Convicted Elk Grove strip club owner now sued by dancer
The former owner of an Elk Grove Village strip club is already serving a one-year prison sentence for not reporting $12 million in income that he instead stashed away at a nearby warehouse.
Now Michael Wellek, 63, of Libertyville faces charges from a former dancer who says “unauthorized deductions” were made from her compensation, and she wasn’t paid for working overtime, according to a federal lawsuit filed last month.
The dancer, Argyro Roula Manis, was employed at Heavenly Bodies, 1300 Elmhurst Road, and Skybox Steak and Sports Bar in Harvey. Both clubs, in addition to Cowboys in Markham, were owned by Wellek, who pleaded guilty last November to one count of obstructing the Internal Revenue Service in the collection of taxes and one count of filing a false federal income tax return.
Manis’ suit charges that she was misclassified as an “independent contractor” for the purposes of compensation. She is seeking back pay and damages.
The complaint also states that other current and former employees should be entitled to join their individual claims in Manis’ suit.
In 2003, investigators discovered bags of cash that Wellek hid in a warehouse at 2847 E. Higgins Road. Each bag was labeled with the name of each club where the money was made.
Wellek was sentenced in February to a year in prison, six months of home confinement, and was also ordered to pay a fine of $75,000 and perform 200 hours of community service.
A status hearing on Manis’ suit is scheduled for Sept. 27.