Businessman indicted on tax charges stemming from topless club

A Las Vegas businessman was indicted Tuesday on federal tax charges that stem from his operation of the Crazy Horse Too topless club in 2007.

Michael Signorelli, who operated the club on behalf of then-owner Rick Rizzolo after Rizzolo pleaded guilty in his own tax case, faces three counts of willful failure to pay employment tax and two counts of failure to file an income tax return.

Signorelli, who owns the Golden Steer Steakhouse at 308 W. Sahara Ave., could not be reached at the restaurant Tuesday night. A warrant was issued for his arrest earlier Tuesday.

According to the indictment, Signorelli withheld about $468,000 from Crazy Horse employees' wages in 2007 but failed to pay that money to the Internal Revenue Service. The indictment also alleged he failed to file income tax returns for the tax period that ended on June 30, 2007, and for the tax period that ended on Sept. 30, 2007.

Rizzolo pleaded guilty to a felony tax charge in June 2006 to end a decade-long racketeering investigation. The plea bargain required him to sell the topless club.

Signorelli agreed to buy the club in 2007 for $40 million, but the deal fell through.

Rizzolo served 10 months of a one-year prison sentence. This week, prosecutors have been trying to persuade U.S. District Judge Philip Pro to send him back to prison.

Prosecutors allege Rizzolo has violated the terms of his release by concealing a series of lucrative financial transactions . The hearing in Pro's courtroom is set to resume today.

The U.S. Marshals Service took control of the Crazy Horse more than three years ago but could not find a buyer .

In February, the government gave up trying to sell the closed business. Pro then ordered Canico Capital Group, the investment firm that owns the first deed of trust on the property, to hold a public foreclosure sale later this year.