PORTLAND, Maine – Convicted brothel boss Gary Reiner has filed objections to the government’s accounting of a Danish Health Club prostitute’s earnings in an effort to reduce his own financial penalties.
Through attorneys Alan Stone and Steven Gordon, Reiner www.adultfyi.com/read.aspx?ID=11999 filed a motion with Maine’s U.S. District Court Tuesday, raising that and other objections to the government’s preliminary forfeiture agreement calling for $3.9 million to be paid by Reiner and co-defendant Mary Ann Manzoli.
Reiner’s motion states the following:
# The prosecution’s calculations used to determine that prostitute Tara Morales earned $745,200 at the club are bogus and should be based on club “count sheets,” noting which johns went with which prostitutes and when. Reiner’s motion also asks to examine Morales’ tax returns.
# A jury, not a judge, should determine how much Reiner should forfeit.
# Reiner should be allowed to keep all funds paid to him by the Danish Health Club brothel for his legal services.
# He should be allowed to keep legal fees paid from the real estate trust he established for the club, through which it laundered money.
# Claims against him are a violation of his Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment, or excessive fines.
# Trial evidence shows 80 percent of club proceeds were derived from criminal activity, so Reiner should get a 20 percent reduction on the forfeiture claim.
# The government did not call five johns who purportedly would have testified they went to the Danish Health Club and did not pay for sex. Compared with five johns who told the court they did pay for sex at the club, Reiner’s motion says the forfeiture claim should be reduced to reflect that.
The U.S. attorney’s office responded with a counter motion Wednesday, arguing it is entitled to the total amount of money Reiner and Manzoli obtained from brothel operations and funds laundered largely through the real estate trust.
It counters all of Reiner’s claims, including that his legal fees billed to the brothel were “legitimate income” and that the club’s count slips would offer a more precise accounting of Morales’ prostitution earnings.
“(The) defendant was entitled to offer additional evidence at the hearing,” according to the prosecutors’ response. “Having failed to do so, defendant ought not now complain about the quality of the government’s evidence.”
Reiner was found guilty on four prostitution-related and money-laundering crimes by a federal jury Friday, and during a subsequent forfeiture hearing, the government cited $3.9 million in funds derived from the brothel during the last four years it was in operation, $3.3 million laundered in amounts over $10,000 and the $745,000 from Morales.