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Ex-strip club owner Rizzolo appeals return to prison
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Rick Rizzolo
Has not paid full restitution
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Former Crazy Horse Too owner Rick Rizzolo filed notice Thursday that he is appealing a federal judge's decision to send him back to prison.
Rizzolo is asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to overturn the nine-month sentence handed out by U.S. District Judge Philip Pro last week.
Pro concluded that Rizzolo, who is to report to prison Sept. 14, had deceived his probation officers and violated the terms of his 2008 release. Rizzolo had served a one-year term for a tax conviction.
Federal prosecutors sought the extra prison time, alleging the ex-strip club operator had since 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 Crazy Horse Too. With interest, Rizzolo owes Henry and his wife, Amy, more than $14 million.
In a decision Thursday in the couple's lawsuit against Rizzolo, the judge suggested that Rizzolo structured his 2005 divorce from his wife, Lisa, to shield assets from the Henrys.
"Viewing the facts in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs, a reasonable jury could find the division of property in the divorce was done with actual intent to hinder, delay or defraud the Henrys," Pro wrote.
Rizzolo, the judge said, kept possession of the Crazy Horse Too, which he knew his creditors could claim in litigation, while promising to give most of his other assets to his wife.
According to the divorce agreement, Rizzolo was to give his wife homes in Las Vegas, Newport Beach and Chicago with three vehicles.
He also was to give her a $7.2 million investment fund and pay her $5 million in alimony over five years.
Pro also wrote that Rizzolo provided "deceptive answers" to the Henry attorneys when questioned under oath about other financial interests.
Pro criticized Rizzolo for failing to disclose that he had obtained $1 million from the sale of a strip club in Philadelphia and transferred it to a secret offshore account, where most of the money was dispersed to family members rather than the Henrys.
Contact reporter Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135.
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He seems to have the cash for the many lawyers, but dosen't have money for Mr. Henry. The court should order that no payment go to any attorney unless a like amount is paid to Mr. Henry. Like that's ever gonna happen.
If Rizzolo has been spending his money gambling in LV then he has been losing his money in LV so let him stay out at least until he goes broke like all the rest of us.
As for Mr. Henery's loss he would have gotten his money if the courts and the government would have acted when the strip club was worth enough money to pay all of Rizzolos debts,income taxes and fines.
The lesson here for the Mr Henerys of the world is don't go to LV on business and sneak off to strip clubs behind the 'little womans' back and you wont wind up like him.
Another loss for another so-called high-powered lawyer, this time Dominic Gentile. Karma will get Jackie Glass too, for letting this schmuck scum Rizzollo off the hook to that poor paralyzed man. What happened to a sense of right and wrong Jackie. Your show will never last more than a year. And Jackie, you let Rizzolo's nephew off with probation even though he stabbed someone in the chest. In all the years I have been in your courtroom, I admired how tough you were on criminals. But here, something was amiss. And David Roger, what a low-life cushy deal fatboy. You get a free office from Anthony Sgro, and then what? Give his client Rizzolo a pass on prosection? Karma Fatboy. And though Judge Pro did the right thing here, I cannot but wonder every time this matter comes before him if he will do the right thing. Somewhere, justice for Kirk Henry got lost. Like the terrible beating he took never happened. Las Vegas is a legal cesspool. Full of losers, incompetents, ineffective attorneys, and low-intellect lawyers and judges. Same on the whole with our Supreme Court, which the United States Supreme Court overturned in a UNANIMOUS decision, which never happens essentially, on a ruling on ethics. Only Judge Pickering got it right. Wonderful. On an issue of ethics, our Supreme court has every U.S. Supreme Court justice, of every political stripe, say Nevada justices got it wrong. And, guess what? The losers in this town will keep electing roller derby queens, and lawyers with not one trial to their name as judges. And idiots as Mayors. Whoooppeeee. It's the heat I tell ya.
Let him serve the nine months in a wheelchair.
"Ex-strip club owner Rizzolo appeals return to prison."
Really? He wants to remain free?
Yeah, well, people in hell want ice water too, but that doesn't mean they're gonna get it!
The man only shows what to do if you get into trouble AND have the money to try and get Out of trouble ! ! ! It worked for O.J. ! ! But this guy Didn't KILL anybody !! His Bouncers did this to that man,not Rizzolo......Put those people to the task...If he has the means to stay out of prison, let him!!!Find Casey Anthony, and put her in prison, the Justice system is upside down anyway....
This comes as no surprise. Rizzolo is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on expensive attorneys to try to thwart the legal system, money that rightfully belongs to the Henrys. Incidentally, Kirk Henry was never in a "fight" at the Crazy Horse Too. His assailant, a club manager, grabbed him from behind and lifted him off the ground by his neck. That's not a "fight."
This guy needs life in prison with out parole, for puting the contract murder hit on Buffalo Bill when he got out of prison.
I vote leave him out. He is one of the best tippers in town.
We let one thug be our mayor. I'll bet if Rizzolo ran for mayor, this stupid city would elect him. LOL