HOUSTON – Prime Social, a popular Houston poker club, filed a lawsuit against Houston law firm, Jones Walker LLP.
The lawsuit seeks more than $1 million in monetary relief for what the poker club calls "gross negligence" on the firm's part.
“It's against Jones Walker, which is the law firm that Prime Social hired to help them get an ordinance passed to eliminate any confusion about what the law was," Wayne Dolcefino said.
The lawsuit claims that Prime Social hired the firm based its partners' representation as experts in gaming law.
Dolcefino, a consultant hired by Prime Social, said Jones Walker LLP led the poker club to believe it was working with city officials on a new ordinance for private poker clubs.
"The lawyer, Jimmy Ardoin, from that firm was the first person to say, 'I can get this done for you, and then you need to pay our investigator $250,000,'” Dolcefino said.
According to legal documents, Prime Social believes it was a scheme to generate fees.
Dolcefino claims once the poker club stopped paying, it was raided.
Authorities seized equipment, records and money. In all, nine people were arrested and charged with money laundering, but those charges were later dropped.
“More than 140 people lost their jobs the day of that raid. People spent tens of thousands of dollars to fight false charges,” Dolcefino said.
The lawsuit was filed in the 295th Court. No court date has been set.
Prime Social is set reopen Thursday.