London-based Italian national Adel En Nouri and five other individuals are facing additional criminal charges after two more complainants came forward, alleging they were recruited for overseas work but were instead forced to perform lewd shows for online clients.

The new complainants filed charges of qualified human trafficking and serious illegal detention before the Lipa City Prosecutor’s Office.

Aside from Nouri, the complaint names Norminda Sope Esperila, Angelito de Guzman, Fatima Arfaqui, Yuness en Nouri and Mohammed En Nouri as respondents.

The two complainants recounted that they were approached by Esperila and De Guzman while working as sales associates at SM City, Lipa, on 10 January 2025. The recruiters introduced themselves as part of the human resources department of Tamber International Placement Agency and offered the victims high-paying sales associate jobs with free accommodation in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Convinced the job offer was legitimate, the victims went to the agency’s office in Lipa City to process their applications. While there, they were introduced to Adel En Nouri, the alleged owner of the recruitment agency, via video call. Nouri allegedly boasted of his connections and success in sending many Filipinos to the UAE.

The agency then demanded an P80,000 placement fee, allowing the victims to pay an initial P10,000. On 20 January, Nouri allegedly asked the complainants to work at the agency’s office as “virtual assistants” while waiting for deployment, suggesting the work would help them pay off the remaining placement fee balance.

The victims claimed that while working as virtual assistants, Sope and Esperila arranged video calls between them and foreign clients.

“Initially these were just simple conversations, but later, we were instructed to flirt and show lewd acts to the people we were talking to,” the complainants said.

They were told they would earn P5,000 per video session, but the payments were allegedly withheld by the recruiters to cover the remaining placement fee balance. The victims claimed their recruiters threatened to cancel their application and forfeit their initial payment if they refused to comply with the clients’ requests.

The complainants alleged they were not allowed to leave the office without permission and had their mobile phones confiscated. They accused the recruiters of forcing them to perform sex acts in front of the camera for 10 days while being watched by foreign customers, including Yuness and Mohammed En Nouri.