Eric Langan Indictment: Bribery, RCI Exit, and Investor Fallout

Eric Langan, the longtime chief executive of RCI Hospitality Holdings, was named in a 79-count New York indictment unsealed on September 16, 2025, accusing him and four other executives of bribing a state tax auditor and evading more than $8 million in sales taxes owed by the company’s Manhattan strip clubs. The Eric Langan indictment was announced by New York Attorney General Letitia James and filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan as Indictment No. 73671/2025. Langan stepped down as president and CEO in November 2025 and gave up the board chairmanship in January 2026, though he remains a director. He and his co-defendants maintain their innocence.¹

The Charges Against Langan

The indictment names RCI Hospitality Holdings, five executives, and three Manhattan clubs the company owns: Rick’s Cabaret, Vivid Cabaret, and Hoops Cabaret and Sports Bar. The counts include conspiracy in the fourth degree, bribery in the second degree, criminal tax fraud, and falsifying business records.¹

Langan faces a top charge of criminal tax fraud in the first degree, which carries a maximum sentence of eight and a third to 25 years in prison. Two other defendants face the same top count: Timothy Winata, RCI’s controller and accountant, and Ahmed “Ed” Anakar, its director of operations. The remaining two named individuals, Chief Financial Officer Bradley Chhay and regional manager Shaun Kevlin, face a top charge of bribery in the second degree, with a maximum of five to 15 years.¹

A sixth person was also charged but had not been publicly identified or arrested when the indictment was announced. The Albany Times Union reported that this defendant is the former Department of Taxation and Finance auditor at the center of the alleged scheme, who retired in April 2024.²

What Prosecutors Say Happened

The indictment describes a scheme that ran from roughly September 2010 through June 2024. Prosecutors allege that RCI executives bribed a state auditor and his supervisor responsible for sales tax audits of the Manhattan clubs, aiming to reduce or waive the taxes, penalties, and interest owed and to keep the department from running further routine audits of Rick’s Cabaret, the company’s most profitable New York venue.³

According to the charges, the auditor received at least 13 all-expenses-paid, multi-day trips to Florida, including visits to Tootsie’s Cabaret in Miami, another RCI-owned club. On those trips he allegedly received complimentary hotel stays, restaurant meals, and up to $5,000 per day in private dances. On at least 10 more occasions, prosecutors say, he was given free admission, food, cash, and dances at the three Manhattan clubs. Winata allegedly accompanied him on the Florida trips and delivered payments in person.⁴⁵

The indictment alleges the cash payouts to the auditor were logged in the clubs’ books as “promo,” “promotion,” or “miscellaneous” expenses to conceal them.³

Prosecutors quoted text messages in the charging document. In April 2018, Kevlin allegedly texted Langan asking authorization for a $1,500 payment to “Tim’s guest,” noting they had already paid $2,000 the day before. Langan allegedly replied, “That’s fine. Go ahead.” In a separate exchange, Kevlin allegedly told Anakar about the auditor: “Hopefully he really makes something happen” and “So many sketchy people in the public sector.”³

The Sales Tax at the Center of the Case

The underlying tax dispute concerns “Dance Dollars,” an in-house currency customers bought at the Manhattan clubs and exchanged for private dances. New York classified the sale of Dance Dollars and the associated 20 to 25 percent service charges as admission charges to a place of amusement, subject to a combined 8.875 percent sales tax. Prosecutors allege the clubs systematically failed to collect that tax.³

The indictment puts the total tax loss to New York City and New York State at more than $8 million. It cites specific shortfalls of $1.36 million for March 2017 through February 2018 and $190,259 for March 2021 through February 2022. Prosecutors allege the bribery influenced the outcomes of at least six state audits. A Vivid Cabaret audit was settled for roughly $839,000; a Hoops Cabaret audit for about $201,000; a later Vivid Cabaret audit for just $47,343. After that last settlement, Chhay allegedly wrote, “Tim got the guy to $47k in Vivid New York. But owes him a couple trips.” In a separate message about a pending $3 million liability, Langan allegedly wrote, “I think I got the sales taxes in New York to 350 plus interest possibly. Tim is discussing with the auditor tonight ;).”¹⁴

The Defense Position

Daniel Horwitz of Tannenbaum Helpern, representing RCI, called the charges “overreaching” and “baseless.” In a statement on the day the indictment was unsealed, he said, “We are clearly disappointed with the New York Attorney General’s decision to move forward with an indictment and look forward to addressing the allegations,” and said the defendants are presumed innocent and “should be allowed to have their day in court.” Horwitz noted that RCI had previously disclosed the investigation in its SEC filings.⁶⁴

As of mid-2026, publicly available records do not indicate that the defendants have entered pleas, and no trial date has been reported. The case is being prosecuted by the New York Attorney General’s Public Integrity Bureau.

Langan’s Exit From RCI Leadership

Roughly two months after the charges were filed, Langan stepped down as president and CEO effective November 28, 2025. Chhay stepped down as CFO the same day. RCI’s board named Travis Reese interim president and CEO, and Albert Molina, the company’s director of financial reporting since 2016, interim CFO.⁷ Both Langan and Chhay stayed with the company in advisory roles at their prior compensation.⁸

In January 2026, Langan gave up the board chairmanship as well, with Reese taking that role. Langan continues to serve as a director.⁹ Langan had served as a director of RCI since 1998 and held the president, CEO, and chairman titles from 1999 until the November 2025 departure.¹⁰

Investor Fallout

RCI shares, listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under RICK, fell nearly 17 percent on the day the indictment was announced.⁴ The investor rights firm Hagens Berman opened an investigation into whether the company had misled shareholders about its compliance and internal controls.¹¹

That work produced a securities class action, Hernandez v. RCI Hospitality Holdings, Inc., et al., filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas as No. 4:25-cv-04477. The class period runs from December 15, 2021, through September 16, 2025, and the lead plaintiff deadline was November 20, 2025.¹²

An Earlier SEC Settlement

The 2025 charges are not Langan’s first regulatory trouble. In September 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission settled administrative proceedings against RCI, Langan, and then-CFO Phillip K. Marshall over disclosure failures and weak internal controls covering fiscal years 2014 through 2019.¹³

The SEC found that RCI had failed to disclose about $615,000 in executive perquisites. These included Langan’s personal use of company aircraft, commercial flight reimbursements for significant others, salary payments to Langan’s girlfriend for minimal work, and charitable donations to the private school attended by his children. The company also failed to disclose related-party transactions involving businesses owned by Langan’s father and brother.¹⁰

Without admitting or denying the findings, the parties agreed to cease-and-desist orders. Langan paid a $200,000 civil penalty, RCI paid $400,000, and Marshall paid $35,000.¹³

1
New York Attorney General. Attorney General James Indicts Strip Club Company Executives in Multimillion-Dollar Scheme
2
Times Union. AG: Rick’s Cabaret Parent Company Indicted in Tax Fraud Scheme
3
New York Attorney General. New York v. Eric Langan et al., Indictment No. 73671/2025
4
CNBC. RCI Strip Club Executives Charged in New York Tax Fraud Scheme
5
CBS News. Strip Club Execs Bribed Tax Auditor With Private Dances, Charges Say
6
Restaurant Business. RCI Hospitality Holdings Top Execs Are Indicted on Tax Fraud, Bribery Charges in New York
7
SEC. RCI Hospitality Holdings Form 8-K, November 25, 2025
8
BusinessWire. RCI Board of Directors Names Reese as Interim President and CEO and Molina as Interim CFO
9
Stock Titan. RCI Hospitality Holdings Reports Material Event
10
SEC. Administrative Proceeding File No. 3-20035
11
PR Newswire. RCI Hospitality Holdings Faces Investor Scrutiny After Tax Fraud Indictment
12
PR Newswire. RCI Hospitality Holdings Faces Investor Class Action Amid Sell-Off
13
SEC. In the Matter of RCI Hospitality Holdings, Eric S. Langan, and Phillip K. Marshall