Paralyzed Man Says Club Owner Hid Assets

LAS VEGAS (CN) - The former owner of the Crazy Horse Too strip club concealed his assets to avoid paying damages to a Kansas City man who was assaulted and paralyzed by bouncers over a disputed $80 tab, the man claims in Federal Court.

Kirk Henry says he was paralyzed from the chest down after the September 2001 attack outside the front doors of the now-abandoned club in the shadow of the Strip.

Henry says former club owner Rick Rizzolo agreed in June 2006 to pay $10 million as part of a plea deal that ended a decades-long FBI racketeering probe against him. Rizzolo agreed to pay the government $7 million before he was sentenced to 366 days in prison for tax evasion, according to press reports.

Henry claims that Rizzolo and his attorneys and accountants "engaged in a concerted effort to conceal ... assets in an effort to avoid and/or frustrate the plaintiffs in their eventual efforts to recover the substantial damages sustained."

Rizzolo formed a so-called "family trust" and transferred money to it to shield the assets available to compensate Henry for his injuries, the lawsuit states.

Henry claims Rizzolo's wife, Lisa, obtained a "collusive divorce" in June 2005, winning nearly everything listed as community assets. He claims the couple knew all the assets would be subject to forfeiture by the federal government as a result of the alleged racketeering activities.

Rick Rizzolo then "agreed" to pay $5 million in alimony to his wife, and secured a $5 million loan against the strip club, "knowing full well that he would default" on the loan and "further diminish the assets available for forfeiture," the complaint states.

The Rizzolos also funneled off millions of dollars in loans, gambling debts and other transactions to conceal the extent and location of assets, the lawsuit states.

Federal agents seized the strip club in September 2007 after Rizzolo failed to sell the property before he headed to prison. The Las Vegas Sun reported in late April that an unknown buyer has agreed to buy the club for more than $30 million.

Henry is represented by Donald Campbell with Campbell & Williams.

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