A wealthy businessman who once appeared on Millionaire Matchmaker has been charged with raping three women he met online.
Michael Leslie Bernback, 62, who once boasted he was worth more than £8million, is also said to have tied one of the women up, and drugged another before attacking her while unconscious.
Bernback, who claims to be a founding members of the Chippendale’s dance troupe, was also charged with possession of party drugs MDMA, GHB and cocaine.
According to CBS 2, police have accused Bernback of messaging the women, who are all in their 20s, online before inviting them to his house in Sherman Oaks, California.
Once they were inside, Berback is said to have subjected them to a harrowing ordeal.
Penetration with a foreign object, forcible oral copulation, rape of an unconscious person and attempted sodomy by force are just a sample of the charges Bernbeck is facing.
Police say the attacks took place on September 23 and September 27 last year, and again on August 11 this year.
If convicted, Bernbeck, who also owns a golf supplies store and produces his own records, is facing multiple life sentences.
Cops are also warning that Bernbeck may have had other victims, and are encouraging anyone who may have been attacked to come forward.
Meanwhile, neighbors on Bernbeck’s street told of his playboy lifestyle, and said that he often invited young women into his house.
One resident reported seeing girls going into his property two or three times a week, with two going in each time. She added: ‘I was waiting for it to implode.’
Bernback was pictured at his house When he took part in Millionaire Matchmaker, Bernback told host Patti Stanger about his desire for younger women, even getting into an argument with her when she suggested dating someone older.
He also boasted about having so much money ‘I can basically do what I want’ and invited cameras inside his plush home, the same home were the attacks are alleged to have taken place.
On his website, which features pictures of himself plus recordings of his music, Bernback boasts that he built the house himself ‘from the group up’.
He also brags about having grown up poor and on food stamps, and claims to have flunked out of High School with a D, before graduating top of his class at UCLA.
Cops added that Bernback has a criminal record including drug possession and battery. He is now being held on a $2.1million bond.
Police are concerned there could be more possible victims and urge any of them to come forward. Police asked anyone with additional information to call the LAPD Van Nuys Community Police Station at (818) 374-9500.
