But staying put held little appeal. She was coming out of a tough breakup. When you are 24 years old, jobless, boyfriend-less and in a fight with your mom, moving to one of the most glamorous, ballyhooed cities in the world can seem like a good idea. Never mind the expense. Fowles arrived in August 2017. For all the excitement of moving to New York City, she ended up sharing a three-bedroom apartment with two other roommates across the Hudson River, in Jersey City, N. Fowles hesitated at first, but she convinced herself that sugar-dating would result in her having something of a regular relationship with an older man who would pamper her with an allowance. She signed up on , a website that helps people interested in monetized dating find each other. In an interview with The Times, Brandon Wade, the founder of SeekingArrangement, said his dating platform, which he has rebranded as Seeking, is not a vehicle for prostitution. The terms of service, he said, prohibit transactions for sex; the site simply seeks to bring the role that money plays in mating out in the open. Wade, who also runs other dating sites including OpenMinded. Wade claims that the site has 20 million members worldwide, about 60 percent of them in the U. The site also markets itself as an antidote to student debt. The profiles of SeekingArrangement sugar daddies include how much they make — purportedly. Dipping In Legal issues were far from Ms. There was no sex. Then there was another man who took her to dinner in Midtown, after which they got a room at the CitizenM hotel. He liked that hotel, she said, because you can book a room online and then check in at an unmanned electronic kiosk. Nine hundred bucks, to be precise. Fowles decided she needed a regular allowance coming from a regular arrangement. She went back onto the site and soon received a message from a man who said his name was Jay and that he was an investment banker at Bain. He included a mobile number and requested that they speak. Fowles said he told her — more than the going rate. They were going to meet that very night, but something — his jet lag from a trip to London, or maybe it was her menstrual cycle — got in the way. The next day, Ms. Fowles and Ron were back on the phone, planning a rendezvous. He asked her if she had a friend to bring along, whom he would pay the same amount. Discussions about the money were explicit but what it would buy him was never directly stated. Fowles called a friend who was reluctant but needed the money. She sent Ron a few pictures of the friend, the three of them got on the phone, and then Ron and the friend spoke directly. They picked a date, a Tuesday afternoon at the end of March. Fowles felt an urgency to make it all happen. The Assignation Ron said the three of them should meet at a hotel of Ms. He said he wanted to meet midday, in between a lunch meeting and a dinner meeting. Fowles to book the room. Fowles how he would like her and her friend to look. He wanted them to wear thongs and high heels. Fowles said he told her. So she and her friend went to Drybar for blowouts and met him in the lobby of the Aloft hotel, where Ms. He was in grubby clothes and did not look like he had just come from a lunch meeting. He said he had run home after lunch to change into comfortable clothes. Once they were up in the room, they got down to business. Fowles asked Ron to pay them upfront. Though Ron had clearly wanted to communicate on the telephone to avoid making a digital footprint with text messages, he said he wanted to pay her and her friend via the PayPal app. Fowles he could write off the expense if he paid it digitally. He then pulled out his phone, said he was accepting the request as he tapped away at his screen. Fowles and her friend then had sex with Ron. After his request for a massage they said yes and then a request for another go-round they said no , he bid them adieu. Fowles said he said. The Return of Ron Ms. Fowles had another friend who was curious about sugar dating and who happened upon a profile on Tinder that caught her eye. It was a guy named Jay. The friend took a screenshot of the Tinder profile and texted it to Ms. Fowles, who immediately recognized the backstory that the man who hoodwinked her had used on SeekingArrangement. Fowles texted her friend. After discussing the drama, the two women decided to take advantage of the unusual circumstance. The friend swiped right on Jay. After a quick private message exchange, he suggested they speak on the phone. The number he gave her was the same number for Ron, Ms. They had a conversation and he gave her the same story: Ron was his real name, he was an investment banker at Bain and he had a long-term arrangement with a young woman that had enabled her to enroll in graduate school in Michigan. He explained his preference for a smoky eye and a nude lip. He wanted to meet near the Jay Street-MetroTech subway station. The Caper Before the scheduled meeting, Ms. Fowles went to scope out the scene. Fowles texted her friend, back at her apartment in Windsor Terrace, to alert her. The friend then texted Ron that she had arrived early and was in the ladies room. The bartender casually walked over to the side of the bar where Ms. He spelled the first and last name on the credit card. Fowles sent a triumphant text to her friend, who texted Ron to let him know she was standing him up. They quickly found that the man had been an employee of City Hall and was now a student in a New York University program that is in Brooklyn, near the Jay Street-MetroTech subway stop. He is not an investment banker nor does he work at Bain, the management consultant firm. The woman who took part in the rendezvous with Ms. Fowles at the Aloft hotel, who wanted her name withheld for privacy, confirmed that the man pictured on an N. Fowles called him on the number that was included on the bio. Fowles said, addressing Jay by his real name. Going Public The following day, Ms. Fowles messaged Sherrod Small, a comedian she had met after a show at the Stand, a comedy club. She knew that Mr. Because she had a crazy story to share. She recorded the podcast that day, one of five guests who bantered and told stories. Fowles about how one of her college roommates had been murdered. Then, in a portion of the podcast that is offered to listeners for three dollars, she told what had happened at the Aloft hotel, and after. Except she said it had happened to two friends, not herself. As she laid out the story, Mr. Fowles has reached out to Ron one more time, in June. The Times contacted Ron, who requested not to be quoted by name. He confirmed that he told women that he was an investment banker at Bain and that he had said he had a previous sugar arrangement with a young woman who had moved to Michigan for graduate school. Certainly not with Mr. Agnifilo, the lawyer, said it is unlikely that Ms. Fowles committed solicitation or prostitution as outlined by New York state statutes. Still, she has washed her hands of sugar-dating, hoping to pursue a career in personal styling. And she makes no apologies for her experience.
