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Tourist stung on testicles by a scorpion at Las Vegas hotel sues over ruined sex life

Michael Farchi, 62, was staying at the Venetian’s Palazzo Tower over the 2023 Christmas holiday when he felt a sharp pain in his groin area

Mike Bedigan
New York
Tuesday 03 September 2024 10:36 EDT
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Man stung on testicles by scorpion at hotel claims his sex life has been ruined in new lawsuit

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A man who was stung on the testicles in the middle of the night by a scorpion while staying at a Las Vegas hotel says that his sex life has been ruined due to the horrific incident.

Michael Farchi, 62, was staying at the Venetian’s Palazzo Tower over the 2023 Christmas holiday when he felt a sharp pain in his groin area which he described as “like sharp glass.”

Farchi “felt multiple additional stinging sensations on his hand and groin area,” according to a lawsuit filed on behalf of Michael Farchi and his wife, and obtained by Las Vegas outlet 8 News Now.

The suit, filed on August 27, claims the poisonous sting to his testicles has caused him to suffer PTSD and emotional trauma for which he continues to seek treatment.

The incident has had ramifications on Farchi’s sex life, the lawsuit stated, and he was diagnosed with erectile dysfunction.

A photo taken by Farchi shows a scorpion on his boxer shorts, which he claims stung him in the middle of the night and left him with PTSD and erectile dysfunction
A photo taken by Farchi shows a scorpion on his boxer shorts, which he claims stung him in the middle of the night and left him with PTSD and erectile dysfunction (Michael Farchi/ 8 News Now)

“It mainly affects my family, my work, everything,” Farchi said in an interview with 8 News Now, adding that hotel staff had not taken his claim seriously at the time.

“They were holding their groin area and laughing. It was really embarrassing,” he told the outlet.

The complaint also makes a claim for loss of consortium for Farchi’s wife. “Consortium” means that Farchi’s wife is making legal claims that their sex life has not been the same since the sting.

Farchi previously said the sting had felt “like somebody stabbing me in my private area.”

“It felt like a sharp glass or a knife,” Farchi said.

Farchi has filed a lawsuit against the Venetian in Las Vegas after claiming he was stung on the testicles by a scorpion while staying at the hotel
Farchi has filed a lawsuit against the Venetian in Las Vegas after claiming he was stung on the testicles by a scorpion while staying at the hotel (Michael Farchi/ 8 News Now)

“I went to the restroom, and I saw a scorpion hanging on my underwear.”

Farchi and his family checked out early of the hotel on December 27 2023. The room was later comped.

Brian Virag, one of the Farchis’ attorneys, said that there had been ongoing construction at the time of the incident and that the hotel was aware of the presence of “an infestation of deadly, poisonous scorpions.”

“When you have a scorpion in a guest room, in a guest’s bed, it really doesn’t matter so much how it got there, the fact that it was there,” he told 8 News Now.

The Independent has contacted the Venetian hotel for comment on the incident.

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