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Houston's Prime Social Poker Club, one of two day-membership poker rooms in Houston that was raided in early May, has filed suit against the law firm that approached them about helping lobby for an 'anticipated' Houston ordinance that would formally legalize such rooms and remove them from a grey area in Harris County (Texas) law. Micro stakes poker reddit. Instead, according to the complaint, no such ordinance was ever under consideration by Houston-area legislators and the whole proposal was a sham.

According to multiple Houston outlets, Bayou Social Club, the parent company of Prime Social, has filed an action seeking 'over $1,000,000' against Jones Walker L.L.P. Prime Social had paid $500,000 to Jones Walker but terminated its relationship with the law firm after learning no ordinance legalizing the social-poker clubs was being under consideration, and just days before the raid shuttered Prime Social and another Houston poker club, Post Oak.

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'As part of its pitch to Prime Social,' the complaint alleges, 'Jones Walker represented to Prime Social representatives that it was working on an ‘anticipated' City of Houston ordinance for card rooms, such as the one operated by Prime Social. Jones Walker further advised Prime Social to hire its investigator who would operate as part of the legal team assisting Prime Social in establishing the necessary protocols in order to obtain a license under the ‘coming' or ‘anticipated' ordinance. Based on this representation, Prime Social paid significant sums to Jones Walker's investigator, including sums Jones Walker represented would cover the license fee under the ‘coming' or ‘anticipated' ordinance.

'As it turns out, there was no ‘coming' or ‘anticipated' ordinance, and there was no basis for Jones Walker to believe it was legitimate. Indeed, the ‘anticipated' ordinance turned out to be nothing more than an ‘idea' being peddle by a separate client or acquaintance of the attorneys at Jones Walker and/or their investigator — a reality that was never disclosed to Prime Social and which resulted in substantial damages being incurred by Prime Social.'

The complaint does not specify whether the 'separate client or acquaintance' is political consultant Amir Mireskandari, whose contract with the Harris County District Attorney's office was terminated shortly after elements of the story involving the raids on the two Houston poker clubs became public. The suit hints the timing may not have been coincidental, stating, '… oddly, numerous other poker rooms in the City of Houston remained open for business.'

Charges against the two clubs were dropped within weeks while the DA's office acknowledged a 'conflict of interest,' and a separate FBI investigation into the situations has already been launched. Prime Social has already announced is plans to reopen the membership-based club in the near future.

The Prime Social lawsuit also alleges that Jones Walker represented itself as having gaming-law expertise: 'Indeed, Jones Walker markets and maintains a ‘Gaming Team' of lawyers, which it represents as offering ‘full-spectrum legal, dispute resolution, government relations and legislative advocacy services to clients in every sector of the gaming industry.' These are the services Prime Social anticipated receiving from Jones Walker.'

The lawsuit alleges misrepresentation, negligence, and breach of fiduciary duty by Jones Walker. The claim is for actual and punitive damages plus interest, along with all applicable court costs. Jones Walker has not issued a public statement in response to the action.

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'As part of its pitch to Prime Social,' the complaint alleges, 'Jones Walker represented to Prime Social representatives that it was working on an ‘anticipated' City of Houston ordinance for card rooms, such as the one operated by Prime Social. Jones Walker further advised Prime Social to hire its investigator who would operate as part of the legal team assisting Prime Social in establishing the necessary protocols in order to obtain a license under the ‘coming' or ‘anticipated' ordinance. Based on this representation, Prime Social paid significant sums to Jones Walker's investigator, including sums Jones Walker represented would cover the license fee under the ‘coming' or ‘anticipated' ordinance.

'As it turns out, there was no ‘coming' or ‘anticipated' ordinance, and there was no basis for Jones Walker to believe it was legitimate. Indeed, the ‘anticipated' ordinance turned out to be nothing more than an ‘idea' being peddle by a separate client or acquaintance of the attorneys at Jones Walker and/or their investigator — a reality that was never disclosed to Prime Social and which resulted in substantial damages being incurred by Prime Social.'

The complaint does not specify whether the 'separate client or acquaintance' is political consultant Amir Mireskandari, whose contract with the Harris County District Attorney's office was terminated shortly after elements of the story involving the raids on the two Houston poker clubs became public. The suit hints the timing may not have been coincidental, stating, '… oddly, numerous other poker rooms in the City of Houston remained open for business.'

Charges against the two clubs were dropped within weeks while the DA's office acknowledged a 'conflict of interest,' and a separate FBI investigation into the situations has already been launched. Prime Social has already announced is plans to reopen the membership-based club in the near future.

The Prime Social lawsuit also alleges that Jones Walker represented itself as having gaming-law expertise: 'Indeed, Jones Walker markets and maintains a ‘Gaming Team' of lawyers, which it represents as offering ‘full-spectrum legal, dispute resolution, government relations and legislative advocacy services to clients in every sector of the gaming industry.' These are the services Prime Social anticipated receiving from Jones Walker.'

The lawsuit alleges misrepresentation, negligence, and breach of fiduciary duty by Jones Walker. The claim is for actual and punitive damages plus interest, along with all applicable court costs. Jones Walker has not issued a public statement in response to the action.

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Money laundering charges against the owners and operators of two poker rooms in Houston have been dropped, with the cases now being referred to the FBI due to a potential conflict of interest.

The latest move by Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg came about after it evidence showed that a potential witness for the defendants had also been employed as a contract worker for the District Attorney's office.

Ogg refused to go into the details but told reporters they wanted to make sure that an outside agency carries out an independent review of the case in the name of transparency and fairness.

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In May, police conducted separate raids of the Prime Social Poker Room and the Post Oak Poker Club in Houston, seizing around $206,000. It's understood the money would now be returned to the defense as the case has now been turned over to federal investigators.

A certain Amir Mireskandari, who has been employed as a consultant for the DA's office since January 2017, allegedly approached the owners of the two Houston poker rooms to supposedly help them go legal, promising licenses and ways to avoid legal trouble in exchange of large sums of money. Mireskandari did this during the same period when he was helping the DA office with their financial crime investigations.

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The shocking revelation emerged after the defendants traded stories with each other while they were detained in a holding cell at the Harris County processing center.

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The lawyer for Prime Social Joe Magliolo said the money that Mireskandari and his associates were trying to collect from the game rooms was as much as $500 million. The operators were informed that he would take $250,000 from this amount to ensure that the poker rooms would be first in line to get a license. The remaining money was supposedly for political contributions.

However, the assistant general manager of Prime Social Poker Club Steven Farshid said the consultants failed to fulfill their promises as the club has yet to receive a permit. Lawyers for Post Oak Poker also claimed that the club was also approached by a similar group, but they didn't pay the $250,000. Magliolo said the clubs and the DA's office were victims of fraud.

The legal status of poker clubs in Houston remains in limbo, with owners claiming that they are operating in line with regulations as they are only charging membership and seat fees instead of raking pots. Local authorities have been firm in their stance against these poker rooms, but the way they are implementing the crackdown is tainted with controversy. Prime Social and Post Oak were raided two months ago, but no further raids took place, and its business as usual for several other clubs operating in the state.