Famous top-model Alina Puscau, winner of the 1998 edition of the Elite Model Look International Contest in Nice (France), announced that she would no longer work with Elite, as the agency did not pay her due salary. “Elite has not paid me for two years; they even said that I owe them money,” Alina Puscau stated. The top-model also said that she did not expect a company like Elite to ignore the contract that her mother Blandina Puscau signed in August 1998 and that entitled her to $150.000 over a period of two years. The contract that Alina’s mother signed was drawn in English, a language she was not familiar with. Puscau, worked in New York, London, Paris, Milan, Rome and Barcelona, with designers like Jean Paul Gaultier, Kenzo and Issey Miyake. She said that the total sum she received from Elite Model Look does not surpass $9000. After she won the contest in September 1998, Alina Puscau made the covers of Elle, Vogue (editions in Italy and UK), Marie Claire and The Face. She made the campaigns for Diesel jeans (in Paris) and Breil in 11 countries.
Puscau broke the contract with Elite of June 8th, despite the fact that it was supposed to end in September, because she was not satisfied with the promotion she got from the company after she won the world contest in 1998. “Not only did I not get what I deserved according to the contract; I haven’t been promoted as I should have. This is also due to the fact that the agency is in decline because of the scandal it was involved in, concerning its alleged implication in drugs and prostitution.” Daniela Anastase, Alina Puscau’s manager of and former director of Elite Model Look Romania, requested the documents concerning her financial situation and the contracts with Elite Fribourg (Switzerland), but so far she has received none. Anastase stated that she is currently negotiating with Fashion Milan.