Saturday, June 21, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Club files against FBI agents

The attorney representing the Crazy Horse Too Gentlemen's Club filed a motion Friday asking a federal judge to hold two FBI agents in contempt of court.

In the motion, attorney Tony Sgro accused the agents of willfully disobeying orders issued by U.S. Magistrate Judge Peggy Leen.

At a March 6 hearing, Leen ordered the FBI to return all legal documents seized from the Crazy Horse during the agency's Feb. 20 search of the business. She also ordered the FBI to turn over its copies of those documents to the court.

Sgro argued at the hearing that the documents are protected by attorney-client privilege and should not have been seized or copied.

In Friday's motion, the attorney contended that the two FBI agents in charge of the investigation, Robert Clymer and Robert Bennett, had "improperly read, reviewed, reorganized and copied the seized attorney-client materials."

Sgro also alleged in the motion that Clymer and Bennett had willfully disobeyed Leen's order to return all original attorney-client materials to the Crazy Horse.

During the March hearing, according to the motion, Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Johnson repeatedly stated that agents had taken legal documents from the topless club because they were intermingled with financial records, which the warrant authorized them to seize.

Sgro's motion indicated that Johnson's statements to the court "appeared to come directly from information received" from Clymer and Bennett.

According to the motion, Johnson's representations at the hearing were deceptive and the two agents "knew, or should have known, that the representations were false when they were made."

The motion alleged that the items in question "were separately maintained and clearly marked as legal files."

"The government retained all of the civil litigation files, including clearly privileged notes and letters from counsel," Sgro wrote.

Johnson could not be reached for comment Friday after the motion was filed, and calls to the media line at the FBI's Las Vegas office were not returned.

The motion urged Leen to impose sanctions for violations of the orders she issued on March 6 and for misrepresentations made to her at the hearing.

According to the document, Clymer and Bennett also have willfully disobeyed Leen's order to make files of unpaid credit card transactions available to Crazy Horse representatives for copying.

Law enforcement officers raided the Crazy Horse in February as part of an ongoing investigation into possible links between the business and organized crime. No charges have been filed in connection with the investigation.