George Clooney with Elisabetta Canalis

Rome, July 29: Actor George Clooney’s Italian girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis has been implicated in a wide-ranging sex and drugs scandal involving businessmen, celebrities and high-class prostitutes.

Canalis, a former showgirl, is said to have taken cocaine at a nightclub in Milan that is now at the centre of an investigation into an alleged prostitution ring in which rich clients enjoyed the favours of high-class escort girls while taking drugs.

In court documents released in Milan this week, a French escort girl testified that she saw a number of young models and starlets taking cocaine at the clubs, among them Canalis, now aged 31.

“I used cocaine along with other people, among whom was Elisabetta Canalis,” said the French woman, Karima Menad, 26. Her evidence forms part of a dossier which has been put together by prosecutors on the alleged prostitution ring. The investigation into two Milan nightclubs — The Club and Hollywood — resulted in the arrest of five people on Monday and the closing down of the two nightclubs.

The allegation dates back to 2008, a year before Canalis started dating Clooney, 49.