Lawyer Suspected of Running Brothel at Strip Club Talks

The lawyer accused of running a prostitution ring at his strip club and laundering the proceeds through a voter registration non-profit gave the Daily News an exclusive interview from his Manhattan jail. Lou Posner claims sex-for-pay was not occurring at the Hot Lap Dance Club, "We hired intelligent, well-spoken girls, some of them Ivy League girls," and said women who weren't hired were launching fake allegations against him. Powner is also upset his wife was swept up in the arrests ("The most she did was make brownies [for the staff].") but he did look on the bright side of being behind bars, while he is being held on $150,000 bail, "I need to lose some weight."

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By Jen Chung in News on July 21, 2008 1:48 PM

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Jimmy Dee

The refusal of the NYC Police Dept. to comply with Court Orders for the payment of legal fees and expenses to a criminal defendant is an abhorrent abuse of the criminal justice system. Michael Kessler, a forensic accountant for Lou Posner's criminal defense attorneys, has not been paid one cent for a substantial amount of work. What a horrific conflict of interest when the NYPD withholds monies owed to Posner's attorneys and experts, and when these same monies are being seized by the NYPD for the benefit of the NYPD. The plain reality is that this is police piracy and a violation of a criminal defendant's constitutional rights.

The matter is now on appeal before the Appellate Division.
See Kessler's Press Release at
http://www.lawfirmnewswire.com...

Karen24

I am a college student and I was a dancer at the Hot Lap Dance Club. The truth is that Lou was a nice guy and was well liked by the dancers and he never abused his privileges as the boss. The HLD Club was actually quite strict in its rules and I never saw any prostitution there either.

I can't believe that Lou Posner was being held on $150,000 of bail after the government seized all his money. New York City has turned into a police state and you can be sure that Bloomberg will not get my vote this time around.

Mac38

Glad to hear that the owner of HLD had a press interview and was willing to speak out the truth. A lot of people who knew about HLD - staff, dancers and customers - are upset about what happened, but have been unwilling to speak out. If you want to know the truth, look at the comments from the staff and from the customers, not the media reports. The truth is that it was a really popular club and the customers loved the place. The police raid of the club was totally disproportional to the illegalities, if any, that went on in this club.

JacqueMehoff

jason alexander or karl rove?

sidenote

To make my point I will type in ALL CAPS!

BootyInMyEye

serene was my favorite dancer there and she will be missed terribly. goddamn, was that girl stacked. i couldn't get rid of my twenties fast enough when i was with her. hope she wasn't one of the few locked up. sweet girl.

esquared

Aren't lawyers whores anyway?

TimSPC

Why am I reading Gothamist if I don't find about these places UNTIL AFTER THEY'RE CLOSED?!??!?

Kojak

Kinda late notice teashop, but they have my support!

buzzbuzzard

#3: Uh, come out and protest? Protest what? Strippers having had to wake up early to go to court?

sinisterteashop

A point of view from one employee:

HLD (aka: hot lap dance), a strip club in midtown Manhattan, was raided this past Thursday night. 12 - 15 vice cops swamped the midtown loft: throwing open bathroom doors, telling guys and gals to go to seperate rooms, did background checks, took

photos of the loft, took photos of workers, questioned everyone, cuffed all staff, cuffed several dancers. Everyone was held for 2 to 3 hours.

All who went into work Thursday night are facing harsh charges. Approximately 21 people were taken under police custody that night. Many spent the night in jail.

Many others received orders to be in court MONDAY, JULY 21 at 10 am. No customers are being asked to report to court and no customers are facing any charges.

PLEASE come to NYC court house at 9 am to set up a demo to show support to those people, my co-workers, that are facing harsh charges and a slew of lies being thrown in their face - - such is the case in these situations, as far too many of us know.

Trust me, these are my co-workers - we are night-owls - nobody wants to wake up that early. AND ESPECIALLY: None of these workers want to wake-up that early in the morning to get dragged into court and face their fate given to them by the state.

PLEASE COME OUT and show support for these people. It is so important to know you are not alone. Going into court is so incredibly scary - especially for the list of charges they may be charged with.