Ex-strip club owner loses bid to stay out of prison pending appeal
U.S. District Judge Philip Pro refused Monday to postpone Rick Rizzolo's surrender to prison authorities this week.
Pro had ordered the former Crazy Horse Too owner to spend another nine months behind bars for violating the terms of his 2008 supervised release from federal prison.
Rizzolo appealed the decision, and earlier this month asked Pro to let him wait to surrender until the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco issues a ruling.
But in a one-page order Monday, Pro denied Rizzolo's request without any explanation.
Rizzolo is to turn himself in by 2 p.m. Wednesday.
Pro concluded in July that Rizzolo had deceived his probation officers after his release from prison, where he had served a one-year term for a tax conviction.
Federal prosecutors sought the extra prison time, alleging the ex-strip club operator had been living a wealthy lifestyle off funds he hid from authorities while failing to pay restitution to a tourist crippled at the Crazy Horse Too.
Pro scolded Rizzolo for paying "very little" of the money he owes to Kirk Henry, a Kansas City-area man who suffered a broken neck in a 2001 fight over a bar tab at the now-shuttered strip club. With interest, Rizzolo owes Henry and his wife, Amy, some $14 million.
Pro also placed Rizzolo on two additional years of supervised release.
In March, Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Johnson, who led the 2006 criminal prosecution of Rizzolo, charged in court that Rizzolo had concealed from probation officers lucrative financial transactions, including several with offshore trust accounts. Many of the transactions were related to $1 million from the sale of a Philadelphia strip club one day before his release, Johnson said.
Johnson also accused Rizzolo of failing to pay the Internal Revenue Service more than $2.5 million in back taxes. He said Rizzolo owes the IRS $1.7 million stemming from his 2006 plea agreement, plus more than $821,000 from income earned that year.
Prosecutors filed court papers this month opposing Rizzolo's bid to delay his return to prison.
Contact reporter Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135.
