Community Corner
Strip Club Told It Can't Bill Doctor $135K For Chelsea Visit
The doctor was drugged by his date and her friends, who racked up more than $135,000 at the Chelsea strip club Scores.
CHELSEA, NY — A New Jersey doctor who was repeatedly drugged by a date who then charged more than $135,000 at a Chelsea strip club doesn’t have to pay the staggering bill, a judge ruled.
Judge Kelly O'Neill Levy said that Dr. Zyad Younan would not have to pay the $135,000 charged to his credit card at Scores strip club in Chelsea, bringing an end to a legal drama that has stretched on for years, the New York Post was first to report.
The strip club, located at 536 W. 28th St., sued Younan in 2014 to try and force him to pay the steep bill, which was racked up throughout Nov. 2013 to buy private rooms, beverages and tips at the strip club.
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Younan said the charges were fraudulent, and that all the dates where his card had been used at Scores matched with dates he went out with Karina Pascucci, an ex-stripper posing as a nursing student. Younan said Pascucci and her friends had drugged him, then stolen his card and forged his signature to rack up the pricey bill. Pascucci and four of her friends later pleaded guilty to forgery and larceny charges.
Pascucci went on several dates with the Younan, a New Jersey cardiologist, throughout November 2013, each of which ended with Younan losing his memory and waking up the next morning in his hotel room, he said. Eventually, he realized what was happening after his credit card company called him to alert him that $100,000 had been charged to his card at Scores in a single night.
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Last week, O’Neill Levy ruled that Younan did not have to fork over the steep bill because the charges were accrued fraudulently.
"Dr. Younan now has a chance to close this chapter of his life and move on," his lawyer Michael Weinstein told the Post.
Image credit: Courtesy of Google Maps
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