Arizona strip clubs swindled $1M from customers in elaborate scheme: lawsuit
Nearly 20 people are suing a chain of Arizona strip clubs after they were allegedly drugged and scammed out of a collective $1.1 million in VIP rooms.
Skin Cabaret, Bones Cabaret and Dream Palace – three clubs along the same two-mile stretch from Scottsdale to Tempe owned by Todd Borowsky – are named in the latest filing from January, obtained by Fox 10 Phoenix. The club owner, who operated under Wisnowski, Inc., is accused of racketeering, conspiracy and several other allegations.
One alleged victim, an Air Force member stationed in Arizona who says his credit cards were charged just over $72,000, told the local outlet that the fallout of the incident has been "life and career-altering." The man, identified by Fox 10 as "Joe," claims that he was separated from his friends when he went to the bathroom before the night went awry.
"I remember walking through what I thought was a cloud of perfume or makeup or something like dusty from one of the kind of cracks of light that was coming through," the plaintiff told the outlet. "That’s when I ended up in the VIP room and started to get these symptoms not alcohol-related, something else that made me acquiesce and go along to what they seemed to be pushing."
A financial crimes detectives with the Scottsdale Police Department wrote in court documents reviewed by Fox News Digital that Joe's story of what happened next matched those of patrons visiting from several different states; memory loss, signing and thumbprinting paperwork, having photos taken of them and leaving with exorbitant credit card charges.
Joe told Fox 10 that he never took a drug test, but he "felt like I kind of didn’t have control of the situation and that was really the first instance that I knew."
Another plaintiff, referred to as "Bobby" by Fox 10, told the outlet that he was "just confused" when he found himself in one of the club's VIP rooms.
"Just felt lost, spaced out. Like I said, I had no clue where I was at that point."
AOC ROASTED BY LEGAL EXPERTS FOR CLAIMING 'RICO IS NOT A CRIME': 'EMBARRASSED HERSELF'
Bobby said that he paid for drinks and a private dance, but after that, he has no recollection of authorizing further charges to his cards at Skin Cabaret. In total, he spent $181,000 at the club in eight transactions, according to court documents.
"Didn't think that these were actually legitimate transactions at that point," he told the outlet. "It just seemed unconscionable that this would even happen. Especially the charges, the single transaction amounts, that were processed."
Like Joe, Bobby said that the impact was "emotionally pretty difficult to bear."
"Couldn’t have an appetite to eat for days after this had occurred … strain on not only myself, a family, wife, had to get my parents involved. We had little children as well," Bobby said.
Police reports included in the suit show that customers sign a contract, provide a credit card and ID, give a thumbprint and take a photo after negotiating a VIP room price with a hostess at the three clubs. However, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit do not or barely remember signing these contracts at all, according to court documents.
Rod Galarza, an attorney representing the alleged victims, almost all of them from out of state, told Fox 10 that they "all tell the same story yet none of them have met."
"They vaguely recall someone yelling at them to ‘quit messing around and to hold the pen properly’ to sign a document on a clipboard, or alternatively being yelled at by a bouncer or hostess to ‘sit up straight and smile, we’re trying to take your picture, you’re not smiling,'" Galarza said.
One plaintiff even claims that club reps approved his credit card transactions by holding his phone up to his face to unlock his phone using the face ID function.
Joe said it was "like watching a movie through [his] own eyes."
"It was kind of almost an out-of-body experience because, in my mind, I’m screaming to myself that this is wrong, to leave, to fight my way out," he told Fox 10. "But they have the bouncer at the door, the disorienting hallways, like I don’t think I’m going to make it out."
The Scottsdale Police Department and Maricopa County Sheriff's Office told Fox 10 that they are aware of the allegations against Skin Cabaret, Bones Cabaret and Dream Palace and are working with the Arizona Attorney General's Office on cases against the strip joints. Fox News Digital could not reach the state's attorney general for comment at press time.
In a statement to Fox 10, an attorney representing club owner Borowsky said that "the cases are baseless."
"It's like going into a casino and asking for your money back after you choose to be there. First, they were not drugged," attorney Dennis Wilenchik told the outlet. "Second, the dancers were independent contractors. Third, these guys received services they expressly contracted for and received and documentation and photos were taken, and fourth, their credit card companies also investigated and approved the transactions."