Lawyer Charged with Laundering Prostitution Profits Through Reform Group

Criminal Justice

Lawyer Charged with Laundering Prostitution Profits Through Reform Group

Posted Jul 21, 2008, 09:07 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss

Police have charged a New York tax lawyer who owned the Hot Lap Dance Club with laundering prostitution profits from the club through a voter reform group he founded.

Charges against lawyer Louis Posner include money laundering and promoting prostitution, the New York Times reports. He told the New York Daily News in a jailhouse interview that he is “shocked, shocked" by the prostitution allegations.

"I'm just flabbergasted. I'm shocked, shocked," he told the newspaper. "The Hot Lap Dance Club is one of the cleanest clubs around."

He was arrested Thursday along with his wife and 19 others, who also faced prostitution-related or money laundering charges. He told the Daily News his wife was not involved with the club and never did anything more than make brownies for the staff.

Police allege patrons of the club in Hell’s Kitchen paid as much as $5,000 for sex with dancers in private rooms. Proceeds were allegedly deposited into accounts of Voter March, an organization formed after Albert Gore lost the closely contested 2000 election to George Bush.

New York lawyer Edward Hayes, who represents several of the defendants, said many of the women who worked at the club “are just young people that need to work nights and pick up a couple of bucks,” and they don’t do anything illegal.

He said many of the club’s clients are wealthy people, but he doesn’t know if they are prominent. Patrons had to have a membership card and were charged $50 at the door.

One of the club’s dancers was “busty, streaked-blond porn star Alexia Moore,” the New York Daily News reports in a separate story. Dancers reportedly referred to Posner as “Daddy.”

Posner was “once known as the king of nuisance lawsuits,” the Daily News story says. He sued his son’s nursery school in 1992 for letting the 4-year-old boy run out of the classroom. The strip club was in the news in March when a securities trader claimed in a lawsuit he was injured by a lap dancer whose shoe hit him in the face.

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Posted by reader - 1 month, 1 week, 1 day, 18 hours, 55 minutes ago

There has been a lot of publicity about the Diamond Cabaret strip club in Denver. There, senior federal Judge Edward Nottingham charged $3,000 on his credit card on 9/5/06. He said he couldn’t remember what it was for. The Diamond Cabaret management also said that they do not allow prostitution. Later, Judge N was linked to the “Denver Players”. 9 News in Denver published an interview with the driver for the prostitutes who said that he delivered prostitutes to Judge Nottingham 10 times last summer. He said the prostitutes were paid $450 each, that he delivered them to the Judge’s son’s condo and one other undisclosed location, that the judge told the prostitutes he was a federal judge, and that they called him “Judge Naughty”. There was also a mention on a blog of a woman who said that she was a prostitute and that she went to an orgy in a two story downtown office.

In reading the various reports on various financial losses, it is striking how often sexual improprieties, starting with adultery, are part of the background of the financial fraud.
Posted by I'm not blind - 1 month, 1 week, 1 day, 16 hours, 32 minutes ago

Kay Sieveringeringering, you have made it very clear that you have a personal beef, warranted or not, with Judge Naughtingham. Just use your regular nick if you want to smear his name some more. Just sayin’.
Posted by Kay Sieverding - 1 month, 1 week, 1 day, 13 hours, 35 minutes ago

sorry I was afraid to complain about Judge N because my husband had a motion in for him to “void” $102,000 of attorney bills that were awarded without rule 11 c. 6 orders. The defendants did not object to this motion nor did they produce any rule 11 c. 6 orders. They also did not file counterclaims. However, they registered the judgments and garnished our bank accounts. Anyway, Judge N denied that motion without saying why. He didn’t identify any claims that the defense filed against us nor did he identify any rule 11 c. 6 orders.

My husband and I also filed motions in D of Western Wi and D of Colorado to be informed of the nature and basis of any past or present criminal charges against me. As you may be aware, Judge N jailed me for 5 months without charges. Anyway, Judge N denied that motion too, without stating any facts or laws.

So the bottom line is that I was fined and jailed without a stated reason and my family was threatened.

That really is pretty scary.

So what is your name # 2?
Posted by kay - 1 month, 1 week, 1 day, 11 hours, 19 minutes ago

P.S. I didn’t see Judge N in the strip clubs. I haven’t voluntarily been in Colorado in 6 years. I relied on reporting from Nine News in Denver, which was reported in other publications. AP also had a reporter call the Diamond Cabaret and interview its manager, named “frankel”.

I personally have been against strip clubs and legalized prostitution for years, although I did share a cell with a prostitute who was actually “nice” in a nonsexual way. I personally believe that Judge N’s personal issues were connected to how he treated me. The 9/5/05 (I had the wrong year above), was the same weekend he first put me in jail without charges. My theory is that he was blackmailed or bribed. Who knows what evidence might come out? My case w Judge Nottingham was assigned to former Magistrate Schlatter and he said in court that he “drinks with lawyers”.

It would be different if I had been charged with a crime or found to have actually violated Rule 11 and was then arguing that he over reacted but in fact I wasn’t charged before jailing and there was no proper rule 11 hearing. The only non pro se rule 11 motion was assigned to the magistrate and that violates rule 54 2 d and e. Then neither Judge N nor the magistrate issued an order identifying any fraudulent pleadings on our part.
Posted by kay again - 1 month, 6 days, 12 hours, 59 minutes ago

Prostitution is bad for prostitutes, bad for prostitute’s families, bad for neighborhoods, bad for customers, bad for customers’ families and bad for the U.S. reputation. Are Judge Nottingham and Eliott Spritzer happier because they went to prostitutes? Lesley Stahl reported on legalized prostitution in Nevada and there were no interviews with any women saying that they were so glad they did it because .....Even if the best case, they didn’t come up with one single woman who was in a good position after being in the trade. The girl that Spitzer was with was in an unusual position because of the publicity based on his fame so she was able to sell some photos but I would bet that in a few years the money will be spent and she won’t have leveraged that into any sort of career.
Posted by DeathThreatVictim - 1 month, 1 day, 15 hours, 17 minutes ago

Why is the media failing to draw the connection between the bankruptcy lawyer - Lou Posner - running the prostitution and money laundering ring with Eliot Spitzer? Notice Spitzer was taken out, and all of a sudden the high priced whore house is no longer protected. Only a Federal Special Prosecutor stands a chance at unraveling the organized crime corruption of public officials. http://jaactv.com/330/site/content/view/77/102/

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