EXCLUSIVE
Sources close to the dancer tell TMZ, 26-year-old Karolina began working as a stripper in Vegas very recently after moving from Chicago -- and when Bieber quietly visited Sin City back in January (before his DUI arrest ) he handpicked the bunny-tatted dancer to come back to his hotel room.
We were initially told by the owner of the photo that the pic was snapped inside an L.A. recording studio, but turns out it was actually taken inside Bieber's Vegas penthouse.
Sources tell us, Bieber and his entourage hand-picked Karolina and two other dancers to come back to the hotel room for private dances ... and Bieber paid them THOUSANDS each in cash.
As soon as they arrived to the room, we're told the girls' phones were confiscated and they were each required to sign one of Bieber's famous confidentiality agreements , barring them from talking about what transpired that night.
Our sources wouldn't say how far things went between Bieber and the girls -- but we're told Karolina voluntarily posed for the boob photo.
As for people saying she looked old enough to be Bieber's mom ... we're told Karolina is NOT too happy about it. Babysitter is more accurate.
