Max Factor heir charged with 88 date rape offences

The heir to the Max Factor make-up empire has appeared in court for the first time charged with 88 date rape offences.

Andrew Luster, 37, sat in the dock at Ventura County Court, near Los Angeles, to hear the allegations levelled against him which amount to 88 charges of rape and sexual assault.

Luster is accused of using the date-rape drug GHB on young women at his home before raping and sexually assaulting them and videotaping his exploits.

He is allegedly seen on one video saying to the camera: ‘‘I dream about this, a strawberry blonde passed out on my bed, waiting for me to do with her what I will.’’

But he denies all charges, claiming the women were scorned lovers who consented to the acts at the time and took GHB because in small quantities it had the same effects as alcohol.

The hearing in California was the first day of a preliminary hearing in the case, prosecutor John Blair told PA News.

‘‘The judge will hear the evidence and decide whether it justifies a trial.’’

The first of three alleged victims who will give evidence at the hearing took the stand yesterday, Mr Blair said, adding that he could not discuss her testimony.

The prosecution has to prove to the judge it has enough evidence to make the case worth taking to a full trial and the hearing is scheduled to run until Monday.

The judge does not have to announce his decision immediately and Luster is under house arrest on bail of 1 million dollars (£670,000) and conditions which include random drug tests, until the case is over.

Police in Britain are part of an investigation of an alleged international group of rapists who used the drug and videotaped their victims’ ordeals.

Last year a British public relations executive claimed she had become victims of one of the group at a London hotel following a night out with a client.

Nina Richards, 34, who gave up her right to anonymity, claimed she drank a glass of alcohol laced with the drug and woke up naked in a room at the Metropolitan Hotel in Old Park Lane, London. Her doctor she had been raped.

‘‘I kept thinking: ’What if it is my fault? Did I give my consent to go to the room without being able to remember?’,’’ she told the Evening Standard.