Florida- The former operator of a South Florida escort service who was convicted of running a prostitution ring is claiming that a credit card authorization form he used for payment supports a fraud and breach of contract case against six clients.

All of the clients cooperated in the police investigation of Arthur “Big Pimpin’ Pappy” Vanmoor, a Dutch national who was deported after serving 18 months in prison for racketeering. Before his Florence Dating Service was shut down in 2003, it made millions of dollars, charging an hourly rate of $245.

According to Vanmoor’s federal suit, he contracted only to provide the clients with services “of an expressly legal nature.” As evidence of that “valid” contract, he cites the credit card authorization they signed, which said: “Cardholder states that this transaction is not for illegal activity.”

The defendants, however, entered into the contract “for the purposes of engaging in criminal acts” with the escorts, the complaint says, and then defamed him by stating to police that he was “aware [of] and facilitated their engaging in criminal acts.”

In a pro se counterclaim, one client describes his dealings with Vanmoor in graphic detail, alleging the suit is in retaliation for his cooperation with police. “Arthur Vanmoor was aware of the prostitution and that the credit card charge was for such,” says Robert Jarkow, who seeks $5 million in damages.

Vanmoor also alleges that if the clients had notified him of their statements to police, he “could have refunded the credit card charges” and mounted a defense of “withdrawal, abandonment or renunciation” to his criminal case.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that during the past decade, Vanmoor has been a party in 29 suits in Broward County, Fla., alone. He pleaded no contest in 2004 to using Florence Dating as a front for a prostitution ring.