What gives the Logo its Legs" article in the NYT Fashion/style section?
If there's a moral in this story I have yet to find it.
Vapid click bait. The Times are going all Cosmo on us.
42
Very funny article!
10
Are there single billionaires that are worth dating? I can't think of any and if I had a billion dollars these two would not be on my list either.
26
@Sutter I would assume that there must be something wrong with any wealthy man that chooses these two.
31
I just don’t understand the mindset of these girls. Also, why is this in the style section? I don’t understand why this article exists.
102
retinue of toadies? Not "litany."
This is pretty deft: Jyoti said. “For once we want to just focus on ourselves.”
11
I hope the sisters are appreciative of what the NYT has given them -- the attention they need to survive as much as the rest of us need oxygen.
35
Oldest job in the world ladies...
93
First off, how the heck did these women get all these column inches in the New York Times? All those photographs? So many young women in the world, including North America, doing good works, being creative, adding to the flow of human history, being good people, being excellent parents, and the Times spotlights these two? Their entire existence is apparently dedicated to collecting all the cliches about rapacious, worthless, under accomplished, parasitic women and doing them one better, one louder, one more shameless. But those photographs...oh those photographs...
Secondly, and this is BY FAR more important, do you, NYT, not understand that now your intelligent and loyal readership will have to put up with whole other classes of women like this on into the future? Do you care? Thanks a lot, on behalf of your readers who do care.
385
Get a grip. This is a social phenomenon worth illuminating. You don’t need to ignore it and only read about people are admirable. I have met self-centered women like these. I have no interest in them as friends or lovers. But reading about their lives does help me to understand the world.
13
There is an easy lesson here.You reap what you sow. The NYT needs to be better than this.This pathetic tale needs to stay where it belongs; being read while you are waiting for your groceries to hit the conveyor belt.
These two, as well as the family they are trying to copy, are a symptom of a social media disease. Narcissists becoming rich and (in)famous for nothing more than their narcissism.
We all need to be better than this.
104
Why would The Times give these two any attention? We all know people such as they and they’re patrons exists. Who cares.
38
I guess there is a place for stories like this. But is the NY Times that place?
Remember, Trump regards the NY Times as fake news. His followers are often people who think differently from typical NY Times readers.
For example, some of them believe in antiquated notions like the sanctity of marriage.
Stories like this give the impression (probably valid) that some women lie for wealth or fame. It undercuts the message of Gloria Allred that women never lie, particularly when it comes to sex.
Yet the New Yorker and the NY Times has publicly shamed hundreds of powerful white patriarchs who might have maintained that women sometimes behave like these sisters from Toronto.
Maybe the NY Times should be more limited in its scope.
The world is headed towards disaster on several fronts. Global warming. A potential war with North Korea. Tariffs with China that make limited sense. Or no sense.
Why not focus on these stories, obviously important, and leave stories of torrid affairs to the National Enquirer?
Why not leave the judgment of which men might be guilty of sexual harassment to the courts?
Why must the NY Times weigh in on every sexual story, no matter how salacious? Has the NY Times forgotten what is "fit to print"?
(By fit to print, I mean fit for a newspaper that aspires to help citizens of a democracy make good decisions. I'm not suggesting censorship of magazines like Playboy or Cosmo which might be suitable venues for this story.)
26
@Jake Wagner Trump followers who believe in the sanctity of marriage might want to spend less time criticizing a NYT article on two young single women having consensual relationships with single men and more time investigating their support of a thrice-married serial adulterer, don't you think?
33
Trump supporters “believe in the sanctity of marriage”! Sure, that’s why they elected a three times married man who has cheated on each of his wives. While I don’t necessarily disagree that this piece of “reporting” may be better placed in another publication, appealing to “traditional values” and supporting Trump do not help to make your case.
1
These girls are modern day courtesans . Someone even wrote a book about them entitled- "Courtesans: Money, Sex and Fame in the Nineteenth Century", by Katie Hickman.
21
@Aristotle Gluteus Maximus
As Piketty describes in Capital in the Twenty-First Century as he compares life hundreds of years ago in France to contemporary conditions in the U.S.
9
Oh the irony ... Interpol publishing red notices on behalf of Nigerian scammers, rather than to arrest Nigerian scammers.
171
They shop at Walmart?
38
@John Shows their innate class.
8
@John
They might find a billionaire Walton son or two lurking around in there.
13
@John shows that they are pretty grounded, there are highs and lows, shop loud when you have money, shop cheap when you dont have any.
4
Why are these ciphers - useless to virtually everyone, taking up space, resources, and oxygen - given such prominence in such a prominent medium?
Who cares now - and who will care in the future?
Yeccch.
46
For me, the emphasis on material goods is what bothers me but also so much fakeness and self obsession. The nouveau riche has never been so nouveau, and they keeps on getting nouveau-er haha.
24
I do not shame these women, but simply remind them that what may seem innocuous in your youth may haunt you in your older years. My own experience is that the value of my character and what I earn for myself is more valuable than anything a man can give me.
25
What have these young women achieved that warrants so much coverage in the NYT?
49
@Milton Lewis: Maybe the advantage of giving them coverage is that it gives the articles about accomplished people something to shine against. For instance, knowing that the Matharoos exist makes me even more grateful that there are thoughtful, hardworking people like Justice Ginsburg in the world.
31
@Milton Lewis Exactly NOTHING!
9
So it's a tale older than the Kardashians, and just as revealing-- in how vapid some women (and men too!) will do to get a Sugar Daddy/Momma.
They need to grow up, before they grow old.
10
Kardashians 101. Why bother with an education.
Their parents must be very proud.
21
Wow. That’s depressing and pathetic.
15
I thought I was reading an article from the Daily Mail! Come on, NYT, you are much better than this ...!!!
62
utterly vacuous. Doesn't warrant a single word in NYT. Not news. not even interesting.
29
What in the world is the point of this story? A waste of digital space.
23
I just don't understand. Why was this article published? Is the New York Times TRYING to keep up with the Kardashians?
43
Why is the NYT printing this article? Isn't the state of thee world dispiriting enough without having to read junk like this?
21
Is this the NYT’s version of “Crazy Rich Asians”?
11
We reward men with millions of dollars for punching each other in a ring -- Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson come to mind. Ali had an estimated 100,000 blows to the head and suffered from brain trauma.
Other men in the US make millions in contact sports such as football and also suffer brain trauma.
Still other (very tall) men make millions throwing balls into baskets, or skating on ice with sticks, or hitting balls with sticks, or kicking balls across fields.
Women are endowed differently and have different options than men. If we judge these women, why not judge the men who makes these many millions in sports, especially in those that we know cause permanent brain injury?
Movie buffs might enjoy (re) watching Marilyn Monroe in "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" and "How to Marry a Millionaire" (the later with Lauren Bacall and Betty Grable). Both movies are about attractive women dating and marrying wealthy men.
Readers might enjoy Shaw's, "Mrs. Warren's Profession" which is about the limited options for women for employment compared with men.
As things are, the women are speaking about establishing a clothing company.
I also expect a Netflix movie in future.
22
@David MD Right, and correct, but that big tall men are paid millions for violence, while good looking women are paid millions for sex, while the service industry that maintains it all is paid $10-$15 an hour and the middle class shoots itself in schools, bars and on the street, is completely and entirely on the wrong side of things. The image has gone wild and rampant, with nothing there to correct it at all.
10
@David MD Minor correction: “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” was the song. The movie it came from was “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.”
I’m a TCM fan.
NYT is so funny. I love it when they post stories to make us think. And laugh. And go what the - !
I am with the other members of the comment crew. 1- Gravity is a b--ch, 2 - save up, sisters it goes fast 3 - oldest profession alive and well in the 21st century 4- people are people 5- wal mart no matter who you are and that's why they're wal mart (ubiquitous) etc etc etc
But you do realize you gave the ladies what they want, right? More media coverage.
18
This article is a great advertisement for a wealth tax. For each family, give a $3 million deduction, and tax 1% for the wealth above that, every year. Those people can easily afford it and the money can help those who are at the bottom of the wealth ladder. With this income, fund education, health care, housing and retirement. It is doable, no matter what the "conservatives" like Trump and Mitch McConnell will tell you.
54
at least, for a change, they aren't American.
68
This story is obviously disgusting on too many levels... Aside from everything other commenters have already pointed out - one should probably remember that in a country like Nigeria, all that fabulous wealth flaunted by the local "oil magnates" is to a large degree money stolen from the local people, who are overwhelmingly poor to the point of struggling to afford basic necessities... But again, I'll leave it everybody else in the comments section to share how they feel about all this awfulness.
What this reader really wants to know - what's up with them shopping at Walmart? Is that a joke? A performance project? - I'm genuinely curious.
161
@Leonid Andreev: Replace a couple of key words and you could be talking about money stolen from the poor in jut about any country, including the good ol U S of A.
"....one should probably remember that in a country like _______, all that fabulous wealth flaunted by the local "___ magnates" is to a large degree money stolen from the local people, who are overwhelmingly poor to the point of struggling to afford basic necessities...
30
Is this what Mailer meant by "the metaphysics of the stomach" (and regions south)?
5
This is nothing new, it has been going on forever, heck our President does it. Lets not forget there are plenty of males who do the same thing but we don't shame them.
21
Shopping at Walmart, and what's so wrong with that. But WHY fly to Venice to shop for furniture when just across town is a really nice IKEA!
21
...while teachers struggle to pay rent. Not having children gets easier every year.
27
Good article. So no comments on the corruption that enabled a billionaire to add his ex-girlfriend to an Interpol watchlist?
144
Oh no, it’s much more fun to hate on a couple of young women who are living their lives for themselves and not harming anyone than it is to condemn the despicable human rights abuses they faced while in illegal foreign detainment. Yikes at this comment section.
20
@POW Agree. The meat of the article to me is the part where they get put on the Interpol watchlist for seemingly no reasonable reason, not all the chatter around it.
11
@JD
What happened to these two in Nigerian custody is certainly wrong, but you can't ignore the reality that they profited from the same corruption that made their imprisonment possible.
8
The story ends happily ever after, with another billionaire sugar daddy. Why do all the photos depict the women shopping at Walmart?
26
Everything’s an “edgy” fashion shoot. No integrity.
10
@Cameron Maybe because they did. Having men give them lots of money for sex does not mean it upgraded their shopping preferences.
8
@Norma: They obviously have some very expensive taste as to certain items. But, as far as I know, neither Louis Vuitton nor Hermes makes toilet paper.
15
These girls have just upped their game. They are Indian. On that side of the planet, women do this sort of thing, on a much smaller, scale by the millions. Go to Bangkok, Thailand or Pattaya, or Angeles City in the Philippines, Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam. Women have perfected this game all over the world. For every person that calls them a disgusting prostitute there are ten others who admire their results and they have, or should have, bank accounts that surpass those of their critics.
20
@Aristotle Gluteus Maximus
You are so correct. As I sit here trying to figure out how I'm going to pay next month's bills, I wish I had the looks to pull off what these sisters have accomplished. I think it's interesting that it's okay for single women to give up sex for free, but if they ask for something in return - money, shoes, expensive gifts - suddenly they earn everyone's scorn. As a good girl who did it the "right and proper way," and still struggles, I say go ladies, go!
1
@Tamara: "I wish I had the looks to pull off what these sisters have accomplished"
"I say go ladies, go!"
So, you wish to bait some men? And it did not work as you intended? I am sure you can join the "Metoo" chorus instead.
Such a heart warming story! Greed really does pay!
27
Are no taxes due on this swag? I would think some of it qualifies as income.
52
@Todd
Are gifts taxed?
11
@Todd The gift giver pays tax, not the recipient. :-)
2
Girls, I sincerely hope you are saving a large percentage of the loot. Gravity is NOT your friend. I’m speaking from personal experience, I don’t wear Bras now, just pants with very large pockets. Lol.
407
@Phyliss
Way to go, Phyliss!
31
@Phyliss Dalmatian
Love your remark!
My motto always was, what you don't have when you are young can't hang when you are old.
35
@Phyliss Dalmatian these two strike me as the type that will have plenty of cosmetic surgery to maintain their marketability. And with som luck get some billionaire to pay for it all!
8
Can we stop with the slut shaming? Yes they are banal gold diggers but this is a story that is ancient and behavior that is hard wired in our dna. One day they will be old and their beauty will have faded and they may have some epiphany that there is more to life than money and luxury products.
48
@SusieQ
“Our” DNA? Sorry, speak for yourself.
Gold digging is not in my DNA. Just a lineage of hardworking women who survived by their wits, courage, and perseverance.
40
@berman You have distilled it down to its' essence. Most women are not like this. [Thankfully]
10
@SusieQ... Being shameless parasitic gold diggers is hard wired in our DNA?
Speak for yourself dear, not for me.
17
They're both in their 30's and will soon be too old for these sugar daddies. Hope they've saved something.
63
@Pat
I'm rather hoping their future trips to Walmart include punching in for their shifts.
143
I pretty much love this story. These women are loons.
First they get mad, then arrested, then they start to cry and eventually get released. Then the process starts again.
If they didn’t exist we’d have to invent them. I’d watch a reality show of theirs, for about 5 minutes, unless of course there was women’s wrestling on.
56
So much judgment in the comments about these women. Maybe this is another perfectly valid way to make a living, albeit dangerous. I see it as a sort of Robin Hood story, taking from billionaires with too much money (let’s face it, hoarding that much wealth in a world with so much poverty is the real amoral story here) and elevating themselves, first by virtue of their appearance but now by virtue of their real skills (fashion and design). They are flying close to the sun to be sure, but what they are doing is not deserving of these cracks at their character.
19
@CJ
Robin Hood gave to the poor, not the superficial.
3
My oh my! These comments! Why would anyone be snotty about these girls? Their accomplishments may be dubious, but if they were men they’d be in office, well respected, members of the boys club. It’s funny how much shame, drudgery, “respectability” and self-reflection is expected of women. Why should they be expected to do good for humanity? They’re having a ball. Enjoy while it lasts!
66
men aren't celebrated for bilking older generous women out of their money. men are celebrated when they earn their own money.
25
Hahahaha!!! All men are ethical, hardworking, and moral. They are innocent prey for lascivious wanton good for nothing’s who take their hard earned pennies and receive nothing, nothing in return! Poor sweets. Hahaha! Best giggle I’ve had all day. Thanks!
25
amir 's not saying we should feel sorry for hard-working industrious men. he's saying it's unlikely there would be an outpouring of supportive comments for young attractive men who make their living not by actual jobs, but by dating older women, taking their money, and flaunting their lifestyle on social media.
5
The French used to call these ladies "courtesans." An honest profession, more or less. No retirement plan, though.
112
@Bill,
We can all spend a bipartisan evening watching on Netflix, 'Dangerous Beauty', the making of a courtesan in Venice.
There was a powerful woman with a handle on politics in the United States, well-known in Washington and New York social circle, she was deemed a 'courtesan' on occasion for her seductive skills, which include the art of conversation, charm and bright wits.
She could be frugal at the most unexpected times, and I have yet to read the work of her reflected glory which is collecting dust. There is reason to believe that she had a formidable retirement plan.
Enjoyed this article by the New York Times, and joining a few others in hoping that these young women have had the smarts to open a Swiss bank account because it is a cold world out there, babes.
Walmart could begin by thanking them for their purchases by giving them the status of 'preferred customer'.
15
@Miss Ley
Most excellent. Cheers.
6
@Bill Saving the best jewels and antiques is the retirement plan.
1
My partner loves me. She truly loves me. And I love her back.
Your article taught me that I have far more wealth than billionaires.
202
@Marshall I have to say that this is the only comment that really made me smile. Life is short, so keep up the mutual appreciation, and mazel tov.
8
@Marshall I have to say that this is the only comment that really made me smile. Reminds me of the Thompson Twins song “King for a Day”. Life is short, so keep up the mutual appreciation, and mazel tov.
1
These young women, for now - ages catches up to us all! - have engendered every negative stereotype of the rapacious woman! I actually feel a bit sorry for them. As much as they project a super glamorous image and lifestyle, you know there’s some deep seated lack of self worth and esteem.
I had never heard of them before reading this article - now I wish I hadn’t done so. Well, in these increasingly depressing times in our country, I guess we can be thankful for this: they’re not American.
112
@Sherry True, but then we have plenty just like them and even more so, so we don't really need them.
8
@Sherry They are super famous on the West African social media scene which is trying to find Kardashian-lookalikes...
1
There is a reason that, in the trade, jewelry making is referred to as, "the world's second oldest profession."
So answering the proposition, how to date a lot of billionaires, we find that there is really one one degree of separation between remuneration in baubles versus cold cash.
But who can find fault with the honest dealing in the world's oldest profession, in a world where "truth isn't truth" and the "leader of the free world" is a liar, tax cheat, draft dodger, and cheats on his wives?
I'd rather pass time with an honest woman any day, and would no doubt come away feeling cleaner than an encounter with Orange Top.
39
So many of these comments judge them on their lifestyle. They are adults. Is it for me, no? Do I want to follow their life, no?
I'm more offended by the need to make comments about them than I am with how these two women felt they needed to engage in these capacities to get ahead in this world.
16
@Rebekah
Re: "how these two women felt they needed to engage in these capacities to get ahead in this world" That's the nonsense du jour. Thanks for sharing it. There is nothing in this world compelling two people from a Canadian middle-class family to pursue billionaires across the globe. They are who they are. It is not "the system". It is not "the structure". It is two individuals from Canada - a nation known for embracing multiculturalism - living "their truth".
21
Sorry, tew, but Rebekah did not say or suggest that a "system" or "structure" compelled the behavior. By calling them "adults," it was clear she was not placing blame for their compulsion anywhere but on them.
2
@Barry Ancona
I thought it was implied. But I'll agree there could be other interpretations of Rebekah's statement that the women "felt" that they "needed" to behave in this manner to "get ahead in this world". However, the phrase "get ahead in this world" is widely understood to imply that the "world" has some structure, some set of rules, that either dictates or confines our feasible courses of action.
Perhaps Rebekah could be more explicit about exactly what it is she meant by that statement.
1
There's no accounting for taste.
76
The Trumpian nature of our age of excess on display. I feel like I need to bath in hand sanitizer.
356
@Ben,
Hokum. There have been tales of such excess on display through the ages, and a notch above in the times we are living, surpassing how to marry a millionaire. These young women are 'Billionaire kitties' with sharp claws, who should be treated gently.
A prayer for the self-righteous among us, and not all of us are planning to go to a nunnery, after reading this colorful and lush article.
5
@Miss Ley That there has been excess in the past is not news to anyone. Hieronymus Bosch painted The Garden of Earthly Delights in the 1400's.
Our current gilded age has income inequality that rivals any period in history. That the rich are spending on trinkets and bimbets is certainly old news. But it does not make it any less creepy and make those claws you refer to any less vile.
9
So sad on every possible level. I feel sorry for their parents.
230
@LS Maybe they were raised to be like this.
4
@Jean
According to the article their parents are strict. The snuck away to Nigeria.
Editor’s note: This comment has been anonymized in accordance with applicable law(s).
2
It would seem that having a Sugar Daddy extends to even the ordinary. I remember in the 1980's women (including a former girlfriend, who claimed to be a feminist, but spoke of wanting to be "kept") who either had or were looking for a Sugar Daddy. I guess dollars "trump" self-respect every time.
12
@John: No, I don't think dollars DO "trump" self-respect every time. But when they don't, it's not newsworthy. It's just normal people living their lives.
7
@heliotrophic
I would like to agree with you, but I believe that life is very transactional, where not all “goods” are necessarily desirable, nor the price of those that are, not always affordable. And, as you suggest, not all transactions reach the level of “newsworthiness.” Maybe the NYT included this piece to give us a voyeur’s peek into a type of transaction that may occur more often than most think. There really is no fundamental difference, other than length of time, between this and what our laws describe as prostitution.
2
“For once we want to just focus on ourselves.” Ha! When did they ever not?
458
No such thing as a free lunch, I think is what they say.
18
@JLPDX acronymed to "TANSTAFL" by my old economics professor...[i believe the first "a" was for "ain't"]
6
@jg grace HA HA My Econ 101 Prof as well.
2
Fascinating article. The Sisters are emblematic of our Social Media culture. I’m really torn between awe at their brazen
“ business plan “, and disgust at the normalization of
electronic prostitution. Allegedly.
Seriously.
135
Looks just like Melania to me. Back when I was a girl, my mother warned me "there is a name for women like that." Do they even know how to read or write? Have they ever been encouraged to go to school, or work, or do anything to better humanity?
285
"Have they ever been encouraged to go to school..."
vandalfan,
You must have missed this at the start of the piece:
"The sisters’ lives changed abruptly 10 years ago, when Jyoti, fresh out of college, met a Nigerian petroleum magnate."
11
@Vandalfan
So much for the sisterhood. “There is a name for women like that”. I thought we were past calling other women names.
4
Gee once they escaped Nigeria maybe they should have cashed in some of the loot and hired a lawyer and a PR firm. What are they doing shopping at Walmart if they have developed such expensive tastes?
13
@Smitty54
Walmart has high quality serviceable merchandise as well as food.
9
A fitting story for the age of Trump.
152
I always wonder how this "glamorous" stuff gets discussed in gender studies' classes....
12
Don't spend it all in one place.
Being over 30 is at the top end of being a gold digger.
Your days are numbered.
Here's some advice to the sisters, go back to school.
Plus, stay out of Italy, (& Africa, the entire continent).
Dubai is dubious as well. These women are lucky to be alive.
259
It is a sad reality that there are many women worldwide who are put in a position where they have no options and are in the sex trade, or even slavery.
There are also some who engage in it by choice
If The Times wants to run an article about the sex trade why waste precious space on these two, who seem to have chosen this life style?
They are not victims per se. They are in a risky business by choice.
How about focusing on the victims of the sex trade?
Or not enabling their thirst for notoriety. Or maybe even reporting them to the tax authorities.
188
Hilarious!
"“There’s always going to be a guy saying, ‘Let me spoil you,’ who wants to fly us somewhere,” Jyoti said. “For once we want to just focus on ourselves.”"
Was there ever a time they didn't focus on themselves?
86
@Factumpactum
Actually, if you really think about it, they have to do quite a lot to pamper, impress and keep the attentions of a rich billionaire. They have to read a person, see what he wants and likes, etc. and quickly adjust their own attitudes and what they like and don't like to please their benefactor. They have to be careful what they say in his presence or about him to others to keep him happy. They really have to focus a great deal of attention on him.
The last line makes perfect sense and not in an ironic way.
30
I can't help wondering when reading about the Kardashians and now these sisters what their immigrant ancestors would say about them. When these people migrated to North America, they did want to become affluent but that was just one part of the aspirations. They also wanted their descendants to be well educated, accomplished, distinguished. They did not want them to become nouveau riche "trailer trash". They wanted to brag about something other than what they stored in their closets or garages. They certainly did not want to broadcast that their descendants were sexually available to any well off men and apparently didn't give a hoot about STDs. Also, that they were so stupid and greedy that they would leave the protection of their own country at the snap of the fingers from one of these well off men. After all, these people came to North America to escape the oppression of those other countries.
I am looking forward to reading someday of the epilogue to these stories. That's the part where they get old and they have to fall back upon the other resources they built into their characters over the years....Oh, that's right, they won't have any character(s). If they are still alive, they will still be the silly, vacuous women they've always been, now getting foot operations for the feet they ruined with all of those high heels.
38
If you truly believe in multiculturalism and reject universalism and embrace the notion that consenting adults should be free to pursue their pleasures without censure, you cannot condemn these women (unless you revel in hypocrisy).
Explain why YOUR beliefs (which come from YOUR culture) should be applied to others?
My question is whether they've paid their taxes. Or are taxes now subject to some form of cultural relativism?
24
@tew
There seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding here. Of course the sisters are free to pursue their legal life goals and ambitions anyway they wish. However, THEY gave us the power to view and judge them when they sought to advertise themselves and their choices first on the internet and then through the NYT. As a society it is indeed our responsibility to judge such things in nearly every endeavor of our species - sports, arts, science, education, public service, etc. It is proper and right for us to do so as we seek to elevate our world to the things that are best - to inspire and remind us of what is good and right. No one is going to give out a Nobel Prize for shopping or the successful acquisition of the richest sugar daddy. If they had done these things in private no one would know or care. To regale their choices of "success" in the NYT invites us in to judge. Most of us find that while their treatment in Nigeria and Italy as terrible and unfortunate, we also recognize that the girls antics, though often unfortunate, are wanting.
13
@Eric
Thanks for your conservative perspective on this topic, which is refreshing given the forum.
I'd distill your perspective as follows:
1) By *choosing* to reveal your personal activities to society (in some obvious, avoidable way) then you submit to criticism from members of society.
2) Members of society, individually and then collectively, have a duty to enforce a single set of norms and punish activities that fall outside those norms.
2
@tew
Again, I would say, there is a basic misunderstanding here. First, no one is "punishing" these girls for their choices; only voicing our disapproval over the values expressed by the road they have taken. This isn't the Scarlet Letter.
On your first point, I would agree. If you draw public attention to your behavior and we are given a forum to express our views, it is certainly not unkind nor wrong to do so. There is a clear moral/ethical framework from which all of us need to judge ourselves and others. To not judge is to say that there is no real difference of value between good and bad behaviors. However, we instinctively know that industry and initiative are better than laziness and sloth. As humans we value truth over lies, sacrifice instead of selfishness, courage better than cowardice, etc.
Yes, beauty sometimes rests in the eye of the beholder - but that shouldn't mean that anyone can call ugliness their own "beauty." If they do so, it may be our moment, perhaps even a necessity to call it by its real name. It is in seeking to judge according to the standard (natural law) which allows us to get back on the right road when we get it wrong.
From what I gather from the article, these sisters have not harmed anyone, nor have they broken any laws. Yet, it is not improper to say that they have chosen the lesser things in life - glitz and glamour over substance, real relationships and the power of connections with others that cannot be bought. That is a pity.
6
What a killer last line. Kudos to the writer.
39
At least one of them has learned to sew.
173
I already knew that there were people who served no purpose. I didn't need this article to confirm it further.
I want to read about people who make others' lives better not those who just consume, consume, consume.
323
Jyoti: “I’m attracted by the power of who they are, what they do and what position they are on the Forbes billionaire list.”
Kiran: “If you want to date me, you have to spoil me.”
----
These are disgusting human beings.
655
@Socrates
I think these two ladies are quite normal. Who doesn’t like to be spoiled?
It’s OK to like nice things. It’s not a crime to be wealthy.... but these boyfriends need to pay a lot more in taxes, definitely.
19
Studioroom,
There's nothing wrong with wealth or liking nice things.
But it's much richer to have a human soul and a fully functioning human heart in touch with humanity than it is to be a 'high-class' (low-class) materialistic prostitute painted in mascara, foundation and lipstick with drivel falling out of one's mouth.
135
Socrates,
You and they have different takes on "richer." I agree with your take and have no use for theirs, but I don't need to call them disgusting; I just wouldn't call them at all.
19
I'm with gerry's first sentence: "The point of this story is what ?"
Is the answer that this is the analog of The New Yorker's short story in each weekly issue? Because the Times is a newspaper, it has to a true story; otherwise, it serves the same function.
23
Entertainment & amusement. It succeeded.
13
Nigeria is a dangerous place. Very dangerous. They are lucky to be alive. Be thankful for Toronto as well. And Canada. Flaunting wealth can come with a price. Proceed with caution.
135
@Mark
Sounds like you're close to calling it a S*1hl country.
7
Some parts of America can be dangerous too.
6
Nigerian here. Yes, you have to be careful in Nigeria like other places that you are travel to. But I am more afraid of getting shot in an American (bar, workplace, subway) that I am of something happening to me in Nigeria. These women crossed the wrong Nigerian, Otedola is one of Nigeria’s most powerful men and perhaps they made the wrong presumption that foreigners often make in Africa, like anything they do goes unpunished. Alas you cross the wrong person and there will be consequences.
22
What a hoot! Ironic a lot of their trouble was in Nigeria, land of the e-mails looking to give you a ton of money by some Nigerian "Prince".
Did anyone force the guys to pay these ladies? A lot of effort went into giving them a hard time. Locking them up? Talk about human rights abuses. Poor things, having to shop at (of course) a Walmart Super Centre. Free publicity from the NYT. You go girls!
21st century version of Vanity Fair, the book not the magazine.
70
Only when there will be numerical equality between female and male gold diggers, Sugar Moms and Sugar Dadies (and their respective objects of attention) we should rest with struggle for equality of men and women.
Before achieving that noble goal, lets first focus on, struggle toward and get full media and academia support toward say 80% of Sugar Moms and male gold diggers (as compared to numbers of Sugar Daddies and female gold diggers).
Why 80%? Because we are supposed to believe a notion that women get only 80% of pay "for the same work" men get.
Note: Is it due to "patriarchal oppression" that, despite decades of Cosmopolitan, women are in statistically significant way less obsessed by or pay for sex than men?
If women get 80% of men's pay, why they dont pay for "companionship" at 80% of what men pay?
10