Clooney girlfriend named in sex and drugs scandal

Hollywood actor George Clooney's Italian girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis has been implicated in a cocaine and callgirl scandal after a witness testified to seeing her among a group of models and starlets using cocaine in a Milan nightclub.

The incident allegedly occurred in 2008, before Clooney began dating Canalis, a former TV presenter and model.

The testimony was given to prosecutors investigating two Milan nightclubs - Hollywood and The Club - by a 26-year-old model from Paris, called Karima Menad, who said: "I've done cocaine with other people including Elisabetta Canalis."

Menad's testimony was contained in a package of evidence used earlier this week to close down the two clubs and put five people under house arrest.

According to the Corriere della Sera, the investigation was launched in
2008 after it was alleged that the two clubs, both used by VIPs visiting Italy's fashion capital, were running an escort and high-class prostitution ring fueled by alcohol and cocaine.

"They [the girls] were brought into the clubs by the various characters acting as PR for the evenings to entertain customers at the tables," said Frank Di Maio, the prosecutor who took Karima's evidence.

"Their job was to encourage these customers to drink alcohol as to increase the table's bill, followed up by sex off premises."

Di Maio described the two clubs as "free zones" where VIPs considered themselves above the law, free to do what they chose "far from the gaze of public opinion" as long as they had enough money.

The news comes just as speculation grows that Clooney, one of the world's most eligible bachelors, might be about to marry Canalis. According to Marie Claire earlier this week, staff were spotted putting up a white wedding gazebo in the grounds of gorgeous Clooney's villa on the shores of Lake Como. ·