LAS VEGAS (AP) — The owner, two top aides and six associates at a Las Vegas limousine company were arrested Thursday on racketeering charges alleging they provided drugs and prostitutes to clients and collected millions of dollars in bogus payments from credit cards.
A federal grand jury indictment unsealed while FBI agents raided CLS Nevada LLC’s offices alleges that owner Charles Horky, manager Kimberly Flores and financial adviser Archie Granata conspired to use the limo service as a racketeering enterprise, and that the other six people had lesser roles in the scheme.
Each defendant could face up to life in prison, U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden said in a statement.
Attempts to reach Horky, Flores and Granata through the company office were unsuccessful.
Michael Burchette, a company business manager who wasn’t charged in the case, expressed surprise at the arrests.
Burchette said FBI agents arrived early Thursday, told employees the office was closed, and prevented him from entering while they removed boxes of items from the building.
Horky, 52, Flores, 42, and Granata, 69, each face charges of conspiracy, racketeering, fraud, and unlawful use of a facility of interstate commerce, according to the indictment handed up Nov. 27.
Granata also faces one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud.
CLS drivers Clarence Adams, 38, James Reda, 38, Mikhail Maleev, 48, and Dawit Moszagi, 47, and associates Solomon Zemedhun, 39, and Olive Toli, 48, were arrested on racketeering conspiracy charges. The indictment accuses Zemedhun and Toli of aiding in the distribution of controlled substances.
Reda is also charged with one count of conspiracy to use a facility of interstate commerce to facilitate prostitution. Prostitution is legal in most rural counties in Nevada, but is illegal in Las Vegas and Reno.
Bogden said most defendants were due for initial appearances Thursday in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas.
The arrests and raid followed an investigation of a four-year pattern of business, according to the indictment. The FBI’s Las Vegas agent-in-charge, Kevin Favreau, said it disrupted a major racketeering enterprise.
CLS Nevada operates a fleet of about 70 vehicles including airport shuttle buses, limousines and vans, Burchette said. He said he didn’t know how many vehicles were operating Thursday.
The indictment seeks the forfeiture to the government of some $5.2 million in ill-gotten gains.
