- Prime Social Poker Club Raid Card
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- Prime Social Poker Club Raid Guide
Prime Social, a popular Houston poker club, filed a lawsuit against Houston law firm, Jones Walker L.L.P. On May 1, officers from the Houston Police Department, in conjunction with the Harris County District Attorney's Office, raided the Post Oak Poker Club and Prime Social Poker Room, both located in northwestern Houston.
Texas prosecutors are no longer pursuing a civil lawsuit against the two Houston poker rooms that were raided last May.
Harris County prosecutors dropped a civil suit against Prime Social Club and Post Oak Poker Club on Thursday three weeks after their criminal case was dismissed.
The two clubs were raided by officers from the Vice Division of the Houston Police Department. There were nine owners and managers arrested between the two establishments, all charged with money laundering and engaging in organized criminal activity.
District Attorney Kim Ogg dismissed the charges July 16 after it was brought to light that the clubs paid Ogg's former consultant, Amir Mireskandari, and a few others, $250,000 in exchange for drafting a city ordinance that protected gambling locales such as their own.
Those ordinances, however, were never official drafted or voted on. Club owners claimed they were duped by the city officials, according to a report from the Houston Chronicle. Ogg cited a potential conflict of interest when he dropped the charges.
Without a criminal conviction, First Assistant County Attorney Robert Soard told the Chronicle that there is no basis for a civil suit against the clubs.
'These nuisance lawsuits rely on criminal investigations,' said Soard. 'If we don't have a criminal investigation to rely on, it doesn't make sense as civil lawyers to pursue it in court.'
Soard also said that he would re-file the suits if the county gathers enough evidence.
Wayne Dolcefino, a consultant and spokesperson for Prime Social Club, said from the start that the charges were baseless. He echoed those sentiments to local media outlets when the lawsuits were dropped.
'While the folks at Prime Social welcome this logical decision, this lawsuit was a joke in the first place, a fake portrait created to justify the corrupt prosecution of Prime Social employees who had not done a thing wrong,' said Dolcefino.
Prime Social Club's defense attorney Joseph Maglio said that he believes his clients were victims of fraud.
The state seized $206,000 from the two poker rooms during the raid. Ogg said that the money was in the process of being returned to the rooms. Both rooms are reportedly in the process of rehiring employees and are re-opening their businesses in the coming weeks.
A pair of Houston card rooms were raided by local law enforcement Wednesday afternoon and more crackdowns of these establishments might be on the way.
Prime Social Poker Club Raid Card
Prime Social Club and Post Oak Poker Club were raided by officers from the Vice Division of the Houston Police Department. In total, nine owners and managers were arrested on charges of money laundering and engaging in organized criminal activity.
'Poker rooms are illegal in Texas,' District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement. 'We are changing the paradigm regarding illegal gambling by moving up the criminal chain and pursuing felony money laundering and engaging in organized crime charges against owners and operators.'
Officers seized computers and hard drives in the raid. At Prime Social Club, the raid took place just a few minutes before the start of a $580 no-limit hold'em tournament with a $150,000 guaranteed prize pool.
Prime Social Poker Club Raid 2
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo told local media that this is just the start of a larger crackdown on poker rooms in Houston.
Prime Social Poker Club Raid 3
'We're not going to tolerate it,' Acevedo told the local ABC News affiliate. 'We got two of the bigger ones today and this is just the beginning. We need to shut them down. If you want to have these kind of establishments, the legislature needs to authorize it. Otherwise, we're going to do our jobs and shut them down.'
Law enforcement clearly believes these clubs are breaking the state's gambling laws. The operators, on the other hand, believe that they are in full compliance with state law since they don't collect a rake. The card rooms only charge membership fees and consider themselves a private club.
Prime Social Poker Club Raid Guide
'We're just facilitating the play between the players,' said Daniel Kebort, one of the five owners of the Post Oak Poker Club that were arrested yesterday.
Wayne Dolcefino, who worked for Prime Social Club both in researching the law before the club opened its doors and in promoting certain events, said that the idea that they are hiding a criminal operation is laughable.
'In my view, a business trying to cover their tracks wouldn't be in a giant building on Westheimer,' said Dolcefino.
While no players were arrested, both clubs had their bank accounts and assets frozen. According to an October 2018 article from the San Antonio Express, there are 'about 40' of these poker clubs operating throughout the state.
