By: Najla Alexander
NJ AG authorities announced that multiple defendants, including the owner of a Sayreville strip club, pleaded guilty as part of a resolution of a case charging misconduct at the club.
Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin stated that the pleas were entered on June 3, during a hearing before New Jersey Superior Court Judge Joseph Paone, presiding at the Middlesex County Courthouse in New Brunswick.
Under the terms of the global resolution of the case for all remaining defendants, the owner of XXXV Club on Route 35, Doreen Acciardi, and her husband, Anthony Acciardi Sr., of Freehold Township, entered guilty pleas to maintaining a nuisance through maintaining a house of prostitution (a 4th-degree crime) and failure to pay income tax (a 3rd-degree crime), according to NJ AG officials.
New Jersey Attorney General officials stated that the couple agreed to jointly pay all taxes owed to the New Jersey Treasury Department’s Division of Taxation, totaling approximately $705,000, in addition to mandatory fines and penalties.
Approximately $420,000 in cash that was seized by law enforcement during the investigation will be forfeited by the defendants and applied to the tax settlement, New Jersey Attorney General officials stated.
Additionally, 35 Club, LLC (which does business as XXXV Club) pleaded guilty to engaging in the operation of a sexually oriented business (a 4th-degree crime). Under the agreement, the XXXV Club will be subject to independent monitoring for a period of five years, commencing January 1, 2025, and terminating on January 1, 2030, according to NJ AG officials.
NJ AG officials said pursuant to the terms of a monitoring agreement, the XXXV Club must be accessible to the monitor via closed-circuit television and subject to in-person inspections at all times.
Acciboys, LLC, an entity that owned ATMs in the club and that belonged to defendant Anthony Acciardi Jr., of Old Bridge, and defendant Stephen Acciardi, of Freehold Township, also pleaded guilty to maintaining a nuisance through maintaining a house of prostitution (a 4th-degree crime), NJ Attorney General officials say.
NJ Attorney General officials stated that Anthony Acciardi Jr. and Stephen Acciardi, who worked at the club, along with club employees Jeanine Nichols and Jason Portes, will all be admitted to the pretrial intervention program for a period of three years and must pay mandatory fines and penalties.
Additionally, New Jersey Attorney General officials say Stephen Acciardi agreed to pay the taxes owed to the Division of Taxation.
As part of the resolution, charges will be dismissed against Alana, Inc., a real estate holding company that owns the property on which the XXXV Club is situated, according to NJ AG officials.
“The guilty pleas in this case underscore that illegal business dealings and tax cheating are not worth it. Those crimes will not go undetected and, once they’re uncovered, they will be prosecuted,” said Attorney General Platkin.
New Jersey Attorney General officials stated that as part of the global resolution, the State will recommend that the court sentence Anthony Acciardi Sr. to three years of probation supervision and Doreen Acciardi to two years of probation supervision, and further order them to comply with all conditions imposed on their businesses.
Based on publicly filed court documents and proceedings in the case, the investigation into the strip club revealed that it doubled as a house of prostitution and that dancers performed sexual acts on patrons in the VIP rooms, NJ AG officials say. The investigation additionally showed that certain defendants largely failed to report the proceeds of the unlawful prostitution operation as taxable income.