Exotic dancer reveals why business boomed during the GFC

Stripper Samantha Barbash has lifted the lid on CEO spending. Photo / Instagram

An American exotic dancer has revealed the surprising reason why business boomed during the GFC, leading to the best "work perks" of her career.

In a new interview with Fox Business, Samantha Barbash — the inspiration behind Jennifer Lopez's character Ramona in the new movie Hustlers — dished on the luxury holidays and shopping sprees she enjoyed at the expense of CEO clients during the recession.

The 45-year-old, from The Bronx in New York, infamously led a group of strip club workers who allegedly drugged and stole from elite male clients.

She ended up pleading guilty to conspiracy, assault and grand larceny in 2017 and received five years probation.

She's now publicly revealed outlandish details about that period in her book, Underscore, and in media interviews, news.com.au reports.

"I worked during the recession, but it didn't really affect our money, to be honest," she told Fox Business.

"The adult industry never gets affected by that — people are depressed because they're not making money."

In a Fox Business exclusive, she revealed she met a Fortune 500 CEO who would spend up to $US70,000 (NZ$109,000) per night.

The pair struck up a friendship, and when Ms Barbash's mother died, he spent $US100,000 (NZ$156,000) on a five-star holiday to Aruba for her and two friends, including spa treatments and room service.

Samantha Barbash worked as a strip club host while studying nursing. Photo / Instagram

"He came in very frequently. We became great friends. I wasn't dating him, there was no sexual contact," Ms Barbash said of the unnamed CEO.

She also described another client who bought her Louis Vuitton bags worth $140,000 (NZ$219,000).

"I wasn't married at the time, I didn't say no. At the end of the day, I'm not going to turn down a shopping spree," she told Fox Business.

She also shared details of her former job as a strip club host, which she held while she studied at nursing school.

"There was an infamous R & B singer who didn't want to stop the parties until five or six in the morning," she said.

"He'd pay the host via credit card and have girls go back to his room and watch him party and do cocaine. It was never my thing. I was always business-minded."

Hustlers centres around Ms Barbash and her colleagues' alleged early-00s racket, which involved luring wealthy Wall St workers into strip clubs, spiking their drinks with drugs such as MDMA or ketamine and then stealing their credit card details to rack up huge bills.

They allegedly specifically targeted married men who were too concerned about their wives finding out about their extramarital activities to fight back, The Sun reported.

Hustlers, which stars Lopez, Cardi B and Constance Wu, is due to hit Aussie cinemas on October 10.