Another Stupid Lawsuit:rolleyes:
Exec swears he dropped only 2Gon lap dances, bubbly & food
Having a grand old time wasn't hard for an insurance executive, with the help of some lovely ladies and $3,200 per bottle Clos Du Mesnil Champagne (shown).
That's a lot of lap dances.
A Manhattan insurance executive was handed an eye-popping $28,000 bill after hours of Champagne-fueled frolicking at the East Side strip club Scores.
But Mitchell Blaser, 53, contends his wild night out could not have added up to anywhere near the amount charged to his American Express card - enough to buy a new Chevy Trailblazer.
He slapped the topless mecca for celebrities and high rollers with a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court, claiming hanky-panky - of the financial sort - was behind his gargantuan tab.
The upper East Side bachelor's lawyer, Leonard Zack, told the Daily News that Blaser was expecting a bill of about $2,000.
Zack accused Scores of fraud. "It's a swindle, and they probably do it to a lot of people who don't want to do anything," he said.
But Scores spokesman Lonnie Hanover said the naked truth is that Blaser flashed his credit card with a cost-is-no-object zeal while out treating a pal and the pal's girlfriend on Dec. 11.
"If you want to party like a [movie star] you can, but it is going to cost you," Hanover said.
He added that the club has Blaser's signed receipts to prove "this is a totally frivolous lawsuit."
For beginners, he said Blaser - chief financial officer of the Americas division of Swiss Re, the world's second-largest insurance company - ordered five magnums of Clos Du Mesnil Champagne, at $3,200 a pop.
"This man purchased our most expensive bottle of champagne. It is rated the best in the world," Hanover said. "You can have a wonderful bottle of champagne for $300. This is the extreme. ... The last person to buy one was a head of state."
Then there were the lap dances.
Hanover said Blaser charged $7,000 worth of Diamond Dollars - the club's currency - and he doled them out like candy for $20 lap dances. "At $7,000, he had a dozen girls hanging on to his words for several hours," Hanover said.
Blaser also ordered $500 worth of hard-liquor shots, Hanover said. Throw in tips and food, and it adds up to $28,000, according to Scores.
But Blaser contends that when he left the club at Second Ave. and 60th St., he grudgingly signed a bill for $8,615, only because he was intimidated by the club's staff. After he stepped outside, he realized the bill included a tacked-on $4,000 gratuity, he claims in the suit.
When he later called American Express to complain, he was told his card had been swiped three additional times, and his total bill was for $28,021, his suit charges.
Blaser filed a criminal complaint with the NYPD at the 19th Precinct stationhouse on April 14.
Hanover said Scores - whose customers have included Dennis Rodman, Howard Stern, Colin Farrell and Carson Daly - has strict procedures when it comes to big spenders.
He said the club's policy is for the general manager to advise visitors when their bill tops $5,000, and to call American Express to authorize charges as they accrue.
Hanover also said Blaser signed not one, but three credit card receipts through the night. And, he said, American Express conducted its own investigation and notified Scores on Jan. 22 that the charges were legitimate and the case was closed.
Hanover said it all boils down to Blaser partying like a champ but waking up the next day feeling like a chump.
"It is very intoxicating being surrounded by beautiful girls," Hanover said.
By HELEN PETERSON
NY DAILY NEWS
Originally published on May 20, 2004
