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A pair of Houston card rooms were raided by local law enforcement Wednesday afternoon and more crackdowns of these establishments might be on the way.

Prime Social Club and Post Oak Poker Club were raided by officers from the Vice Division of the Houston Police Department. In total, nine owners and managers were arrested on charges of money laundering and engaging in organized criminal activity.

THU — SAT from Noon to 4:00AM. Location 11460 Fuqua Street #300 Houston, TX. 832 416 4020 Send a Message. A pair of Houston card rooms were raided by local law enforcement Wednesday afternoon and more crackdowns of these establishments might be on the way. Prime Social Club and Post Oak Poker Club. These poker games happen every night in Houston in at least nine poker rooms. The Post Oak Poker Club is in the heart of the city where they welcome players out in the open, 12 hours a day, seven. The saga of the city of Houston and its poker clubs has to be one of the top stories of 2019. With arrests made and allegations of illegal money laundering, it seemed as if law enforcement had the. HOUSTON — Nine people were charged Wednesday with money laundering as police and prosecutors raided two poker clubs in west Houston. The Houston Police Department and Harris County District.

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“Poker rooms are illegal in Texas,” District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement. “We are changing the paradigm regarding illegal gambling by moving up the criminal chain and pursuing felony money laundering and engaging in organized crime charges against owners and operators.”

Officers seized computers and hard drives in the raid. At Prime Social Club, the raid took place just a few minutes before the start of a $580 no-limit hold’em tournament with a $150,000 guaranteed prize pool.

Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo told local media that this is just the start of a larger crackdown on poker rooms in Houston.

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“We’re not going to tolerate it,” Acevedo told the local ABC News affiliate. “We got two of the bigger ones today and this is just the beginning. We need to shut them down. If you want to have these kind of establishments, the legislature needs to authorize it. Otherwise, we’re going to do our jobs and shut them down.”

Law enforcement clearly believes these clubs are breaking the state’s gambling laws. The operators, on the other hand, believe that they are in full compliance with state law since they don’t collect a rake. The card rooms only charge membership fees and consider themselves a private club.

“We’re just facilitating the play between the players,” said Daniel Kebort, one of the five owners of the Post Oak Poker Club that were arrested yesterday.

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Wayne Dolcefino, who worked for Prime Social Club both in researching the law before the club opened its doors and in promoting certain events, said that the idea that they are hiding a criminal operation is laughable.

“In my view, a business trying to cover their tracks wouldn’t be in a giant building on Westheimer,” said Dolcefino.

While no players were arrested, both clubs had their bank accounts and assets frozen. According to an October 2018 article from the San Antonio Express, there are “about 40” of these poker clubs operating throughout the state.

Controversial Houston poker club consultant Amir Mireskandari and his wife have gone through a trying experience as their home was invaded. Two masked men invaded Amir Mireskandari and his wife’s home in Tanglewood, running away with the couple’s jewellery and SUV. Both Mireskandari and his wife were reportedly tied up and held at gunpoint during the attack.

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Mireskandari was named in the recent Houston poker club scandal as the person who demanded money from both the Post Oak Poker Club and The Prime Social Poker Room in exchange for legislative lobbying. He, along with his accomplices, allegedly promised to facilitate the implementation of favourable city ordinances for a sum of $250,000. The Prime Social Poker Room was able to make the payment, but the promised ordinance never came to fruition.

Mireskandari’s involvement in the scandal was made public in July, two months after nine members of the two Houston clubs were arrested on money laundering charges. Defence lawyers claimed Mireskandari was working as a consultant to Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg when the alleged transaction took place. As a result, DA Ogg dropped the charges against the clubs citing a potential conflict of interest. Lawyers for Prime Social believe DA Ogg was also a victim of deception.

Media Blamed for Home Robbery

In light of the scandal, Mireskandari became the subject of newspaper reports and increased media attention, which his lawyer now claims is the main reason behind this weekend’s home invasion.

Speaking on behalf of his client, criminal defence lawyer Paul Looney said the repeated reports of the media in relation to the hundreds of thousands of dollars allegedly collected by Mireskandari from poker rooms encouraged robbers to infiltrate his home and demand money. Looney revealed the masked intruders entered the couple’s bedroom, throwing them out of their bed and pointing guns at them.

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Looney added that some media outlets, such as The Chronicle, posted the exact home address of Mireskandari despite several requests to remove the address from their published reports. The Chronicle’s managing editor Tony Fermantle quickly refuted Looney’s claims, saying he does not believe that the paper’s actions contributed to the home invasion.

CCTV footage showed how the masked intruders made their escape after terrorising the couple. The incident is still under investigation, and the police are requesting anyone who may have information to come forward or directly get in touch with the Houston Police Department of Houston Crime Stoppers. The Houston poker club scandal case involving Mireskandari has been referred to the FBI.