THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 3, 1994 TAG: 9408030437
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOSEPH COSCO, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
Popular Oceanfront nightspots Peabody's and Rogue's had their liquor licenses revoked last week, six months after former co-owner Nabil D. Kassir was convicted of fraud in federal court.
But the two clubs will remain open until at least Friday.
The clubs will appeal the decision of the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, said Kassir's son, Brett Kassir, a co-owner.
The ABC board on Tuesday agreed to hold off the revocations until Friday, when the clubs will ask a Circuit Court judge to stop the revocations pending appeal, Virginia Beach attorney Ken Stolle said.
``We'd like to see them be able to stay open,'' said Stolle, who will handle the appeal. He said the two clubs employ about 200 people.
The ABC board revoked the two licenses based on Nabil Kassir's conviction in January. The board said the two clubs concealed alcohol sales and failed to maintain adequate food sales. Under state law, a business may not have more than 55 percent of its gross receipts from alcohol sales.
Nabil Kassir had founded the two clubs with partner Edmund Ruffin.
In January, a federal jury convicted Kassir of 25 felony counts, including conspiracy, mail fraud, money-laundering and filing false income tax returns. Prosecutors said Kassir skimmed profits from his businesses, hid proceeds in foreign bank accounts, underreported income and lied to ABC officials about the volume of his liquor sales.
Kassir is awaiting sentencing. He was charged after investigators spent eight months taping together and analyzing shredded business records recovered from trash cans outside his office and home.
KEYWORDS: FRAUD TRIAL NIGHT CLUBS VIRGINIA
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