Ex-National MP Jami-Lee Ross running escort agency Sapphire ...

Former National MP Jami-Lee Ross has been named in a media report as being a pimp now. Photo / RNZ, Simon Rogers

Former National MP Jami-Lee Ross is now running an Auckland escort agency where women working for him have claimed there is a lack of safety and bullying, according to reports.

Ross is understood to be running an agency called Sapphire Blue in Auckland’s Viaduct that engages more than 20 women, media outlet Newsroom reported.

Sapphire Blue says it offers “Auckland Viaduct’s Premier Escorts” on its website.

But a person speaking on behalf of the escorts reportedly raised a number of issues about Sapphire Blue.

The business is said to take 40 per cent of the women’s earnings, who generally $250 per hour, but the spokesperson claimed it is not providing adequate conditions for the women in return.

The women claimed to Newsroom they are being left alone in apartments in different locations without panic alarms or proper safety protocols and that after assaults by clients they are not getting follow-up support.

There were also claims of bullying among the women and a bad work environment, Newsroom reported.

The Herald has approached Ross for comment but he has not responded.

Ross started his political career as a Manukau City Councillor at the age of 18 and was elected as an MP at 25 - making him the youngest MP at the time.

But his fall from grace was spectacular. He quit the National Party in 2018 - when he was on the verge of being kicked out – after a report concluded he was most likely the leaker of confidential party information.

Ross has always maintained he did not leak the information and called former leader Simon Bridges a “corrupt politician” and accused him of orchestrating a cover-up of donation fraud.

Bridges and National denied this and Ross ended up in court as one of seven defendants in a Serious Fraud Office trial facing charges over two $100,000 donations to National.

Ross, who argued he had been made a scapegoat, was found not guilty in October last year.

Ross’ time in Parliament was also dogged by allegations of bullying and sexual harassment.

He attempted a comeback to politics with the Advance NZ Party at the 2020 Election but failed to win enough votes to get into Parliament.