A former New York City auditor, accused of trading lap dances in exchange for helping strip club executives avoid paying more than $8 million in taxes, was charged for his alleged role in the sprawling bribery scheme.
Alton Plunkett, a retired auditor with the New York Department of Taxation and Finance, was indicted on Tuesday, the state’s Attorney General Letitia James announced.
He was charged with conspiracy in the fourth degree, bribe receiving in the second degree, criminal tax fraud and falsifying business records.
“Alton Plunkett took numerous bribes to help RCI and its executives cheat New Yorkers and avoid paying their fair share in taxes,” James said in a statement. “We have zero tolerance for public officials using their office for personal gain, and we will ensure all those involved in this bribery scheme are held accountable.”
RCI Hospitality Holdings, a publicly traded firm that owns and operates more than 60 clubs, sports bars, and restaurants across the U.S., and five of its executives were indicted earlier this month on charges of conspiracy, bribery, and criminal tax fraud. Plunkett’s name was redacted from the previous indictment.
Between 2010 and 2024, RCI executives bribed Plunkett in exchange for favorable treatment during several different sales tax audits, authorities said.
Plunkett conducted and supervised at least six tax audits of RCI-owned strip clubs in New York County during the 14-year span, the filing states.
During that period, Plunktt received at least 13 complimentary multi-day trips to Florida, where he was given up to $5,000 per day for private dances at RCI-owned strip clubs, including Tootsie’s Cabaret in Miami, according to the indictment.
In Florida, Timothy Winata, RCI’s controller and accountant, “provided Plunkett with complimentary hotel stays, restaurant meals, and up to several thousand dollars’ worth of private dances per day at RCI-owned strip clubs,” according to the indictment.
On August 4, 2014, Winata is accused of texting Ahmed Anakar, RCI’s director of operations,: “Alton is coming to club tonight. I will have to ‘entertainment’ him.”
The trips and bribes were authorized, directed, and overseen by RCI’s president and CEO Eric Langan, RCI’s CFO Bradley Chhay, Anakar, and Shaun Kevlin, a regional manager for RCI’s New York City strip clubs, prosecutors said.
RCI’s strip clubs used an in-house currency known as “Dance Dollars,” which could be redeemed for entertainment, including private dances, the indictment states.
Customers were charged a service charge of 20 to 25 percent in addition to the face value of the Dance Dollars. Combined, these sales were subjected to a sales tax rate of 8.875 percent, the indictment says. But the conspirators didn’t pay New York sales tax on those sales.
The strip clubs “failed to collect from their customers and pay to the State of New York over $8 million in sales taxes that should have been collected and paid on the sales of Dance Dollars during the course of the conspiracy,” prosecutors said.
The indictment details text messages sent among the executives in reference to the alleged scheme.
For example, on April 12, 2018, Langan is accused of texting Anakar: “We need to talk about New York and dance dollars.” He also wrote: “We are going to be hit by 3m in sales taxes soon.”
Later that year, on October 5, 2018, Winata texted Langan: “We need to increase the price of dance dollars to cover sales tax,” according to the indictment.
The executives falsified the business records of RCI strip clubs to conceal their crimes and recorded the cash payments used to bribe Plunkett as “promotional” expenses for the clubs, James’ office states.
If convicted of criminal tax fraud in the first degree, Plunkett faces a maximum sentence of eight and one third to 25 years in prison.
