Rizzolo's Ex Turns Over Millions To
Kirk Henry From Off Shore Stash

Lisa Rizzolo dismissed as a Defendant.
Racketeer and his stepmother left
standing alone while Appeals
Court decides destiny of
remaining $3 million

INSIDE VEGAS by Steve Miller
AmericanMafia.com
June 17, 2013

LAS VEGAS - After waiting over 12 years for justice, beating victim Kirk Henry is finally receiving a portion of his restitution from Rick and Lisa Rizzolo.

The amount the Henrys received from Lisa Rizzolo's off shore stash is sealed, but sources close to this case speculate its in excess of $5 million.

$10 million was court ordered to be paid after Kirk Henry's neck was broken in 2001 by a Rizzolo employee when Henry (LV Review-Journal photo) disputed a padded bar tab at their former Las Vegas Crazy Horse Too strip club. Henry's beating was one of many that occurred at the club during the years patrons complained of being overcharged and roughed up if they refused to pay.

Henry is still legally entitled to receive the additional $3 million in proceeds secretly transferred to Rick Rizzolo's stepmother Kimtran Rizzolo from the March 25, 2008 sale of the Philadelphia Crazy Horse Too. However, though the funds have been transferred out of Kimtran's annuities and into Henry's trust account, the funds cannot be released until Kimtran's Ninth Circuit Court appeal is dismissed which is expected to happen at any time.

For concealing the $3 million from his parole officer, on September 15, 2011, Rick was ordered back to federal prison to spend an additional year.

Then on October 10, 2012, based on her squandering money owed the Henrys, Lisa Rizzolo was put on an allowance like a spoiled child!
 

Full docket text for document 655: ORDER that [635] Motion for Injunctive Relief Against the Dissipation or Transfer of Assets is GRANTED. FURTHER ORDERED that Defendants Lisa Rizzolo, the LMR Trust, and the Lisa M. Rizzolo Separate Property Trust are hereby enjoined from taking any action, either directly or indirectly, from withdrawing, assigning, dissipating, encumbering, or otherwise disposing of any of the funds in the identified Cook Islands account. FURTHER ORDERED that Defendants may petition the Court for the release of funds from the Cook Islands Account for Lisa Rizzolo's living expenses and attorney's fees. Signed by Judge Philip M. Pro on 10/10/12. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF -

Here's speculation as to why Lisa suddenly ponied up the money from the Cook Islands. The Federal Court was nickel and diming her to death as can be seen in the following monthly documents. The Court had put a giant crimp in her luxurious lifestyle.

$16,983.58 requested. Only $7,793.68 approved!

Lisa is responsible for supporting two adult children and paying for the upkeep of two lavish homes, one in Las Vegas, the other in Newport Beach, California. $7,793,68 per month just didn't cut it - she was going broke. So to put an end to being on an allowance, and to prevent being a litigant in a then-scheduled Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act trial, I believe she accepted the alternative and paid part of her husband's debt to the Henrys. The outcome of a very clever move by veteran U.S. Judge Philip Pro!

Rick Rizzolo agreed in 2006 to pay Henry $10 million in restitution as part of a plea bargain to gain a shortened prison sentence. But Rizzolo didn't reveal that he also hired a politically connected asset protection lawyer to hide his assets so they couldn't be seized.

The Cook Islands accounts were set up and managed by attorney John Dawson, brother of U.S. Federal Judge Kent Dawson who presided over the felony trials of 15 Crazy Horse Too employees without disclosing that his brother was Rick and Lisa Rizzolo's asset protection attorney. John Dawson acts as the teller for the Rizzolo's off shore accounts, and would have been an embarrassing key witness in Kirk Henry's Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act trial that has been postponed indefinitely based on Lisa's agreement to settle.

On January 28, 2013, the Henrys reached a CONFIDENTIAL settlement with Lisa indicating she agreed to pay the Henrys an undisclosed sum from accounts stashed in the Cook Islands to protect her ex-husband's ill-gotten fortune. On June 13, Judge Pro signed the following ORDER confirming the funds have been paid, and dismissed Lisa from further litigation in HENRY v. RIZZOLO. However, she's not out of the woods as far as the IRS is concerned.

A dismissal with prejudice is a final judgment, i.e., dismissal of a case barring the plaintiff from bringing another action on the same claim. The dismissal of Lisa Rizzolo from this case does not bar the Henrys or IRS from pursuing other personal assets of Rick Rizzolo. Because of interest accrued in the Henry's settlement, several additional millions can be collected from Rick in the event he is concealing more assets.

But Judge Pro wasn't finished with the Rizzolos!
 

Full docket text for document 662: ORDER that Defendant Kimtran Rizzolo shall not attempt to withdraw, or withdraw, funds from her accounts at Transamerica Life Insurance Company, Policy or Annuity Contract No. 121185LB8; Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (Metlife), Policy or Contract No. 320340767; and/or City National Securities, Account Nos. SM40012M, 361974026, and/or 361974034. Signed by Judge Philip M. Pro on 10/12/12. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF - EDS)

Up until Judge Pro's ORDER against Lisa, the Henrys had only collected a total of $1 million paid in 2002 from the Rizzolo's Farmers Insurance umbrella policy. The rest of the money Henry is owed has been stashed in annuities purchased by Kimtran - annuities she's prohibited from touching, but were transferred to the Henry trust per the Court's orders.

One of the insurance companies that held Kimtran's ill-gotten money, TransAmerica, refused to comply with the court's order and turn the money over to the Henry trust. Only after being court ordered to pay Henry's attorneys over $25,000 in legal fees for work they did responding to TransAmerica's bogus opposition to the Court Order, did the insurance company reluctantly release the money.

Kimtran has appealed Judge Pro's Order. The Circuit Court's decision is pending.

The Rizzolos also owe the IRS millions in back taxes and penalties, however the IRS was prohibited from collecting based on their second place position behind the Henrys per a Federal Court order.

Rick Rizzolo is also prohibited from declaring bankruptcy based his plea agreement made in exchange for a shortened prison sentence. As a condition of his parole, Rick is supposed to be selling cars at Fletcher Jones Mercedes and not running strip clubs, but he is never at the dealership, and has sold only one or two cars in the past year according to sources. He claims to be broke though he's long been suspected of being a hidden owner of the Crazy Horse III strip club in Vegas where he's observed spending most of his time with his son Dominic.

Kimtran's current appeal claims she legitimately inherited the money in 2010 from her deceased husband Bart Rizzolo and had nothing to do with his business, and that the old Crazy Horse Too lost its value when the feds refused to operate the club. (The government learned an embarrassing lesson in 1999 when it tried to operate the Mustang Ranch brothel to preserve its value.)  Kimtran's appeal is expected to fail as did the appeals of Rick and Lisa in past years when their attorneys also argued that the loss of value of the club was the fed's fault, and if it had remained open, there would have been plenty of money available to pay Henry and the IRS.

Kimtran Rizzolo's attorney Herb Sachs claims in his client's latest appeal that Henry's attorneys did not protect the Crazy Horse Too asset. According to Sachs, to protect the value of the asset, the U.S. Department of Justice would have had to operate the topless bar until it could be sold for enough to cover the Rizzolo's debts. However, for the club to continue raking in millions in profits to warrant a top dollar sale, Sachs neglects to mention that it would have had to be run per the Rizzolo's business model; skimming profits, selling drugs, prostitution, credit card fraud, and extorting customers with the use of threatened and actual violence, the reasons for which the club was shut down by the same government Sachs blames for its financial demise.

Sach's argument is almost identical to those plead by attorneys for Rick and Lisa in their appeals that were soundly denied in 2012. The "unsellable" argument has twice before been rejected by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and is expected to once again be rejected at Kimtran's upcoming appeal hearing.

Per Rick's failed February 13, 2012 appeal, attorney Dominic Gentile argued: "The government thereupon assumed that right and corresponding obligation but thereafter failed to timely renew the privileged adult use and tavern licenses of the business; and as a result, the area in which the club was located was thereafter re-zoned by the City of Las Vegas so as to prohibit ?adult? uses; and the club became unsellable, fell into disrepair, and has since been foreclosed upon by the mortgagee." http://www.stevemiller4lasvegas.com/RizzoloReply02-13-12.pdf

Per Lisa's failed May 18, 2012 appeal, attorneys George Kelesis and Mark Bailus reiterated Rick's argument: "In September 2006, the City of Las Vegas revoked the liquor and/or business license of the Crazy Horse Too. At the time of the revocation, an escrow had been opened for the sale of the Crazy Horse Too in the amount of $45 Million. The planned sale of the Crazy Horse Too reportedly failed because of the revocation of its liquor license which diminished its value." http://www.stevemiller4lasvegas.com/RizzoloLisasPetitionForWritOfMandamus-05-18-2012.pdf

Now, Kimtran's attorney Sachs is regurgitating the same failed pleas: "Although the government thereupon assumed that right and corresponding obligation, it thereafter failed to timely renew the ?grandfathered? privileged adult use and tavern licenses of the business, and the area in which the club was located was thereupon re-zoned by the City of Las Vegas so as to prohibit 'adult' uses. And as a result, the club became unsellable, fell into disrepair, and was ultimately foreclosed upon by the mortgagee on July 1, 2011." http://www.stevemiller4lasvegas.com/RizzoloKimtranAppeal-9-19-12.pdf

Based on the above information, I predict that the $3 million being held in trust for the Henrys will soon be released per the imminent orders of the Ninth Circuit Court. Following that release, it's uncertain what action the Henrys will take, but once HENRY v. RIZZOLO is closed, its certain the IRS will begin its long overdue collection.