Thursday Hannah Karp of the WALL STREET JOURNAL did a piece on how great the party scene in Toronto was for visiting NBA players. Mentioned prominently in the story was a woman named Mona Halem.
At the center of much of the city’s athlete nightlife is an event planner and promoter named Mona Halem, a former employee of the Air Canada Centre, which is home to the Raptors. Ms. Halem has become “notorious” throughout the sports world, says Raptors forward Antoine Wright, for assembling attractive party guests to fete nearly every franchise that comes to town.
The popularity of these parties—some athletes say they’ve cancelled appearances and forfeited thousands of dollars in fees to attend them—has made Ms. Halem a known entity throughout sports.
The Journal doesn’t specify what Halem’s business model actually is, except that, “some athletes say they’ve cancelled appearances and forfeited thousands of dollars” to”attend” her “events.”
Here is an extensive gallery of photos from some of Halem’s past “events.” After you look through the photos let me know if you think NBA players have “forfeited thousands of dollars” to merely “attend” her “events.”
Today I talked to an NBA staffer and a league announcer about Halem. Each travels with an NBA team.
The staffer told me that league players have long been hooking up with “Halem’s girls,” with her “services” to the ballers often going beyond bottles.
I also learned today that Halem’s ladies occasionally service the stray, garden-variety rapper, boxer and member of the Buffalo Bills. (I’m serious.) Hockey and baseball players though aren’t getting any action, as Halem apparently prefers dealing with the basketball and football types.
That’s not to say that Halem makes her bones as madame, but if the follow-up pieces about her in the TORONTO GLOBE & MAIL and TORONTO STAR are any indication, I’m not the only one hearing that she’s providing visiting ballers with more than just party favors.
In a followup Saturday to the Wall Street Journal piece, the Toronto Star’s Denise Balkissoon focuses on Halem:
Chris Bosh came to Mona Halem’s birthday party. Her event planning company, Lady Luck Entertainment, throws velvet rope shindigs hosted by the likes of the L.A. Lakers’ Ron Artest. Her website has a photo gallery of big name athletes enjoying Toronto’s nightlife alongside a lot of pretty girls, all of them dressed to kill.
But, Halem says, she doesn’t run an escort service.
“Who the hell is that?” asks Halem when questioned about media comparisons to New York club promoter Rachel Uchitel, who was outed as the mistress of Tiger Woods. She says she didn’t pay attention as the Woods scandal unfolded.
“That’s not a comparison. If she’s a party planner, sure, but that other stuff, come on. It’s totally unfair. I think because it’s a male dominated industry. Because I’m a female, maybe that’s what led to that.”
From Paul Waldie and Andrew Willis of the Globe & Mail Friday:
Ms. Halem insists she provides superstars with a fun, hassle-free environment, not a place to pick up women.
“It’s not about that at all,” she said. “It’s just basically whether you’re a player or a businesswoman or businessman or student or whoever you are, you are going to enjoy it because of the atmosphere, the music, the friendly environment, the service.”
When asked if she is running an escort service, Ms. Halem replied: “Wow, no, definitely not! There are four or five other top promoter and event co-ordinators in the city and they are all men and none of them get asked that question.”
More on Halem’s “events” from the Star:
“It’s just celebrities and girls pretty much,” says DJ Wikked, who has played music at Halem’s event for six years. But, says the hip hop and RnB spinner, no one is paid to attend. “If girls meet guys at the VIP table, that’s what happens at a party.”
Another reason Halem’s parties stand out, says the DJ, is that her guests are willing to spend. “There are a lot of bottles being popped,” he says.
“Her clients are very bottle service oriented,” says Vito Ferrone, the VP of Operations at Liberty Entertainment Group, which has hosted Halem bashes at clubs like C Lounge and Tattoo Rock Parlour. “They tend to spend more.”
Finally, the most telling comments about Halem’s north of the border operation comes from local, sports-connected execs in Toronto:
“Mona is the Rachel Uchitel of Toronto,” said an executive who works with two of the city’s professional sports teams, referring to the New York club hostess who has been linked to golf superstar Tiger Woods.
The executive, who asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said Ms. Halem is known for “throwing these incredible VIP parties that set up the athletes with access to anything they desire. She’s the hostess with the mostest.”
Other sports executives who have dealt with Ms. Halem used words such as “charming but pushy” to describe her style. One executive close to the Toronto Blue Jays said: “Her goal is to be everybody’s best friend, but she’s not exactly the kind of friend the athletes need.”
Speaking of friends, if you take care to go through the photos, you’ll notice that there seems to be the same, recurring women at most “events” - with those ladies usually stationed around Halem and the celebrities of the evening. Complete coincidence, obviously.
What’s most interesting about this whole thing isn’t that Halem is hooking up NBA players with local women, but the relationship between the Wall Street Journal piece about her and the subsequent Toronto follows.
While the Journal doesn’t even hint that Halem could be funneling prostitutes to NBA players, the second graf of the profile of her in her hometown paper confronts her about the possibility, as does the Toronto Globe & Mail piece.
That doesn’t mean that the Journal piece doesn’t include blaring sirens calling attention to what Halem could really be up to:
Athletes get a warm welcome at the city’s relatively libertine gentlemen’s clubs which, according to a spokeswoman for the Toronto Convention and Visitors Bureau, tend to “clear out the champagne room” for visiting athletes. And it helps that the tentacles of the tabloids and gossip Web sites rarely extend this far into the frozen north. “People like to come here to party,” says Raptors power forward Chris Bosh.
Not to mention the story noting how much “visiting” players enjoy the party scene, but locals like Bosh are lukewarm about it.
So knowing what we know now, I’ve saved the best for last. From the Globe & Mail:
“I don’t look at them as clients or customers,” Ms. Halem said yesterday. “I look at them as family or friends.”
She caters mainly to basketball, football and baseball players - “I don’t know anyone who plays hockey” - and she knows all the big shots.
Kobe Bryant? “Yeah, I know him. I know his wife.”
I believe that like I believe she’s hasn’t raped her clients on the exchange rate.
11:39 pm on March 13th, 2010
Wish I was a basketball player…
10:15 am on March 14th, 2010
Whats the problem again? Why else is there a reason for putting any franchise in Toronto? What is it to do up there in the winter months?
10:20 am on March 14th, 2010
What a class act bunch!!! N O T !!!
7:32 pm on March 14th, 2010
Yeah, they’re just partyin’, nothing else….
10:46 pm on March 14th, 2010
UMM! You guys are dont HAVE YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT!!! I know the girls in these photo and none of them are highclass prostitutes!! Some of them work for local LAW ENFORCEMENT in the GTA!!! Half of these pictures were not even taking in Toronto and are more than two years old!!! Mona is a hard working person who is passionate about her business!! She is Successful!! Whats wrong with that! WHY DO PEOPLE HAVE TO HATE AND TALK SH!T about stuff that you know nothing about!! It has take Mona a decade to get where she is now! And this is how you treat some one who Not slinging drugs but actually just running a good business and doing what she loves!! GET YOUR F@CKING FACTS STRAIGHT!!!
Legal action may be taken against this site!!
11:05 pm on March 14th, 2010
I say sue for defamation of character! Or just look at as haters hating.
What i want to know is why would anyone even think she was doing that??
And Mr. Sportsbybrooks don’t you think you should do some further investigations before making these kind of serious assumptions??
At least the Wall Street Journal was a positive read and a much more respected media outlet compared to these types of sites.
11:18 pm on March 14th, 2010
One thing is funny how these so called ‘execs’ who remain unidentified have something to say yet the WSJ quotes people with names in a positive manner
12:51 am on March 15th, 2010
Very reckless accusations by media journalists analizing from outside. If you go to a bar a single man to meet a grl whats the problem. If your a ball player and you wanna go out to a bar where there are attractive people being men and woman, great music and good vibe, that should be a problem. How do you think alot of married couples met? Alot of times at a bar. I know for a fact Mona has been working her ass off for years in a male dominated scene. Get your story straight cuz Big Daddy Has Spoken!!!!!
2:39 am on March 15th, 2010
No such service in Portland! Maybe Hedo’s Wife got herself a job! By the way…Love your decision Hedo…Very happy to have Andre! And…Great road Trip!
4:49 am on March 15th, 2010
Sounds the FUGLYs had something to do with getting this article written! I actually feel sorry for them though for some ODD reason…
But I would love to attend these parties–very attractive people! Yum
9:04 am on March 15th, 2010
Note the vacant stare in most of those girls faces. Not an honest smile.
They look like pros to me.
9:15 am on March 15th, 2010
They are not whores and I know why. Richard Jefferson is in one of those pics, and he’s gay, so there’s no way these girls are whores.
11:14 am on March 15th, 2010
well anyone with half a brain knows if she ran an escort service she would run one, she would have a website for it and run it. There are tones of them. She obviously chooses to throw parties being her website as an event planner.
its not rocket science. Its just people looking for juicy gossip that’s all
11:25 am on March 15th, 2010
Just checked some of the party photos in the link. May be these aren’t working girls but just good looking, on the prowl wanna-be baby mamas. I wish I had been invited, damn-looks like FUN.
12:44 pm on March 15th, 2010
What the hell is the problem here? Prostitution is legal in Canada as long as cash isn’t discussed in person (-ie- over the phone or e-mail is legal) so no crimes are being committed.
I’ve used the services of escorts in Toronto before, if you have the money I suggest Montreal instead. The women there are more beautiful and you get more bang for your buck, so to say. Unless you seek the company of Asian women, then Toronto is indeed the better locale.
4:07 pm on March 15th, 2010
This is how EVERY party in TO is. This is nothin special. EVERY party in TO has a sufficient number of good lookin women. And then you have some dummies looking at the pictures with all the good looking women who still ask, what is there to do in Toronto. Dumb asses…
10:37 am on March 16th, 2010
I didn’t know partying equals escorting and prostitution. So i think every club in Miami, Toronto, New York, Europe and all over the world should be closing. DUMB people shouldn’t be allowed to blog! lmao
“Hey guys you want to go out tonight?” or should that be re-phrased to “Hey guys you want to go prostituting tonight?”
RETARDED
All because there are ‘ballers’ going out, if it was regular joe partying nobody would have anything to say. The ‘baller’s’ are people to! But who woulda thought huh?
12:45 pm on March 16th, 2010
Only an American would blog something like that! Love Toronto and the parties!
1:19 pm on March 17th, 2010
Why is it a big deal if she is supplying escorts to the athletes? They aren’t hurting anyone. If everything is consensual, then no harm was done. People need to stop thinking this type of stuff is a real crime, it isn’t.
7:10 pm on March 20th, 2010
What does a picture of Floyd Mayweather and two random chicks have anything to do with anything?
9:28 am on April 2nd, 2010
Bigreyde:
The reason for putting sports franchises in Toronto is because the city is big enough to support them and there’s are tons of fans; the Air Canada Centre is North America’s second most lucrative stadium according to Forbes; 2nd to the Staples Centre, ahead of Cowboys & Yankees stadium.
The weather in Toronto is BETTER than some of the American cities that have franchises: Buffalo, Chicago, Minnesota, Green Bay, etc. yet no one ever mentions their weather.
12:23 pm on April 12th, 2010
Shes not a madame. Just people trying to make up a story. You think athletes don’t party just like anyone else? She throws parties guys go, girls go, so what??
Go check out the people who don’t go out and party see what they are doing.
8:54 pm on April 13th, 2010
lol look at this douche bag. what is there to do in the winter months? lol wow, i’m not even gonna answer that i’m just gonna let u feel stupid. toronto is one of the livest cities at night, summer or winter. dumbass. come here n u’ll see. but then again you’d prolly come with like $100 and a cheap suit.
1:36 pm on April 21st, 2010
MONA is BIGTIME.. She aint sexing these players but pimping other chick to do so.. Thats what you call BIGG!!
8:42 pm on April 21st, 2010
everyone working for this mona chik just blew up the comments
10:22 am on April 22nd, 2010
This site just lost all credibility. I can now see that sports by brooks just makes up stories
10:27 am on April 22nd, 2010
Heard there is a pretty big lawsuit going on against certain individuals for defamation of character toward Ms Halem, calling someone a madame is pretty serious. Those quotes from so called execs the Globe took have been pulled down from the Globes website. Be careful the lies you spread about someone.
11:03 am on April 22nd, 2010
Mona was a regular at this cafe i used to manage. She was a sweetheart. NO WAY she’s a madam. She’s a promoter. Go to other Toronto promotion sites and you see TEN TIMES more pretty girls, just no celebrities. It’s because she’s a woman throwing parties. When you make millions I’m sure there is no need for escorts. If you knew that Mona’s parties had sports stars and you like stars, then you’d go if you could, wouldn’t you?
6:38 pm on January 22nd, 2012
trust me, shes a whore and so is every girl that attends. Its actaully a whore fest and makes Toronto looks trashy. she’s responsible for everyone thinking Toronto is home to good looking whores ready to fuck for free.