Top executives of the strip-club and sports-bar operator RCI Hospitality Holdings Inc. have been indicted on tax fraud and bribery charges, New York State Attorney General Letitia James announced this week.
The publicly traded RCI owns about 60 gentlemen’s clubs across the country, and is also the parent of the 10-unit military-themed breastaurant chain Bombshells Restaurant & Bar. Last year, RCI closed a number of underperforming Bombshells locations.
A state investigation revealed that RCI executives bribed an auditor with the New York Department of Taxation and Finance to avoid paying more than $8 million in sales taxes to both New York City and the state between 2010 to 2024, according to the attorney general’s office.
In exchange for favorable treatment on sales tax audits, the auditor was given at least 13 free multi-day trips to Florida, where he was given up to $5,000 per day for private dances at RCI-owned strip clubs, including Tootsie’s Cabaret in Miami, the AG office said.
“RCI’s executives shamelessly used their strip clubs to bribe their way out of paying millions of dollars in taxes,” James said in a statement.
The 79-count indictment included charges against five company executives and three RCI-owned strip clubs in Manhattan. The charges included conspiracy, bribery and criminal tax fraud, among other crimes.
In addition, the indictment contends Timothy Winata, RCI’s controller and accountant, traveled from Texas to New York to provide the auditor with bribes at various RCI clubs.
Others named in the indictment are Eric Langan, RCI’s president and CEO; Bradley Chhay, RCI’s CFO; Ahmed “Ed” Anakar, RCI’s director of operations; and Shaun Kevlin, a regional manager and later assistant director of nightclub operations. A sixth person has also been indicted but had not yet been arrested when the indictment was announced earlier this week.
If convicted of the top count of criminal tax fraud in the first degree, Langan, Winata and Anakar face a maximum sentence of eight and one third to 25 years in prison. If convicted on the bribery charges, Chhay and Kevlin face a maximum sentence of five to 15 years.
In a statement on Tuesday, RCI attorney Daniel Horwitz of Tannenbaum Helpern denied the allegations, saying the company will defend itself against the “overreaching charges,” while continuing to seek a just resolution.
“We are clearly disappointed with the New York Attorney General’s decision to move forward with an indictment and look forward to addressing the allegations,” Horwitz said in a statement. “We remind everybody that these indictments contain only allegations, which we believe are baseless. RCI and the individuals involved are presumed innocent and should be allowed to have their day in court.”
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