Hearing held on strip club papers

Jace Radke

Thursday, July 17, 2003 | 8:41 a.m.

U.S. Magistrate Peggy Leen was scheduled to hold a hearing today regarding allegations that FBI agents reviewed privileged legal documents after raiding the Crazy Horse Too, a topless club owned by Rick Rizzolo.

Anthony Sgro, attorney for the club, said Rizzolo's Sixth Amendment rights were violated and is asking Leen to hold two FBI agents in contempt of court for not revealing at a March 6 hearing that the documents had been reviewed.

The federal government has not conceded that documents taken from the club during the February raid were protected as confidential legal documents.

Sgro is also asking Leen to order documents returned, including four civil case files involving the club.

Crazy Horse personnel have had access to seized materials to make copies, and just because a file contains attorney correspondence or memoranda does not mean it is privileged, according to court documents filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Johnson.

"The agents in reviewing the files observed that the files contained documents which did not appear to be privileged and which appeared to relate to business or financial transactions," Johnson's filings state. "The agents seized the files because records of business and financial transactions were within the scope of the search warrant."

The search warrant, signed by Leen, was executed in connection with an FBI investigation into possible ties between the topless club and organized crime.

Sgro has also complained that the club's access to credit card receipts was cut off when the FBI sent the seized receipts to be analyzed at an FBI laboratory in Quantico, Va.