KIRO NEWSRADIO

Financial dominatrix made $1 million spending CEOs’ money in 2017

Jan 18, 2018, 3:45 PM | Updated: Oct 11, 2024, 9:44 am

financial dominatrix...

Before she was a financial dominatrix, Theodora was a leg model for tights and pantyhose. (Photo courtesy of Theodora)

(Photo courtesy of Theodora)

This is a story about Theodora, a Paris-based financial dominatrix. There are a lot of fetishes out there, but Theodora has smartly positioned herself to make a lot of money off of one that doesn’t require her to do anything you or I might think of as sexual.

“It’s a form of domination, but the tool for power exchange is money, because it’s the most tangible instrument of a lot of powerful men,” Theodora said. “My clients, most of the time they would be businessmen or CEOs. To them, I think just physical domination doesn’t suffice.”

RELATED: What is ASMR and why is the internet obsessed with it?

Theodora says she made about a million dollars last year, mostly thanks to 20 of her top clients who she’s never met in person. She says she works with men in New York, Toronto, Hong Kong. Generally, English speaking men around the world.

“They give me the control to their finances,” Theodora said. “So that could be their personal accounts, they can send me their bank, credit cards, details so I can login to their account. I have to make decisions for them as to how much they are allowed to spend on themselves. How much they can spend on, I don’t know, whatever is not necessary for them. If they want to go out, for example, I can decide that they go out too much and they need to cut this expense.”

Then this financial dominatrix pays herself from their bank account.

“I take what they don’t need,” she said. “I have to be smart and plan ahead how much they will actually need to pay, like, their mortgage or if there are fixed expenses because the point is not to take everything, of course not. So I have to discuss with them what the actual limit is. It’s like I’m an accountant, but I’m paid with what I make them save. If that makes sense.”

Financial dominatrix

I asked Theodora if these men sign a financial dominatrix contract before they give her access to their funds. Why do they trust her?

“I suppose the basics of BDSM is to be in a relationship of trust,” she said. “You’re basically giving up the control to someone who you can trust to make your fantasies happen. The point is that they’re trusting me to give them the fantasy, but not actually ruining them. They have to feel enough financial damage to actually live their fantasy to an extent, but not too much damage that they cannot recover from it.”

Theodora has hundreds of other clients, who pay far less money to watch videos of her practicing hypnosis on them.

“And then there are some videos where I try to incorporate fetishes that different people that I’ve met have, like foot fetish or boot fetish,” she said.

RELATED: Sex workers march in Seattle

A phone call with Theodora costs $69 a minute and it costs $25 to call her … and be ignored.

“There is actually a fetish where people want to be ignored,” Theodora explains. “So my ignore line, they call me and they can hear what I’m doing, or not doing, I’m not talking to the phone. The phone is just sitting there. So they have this kind of voyeur experience with me.”

Theodora says financial dominance appeals to rich, powerful men who appear to be dominant in their everyday lives. They’re usually married to women who take care of the home and the children, who they can wine and dine. But they fantasize about the opposite — someone who doesn’t do their laundry, who simply takes their money and mocks them. Someone who allows them to be submissive.

One other interesting thing: Theodora mostly gets paid in various cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin. She says sex workers have been using cryptocurrencies for years, because sites like PayPal don’t support their line of work. Even though for Theodora, there’s no actual sex happening.

I asked Theodora if women even want to be financially dominated. She said no, because men are often paid more than women, so they are already financially dominated against their will. She says her job is a form of collecting reparations.

“Because I’m trying to take what men have in excess,” she said. “So many decades women haven’t been paid equally as men. They’ve always been kind of financially abused. So this is only logical that we women want to seek reparations in this way.”

Associated Press

Asian shares are mixed as Brent crude approaches $100 a barrel

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mixed in cautious trading early Wednesday as investors watched for what might happen on interest rates and the war with Iran pushed oil prices higher. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 was nearly unchanged at 65,249.95, and South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.2% to 7,041.10. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng dipped […]

3 hours ago

President Donald Trump gestures while boarding Air Force One at Morristown Airport, Monday, Sept. 7...

Associated Press

With AI memes, Trump promotes mythical version of himself as challenges stack up ahead of midterms

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the real world, President Donald Trump is struggling to stop inflation, rout the Iranian government and restore American manufacturing with tariffs. However, it’s a different story in the fantastical vision that he shares with supporters on social media. Over Labor Day weekend, Trump and the White House unleashed an extraordinarily heavy […]

3 hours ago

FILE - Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., speaks as Dr. Anthony Fauci appears before the Senate Homeland S...

Associated Press

Sen. John Fetterman’s isolation from Democrats grows stark in Pennsylvania

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Around this time two years ago, Sen. John Fetterman was in high demand on the campaign trail, going county-to-county in Pennsylvania to help Democrats up and down the ballot. Now, after two years of crossing swords with Democrats and backing some of President Donald Trump’s priorities, he’s nowhere on the stump. […]

3 hours ago

FILE - The Apple logo is illuminated at a store in Munich, Germany, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthi...

Associated Press

Apple to unveil latest iPhone lineup with as John Ternus steps up as CEO

Apple is unveiling its latest generation of iPhones, widely expected to include a foldable version, on Wednesday at an event headlined by new CEO John Ternus, who took over from Tim Cook on Sept. 1. Many of Apple’s biggest rivals, such as Samsung, Motorola and Google, have already come out with foldable smartphones. But Apple […]

3 hours ago

The U.S. Capitol is seen, Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)C...

Associated Press

A more perfect union? Congress has been the place where America tries to resolve its problems

WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s one thing to issue a Declaration of Independence. It’s quite another to launch a grand experiment in representative democracy. Congress isn’t quite yet celebrating its 250th anniversary — the House and Senate as they are recognized today first convened in 1789 — but from the start it has provided an enduring, […]

3 hours ago

Candidate for Rhode Island governor Helena Buonanno Foulkes speaks during a Get Out the Vote event,...

Associated Press

Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee faces tough challenge from Helena Foulkes in Democratic primary

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee is hoping to avoid becoming the first incumbent governor in any state to lose a primary since 2018 as he tries to fend off an intraparty challenge from former CVS executive Helena Foulkes in Wednesday’s state primary. McKee narrowly defeated Foulkes in a multi-candidate Democratic primary […]

3 hours ago

Financial dominatrix made $1 million spending CEOs’ money in 2017