Strip Clubs Sued for Allegedly Drugging Patrons, Stealing Credit Cards

Three strip clubs in Arizona have been sued over allegations that patrons were drugged and their credit cards were charged with exorbitant purchases.

The suit was filed in January but first reported by Fox 10 News on Monday. The report names three locations in the greater Phoenix area that are considered "sister locations." Dream Palace in Tempe, and Skin Cabaret and Bones Cabaret in Scottsdale are all located within the same two-mile stretch of the highway, Loop 202.

Dennis Wilenchik, a lawyer representing one of the defendants in the case, released a statement to the network, calling the allegations "baseless" and stating that the charges were investigated by the credit card companies and approved.

'Drugged and Robbed'

According to the lawsuit, 20 individuals have alleged that while they were patronizing these locations, they were drugged and knocked out in VIP rooms. When they awoke in a daze, they said that unauthorized new charges had been made on their credit cards. The charges for each plaintiff were reported to be in the tens of thousands each, with the total amount in excess of $1 million. Fox 10's report noted that, beyond those involved in the suit, records indicate that others have alleged similar experiences.

None of the individuals involved in the lawsuit took a drug test in the aftermath of their experiences, but all said that they were drugged, per the complaint.

"I remember walking through what I thought was a cloud of perfume or makeup or something like dusty from one of the kind of cracks of light that was coming through and that's when I ended up in the VIP room and started to get these symptoms not alcohol-related, something else that made me acquiesce and go along to what they seemed to be pushing," one of the plaintiffs, going by the pseudonym "Joe," told Fox 10. "I felt like I kind of didn't have control of the situation and that was really the first instance that I knew."

"Just confused," another plaintiff, "Bobby," also told the outlet. "Just felt lost, spaced out. Like I said, just had no clue where I was at that point."

Joe alleged that his cards were charged around $72,000 during this incident. Bobby, meanwhile, allegedly had the highest amount of any of the plaintiffs charged to his cards: around $181,000.

The accusations at the heart of the lawsuit bear a notable resemblance to a scheme carried out in New York City strip clubs in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, in which dancers drugged wealthy clients and used their credit cards. The story formed the basis of a 2015 New Yorker article later adapted into the 2019 film Hustlers starring Jennifer Lopez.

Defense lawyer Wilenchik provided a statement to Newsweek: "My client denies any wrongful conduct here. Dancers are not employees but independent contractors who generally should be liable for their own independent [wrongful] activity if there was any. The company insists on signatures from customers for all services and photos which may indicate their condition when signing. All services were signed for. Amex reviewed and upheld the charges. Plaintiffs received what they sought and bargained for. No 'bouncers' were there to contain them. No phones were confiscated. No one was denied leaving the room for the rest room or otherwise to regroup with friends."

He continued: "The suggestion that someone guided the Plaintiffs' hands in signing for each service is simply ludicrous. That would be a physical impossibility in any event. No one was drugged to our knowledge and we know of no drug claimed. No one tested for any drugs, and we are not aware of what drugs these complainants came into the clubs with. In short, this is no different than going into a casino to gamble, losing money, and demanding its return, only worse. The Plaintiffs received what they bargained for and did not complain to our client about any of it while they were receiving the benefits of what they sought."

Update 3/26/2024, 4:25 p.m. ET: This article was updated with more comment from defense lawyer Dennis Wilenchik.