Oscar De La Hoya recalls meeting with Russian mob to pay $1,000,000 to not release pictures of boxer in lingerie
'The Golden Boy' Oscar De La Hoya once paid the Russian mob $1 million to get rid of his cross-dressing photos.
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Oscar De La Hoya (Image Courtesy: The Independent)
Following his Olympic gold medal-winning performance in 1992, Oscar De La Hoya became one of the most popular boxers. Subsequently, De La Hoya easily became a major draw until his retirement in 2008. He went on to win ten world championships in six different divisions and was inducted into the IBF Hall of Fame in 2007. However, he also had his fair share of problems outside the ring, including alcohol and drug addiction.
In 2007, he was the subject of a scandal about a series of “cross-dressing” photos featuring him. At that point, Oscar De La Hoya was still active and had his image tarnished. Subsequently, De La Hoya tried to prevent the photos from leaking and even paid the Russian mob to get rid of them. Furthermore, in an interview with BigBoyTV, De La Hoya revealed that the Russian mob contacted his lawyer, and De La Hoya agreed to pay.
He had to go on top of a rooftop, where there's a pool in New York. Take off all his clothes, jump into the pool, and the Russian jumped into the pool, and they negotiated right there."Oscar De La Hoya via BigBoyTV
De La Hoya revealed that his lawyer negotiated inside a pool to make sure nobody was wearing a wire. Furthermore, the Russian mob demanded a sum of $1 million from De La Hoya to get rid of those photos.
Subsequently, De La Hoya entrusted his lawyer to pay them, and after the negotiations, the lawyer did so. However, the images were inevitably released even after paying the Russian mob, and they went viral.
Oscar De La Hoya speaks about the cross-dressing
The photos were taken during a wild party that De La Hoya was present at. Furthermore, De La Hoya was asked to wear the clothes by an exotic dancer called Milana Dravnel. The images show De La Hoya wearing fishnet body stockings, a wig, a tutu, heels, a bra, and tight, pink underwear.
De La Hoya did not want the pictures to be released and tried his best to stop it. However, the images were leaked, and De La Hoya maintained that the photos were fake for a long time. Later on, De La Hoya even hired forensic experts to claim that the images of him were fake.
Years after his retirement, De La Hoya has now claimed that he is an open book. Furthermore, he has spoken about his childhood abuse, drugs, and depression and admitted to the cross-dressing photos being real.
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Abhijay Roy
(551 Articles Published)