The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office plans to indict Scores’ strip club owners on tax evasion charges.
The New York Post reported this morning that authorities plan to unseal an indictment today against Harvey Osher and Richard Goldring, said to be the club’s owners and a bookkeeper. The newspaper said the indictment alleges Osher and Goldring set up shell companies to hide money from the tax collector. The company operates nine strip clubs, including two in Manhattan.
The pair is said to have skimmed millions from the club in order to pay for lavish homes, expensive cars and luxurious vacations.
Osher, the paper said, was convicted of money laundering in 2001.
A spokesman for Scores referred all calls to a lawyer who did not return the newspaper’s calls.
Osher and Goldring were expected to turn themselves in to answer the charges.
Sources reportedly said that money collected by the clubs was diverted to shell companies that fronted as consulting firms.
According to television station WABC, the shell companies were identified as DDM sales, T and O consulting and Zeus Business Solutions.
The indictments, once filed, would be the latest in a series of recent incidents to hit the club. Just last year, authorities accused club management of pressuring strippers to turn over a portion of their tips. Customers have also accused the club of overcharging, such as the CEO of a St. Louis computer firm who complained to police when he received a $241,000 bill.
Both Osher and Goldring filed suit last July against Scores’ ex-owner, Irving Bitzinsky claiming he has been attempting to reclaim the club through a harassment campaign.
