A respected philosophy professor who plunged to his death amid an investigation over historical sexual assault allegations led an “extremely kinky, illicit drug taking” double life behind closed doors, according to an escort who entered into a “sex contract” with the 77-year-old promising to “make her daddy happy.”
Dr John Forge, an honorary professor at the University of Sydney who authored numerous books on morality and ethics, was found dead at the base of Cataract Gorge in Launceston, Tasmania on May 2, hours after a detective knocked on his door to request he attend a police station for questioning.
It’s understood Dr Forge was facing allegations of sexual assault dating from 2019 to 2022 in New South Wales, Australia and Tasmania.
“He was about to be exposed,” said Sydney-based sex worker Skylar Silverstein.
Ms Silverstein said she had been in an eight-month “financial arrangement” with Dr Forge after he became one of her clients in January last year.
A handwritten “contract” outlined her “duties to her dearest daddy John”.
“Above all, [she] will do everything she can to make her daddy happy,” the note reads.
“She will do this by being a good, obedient girl, but above all, she will love him and try to please him in any way she can. Her love is her greatest gift. Her daddy will have exclusive use of her body, to do as he likes. He may introduce the activities set out under ‘punishments’ simply because he wants to. [She] has a right to say what she wants, but daddy decides.”
In a disturbing role-play video sent to Ms Silverstein, Dr Forge addresses the escort as if she were a student in one of his lectures.
“I think you know why I’m sending you this message,” he says.
“It is in view of your quite outrageous behavior in my last lecture. You came in dressed quite inappropriately, you had an extremely short skirt on, outrageously high heels, you sat in the very front row of my lecture, and I discovered that you were wearing no knickers at all.”
He continues, “You crossed and uncrossed your legs in front of me — I could barely concentrate on my lecture. Not only that, your vagina was completely bare and on top of it was written the words in bright red lipstick, ‘Daddy professor, it’s yours.’ Well now, in that case … I think you need to come to my office after (my) lecture tonight and we shall discuss this further then.”
Other videos seen by news.com.au show Dr. Forge smoking a bong and snorting lines of a white powder that appears to be cocaine.
Originally from the UK, Dr Forge was well known in philosophy and science fields and won the Australian Catholic University Eureka Prize for Research in Ethics in 2010.
The retired multi-millionaire lived in Balmain in Sydney’s inner-west until moving to Launceston in January 2022.
The alleged victim’s mother told The Daily Mail on Wednesday that the detective working on the case rang her at 3 pm on May 2 to say she had just attended Dr Forge’s home.
But just hours later she received another call from police informing her that he had been found dead at the bottom of the gorge.
“A member of the public found his ID, phone and keys on a pathway and phoned police, who then went and found him,” she said.
“It happened within an hour-and-a-half after the knock. He was living a double life and it was about to be uncovered.”
Dr Forge allegedly began grooming the victim and then began sexually assaulting her five years ago.
“He was absolutely obsessed with her,” she said.
“It was creepy. It took a lot of guts to go to police and make her statement. [The alleged victim] has a strong sense of justice.”
She added while she was relieved her daughter would not have to go through a court case as charges were never laid, she alleged victim had said to her, “He is never going to have his day in court. He is never going to have to pay for what he has [allegedly] done.”
Ms Silverstein told the publication she felt “sick to the stomach” after learning of the allegations.
“He seemed charming, he was well respected in various circles academically, he was an author, he wrote so many books,” she said.
“But underneath, there were many skeletons in his closet that were about to be exposed. It is ironic he wrote a book about the morals of weapons, but yet where was his moral obligation to this girl?”
Dr Forge’s impressive resume included stints at prestigious institutions including Oxford, Cornell and University College London. He won the 2009 David Harold Tribe Philosophy Award for his book The Responsible Scientist: A Philosophical Inquiry.
“To cause harm unnecessarily, gratuitously, is to do moral wrong,” he wrote on his website.
The University of Sydney said it was concerned by the allegations against Dr Forge.
“We are deeply committed to ensuring a safe and respectful environment for everyone in our community,” a spokeswoman said.
“We have a zero-tolerance policy to any form of intimidating or abusive behaviour, including sexual misconduct. If any of our community experiences or witnesses such behaviour we urge them to get in touch so we can provide appropriate support and follow up.”
A Tasmania Police spokeswoman confirmed officers responded to a concern for welfare at Cataract Gorge on May 2.
“Sadly, a person was located deceased at the scene,” she said.
“There were no suspicious circumstances. A report will be prepared for the Coroner.”
