ANOTHER FORMER LAS VEGAS STRIP CLUB OWNER, MIKE GALARDI, GOING TO THE BIG HOUSE

Reported in several sources, including the Las Vegas Review Journal, according to his attorney, Robert Rose, former strip club entrepreneur Michael Galardi was apparently “shocked and stunned” Monday when U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks gave him a 30-month sentence even though Galardi spent four years cooperating with investigators and prosecutors.

Judge Hicks also imposed a $100,000 fine, the most allowed under the law, and ordered Galardi to pay Las Vegas and Clark County $200,000 each in restitution. Galardi also must start serving his sentence by June 22.

Judge Hicks said Galardi was the leader of a scheme to bribe Clark County commissioners for votes that benefited his multimillion-dollar strip club empire, stating, “This is one of the most reprehensible crimes of public corruption that has ever been prosecuted in the state of Nevada,” None of it would have happened … but for Mr. Galardi paying the money.”

Once again a judge in Nevada has shown no understanding of the facts around him–none of this would have happened if the county commissioners hadn’t been so eager to take the money. If one of them had simply gone to authorities at once about a proposed bribe, it would have been a little scandal, barely a blip on the Las Vegas corruption scene. And if this is one of the biggest crimes of corruption prosecuted in the state of Nevada, one can only wonder about the ones that got away.