Yab Yum was one of the best-known and most exclusive brothel

Brothel

Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...

s in Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

, the Netherlands. Located in a 17th century canal house on the Singel

Singel (Amsterdam)

The Singel is a canal in Amsterdam which encircled the city in the Middle Ages. It served as a moat around the city until 1585, when Amsterdam expanded beyond the Singel. The canal runs from the IJ bay, near Central Station, to the Muntplein square, where it meets the Amstel river...

, it mostly catered to businessmen and foreign visitors. A second Yab Yum operated for a while in Rotterdam

Rotterdam

Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...

, but has since been closed.

In January 2008, the city of Amsterdam closed the brothel by revoking its license, alleging that it was being used for criminal activity.

Operation

, the entrance fee was 70 euro

Euro

The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...

s, which included a drink. Sex for one hour costs 300 euros, but typically required in addition the purchase of an expensive bottle of champagne.

From its beginning in the 1980s until the legalization of brothels in 2000, the Yab Yum operated as a "licenced club with no members" and was tolerated according to police guidelines, as long as no drugs and no violence was involved.
The club has advertised in student newspapers in order to find employees.

In 1997, it was reported that a woman earned up to $10,000 per month working at Yab Yum, tax free. Anticipating stricter regulation, the club agreed to pay taxes for its 55 employees starting January 1, 1998.

In anticipation of the official legalization of brothels on October 1, 2000, Yab Yum owner Theo Heuft applied to open a "relax service" at the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport

Amsterdam Schiphol Airport

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol ) is the Netherlands' main international airport, located 20 minutes southwest of Amsterdam, in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer. The airport's official English name, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, reflects the original Dutch word order...

, to offer exclusive food, drink and massages to travelers. When he was turned down, he filed a lawsuit. The airport brothel was never opened.

In an interview in Millionair Magazine in February 2008, Heuft said that the brothel made its best ever earnings, just over 40,000 euros, on the evening in 1985 when the Dutch football team beat Cyprus 7-1 in Amsterdam. He complained about the "dreadful" atmosphere caused by the "ordinary clientele" that night.

Ownership and scandals

The club has repeatedly been mentioned in connection with corruption affairs. In 1998 it was alleged that a director of a brokerage house regularly obtained insider information

Insider trading

Insider trading is the trading of a corporation's stock or other securities by individuals with potential access to non-public information about the company...

 by inviting senior executives to Yab Yum. In 2002 a former manager of a building company alleged that civil servants were commonly bribed with visits to Yab Yum.

In 1990 the major drug trafficker Klaas Bruinsma

Klaas Bruinsma (drug lord)

Klaas Bruinsma was a major Dutch drug lord, shot to death by mafia member and former police officer Martin Hoogland...

 and his associate Roy Adkins fought in the club after one of their operations had gone sour; shots were fired but nobody was injured and nobody talked to the police. Adkins was assassinated later that year and Bruinsma was shot to death in 1991.

A newspaper article in 2006 reported that true ownership of the brothel had long been in the hands of mafia figures, beginning with Klaas Bruinsma, who called it "the club house". After Bruinsma's death, his associates Sam Klepper and John Mieremet

John Mieremet

Johannes Mieremet was a Dutch underworld figure associated with the Willem Endstra extortion and assassination. Mieremet's former lawyer Evert Hingst was gunned down on Monday October 31, 2005...

 took over, along with the Dutch Hells Angels

Hells Angels

The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is a worldwide one-percenter motorcycle gang and organized crime syndicate whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporation. Their primary motto...

. Klepper was murdered in 2000; Mieremet survived an assassination attempt in 2002 but was murdered in 2005.

Closure

In November 2007 it was reported that the city of Amsterdam was trying to close the brothel by revoking its license, alleging without going into details that it was being used for criminal activity. This was part of a larger campaign of mayor Job Cohen

Job Cohen

Marius Job Cohen is a Dutch social democratic politician and former legal scholar of Jewish background. Since 2010 he has been the leader of the Labour Party and since June 17, 2010 he has been a member of the House of Representatives, where he also is the Parliamentary group leader of the Labour...

 to reduce the number of sex businesses operating in the city center. Closure was done with the Bibob act which does not require proof of criminal activities or criminal connections: reasonably strong indications are sufficient.

Yab Yum appealed the revocation of the license. At court, the city's lawyer alleged that owner Hennie Vittali was a front man for the Hells Angels, who had taken over the club in 1999 following blackmail and threats, buying it for €1.8m although the market price was put at €9m. On January 4, 2008 the court confirmed the action of the city. In a public statement, the brothel denied any connection with the Hells Angels and vowed to appeal the ruling. The brothel closed on January 7, 2008. On January 15, 2008 a higher court confirmed the decision; Yab Yum lost its license and will remain closed.

On April 3, 2010 an offer was announced; sex club owner Hennie Vittali was asking €6m for the name and property.

Name

"Yab-Yum

Yab-Yum

Yab-yum is a common symbol in the Buddhist art of India, Bhutan, Nepal, and Tibet representing the male deity in sexual union with his female consort...

" is Tibetan

Tibetan language

The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually-unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering the Indian subcontinent, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh,...

 for "father-mother" and describes a symbol in Buddhist

Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

 and Hinduist

Hinduism

Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

art showing a male and female god in sexual union.

External links

• Yab Yum official website