Strip club owner gets year in prison for hiding income

The owner of Heavenly Bodies and two other strip clubs in the suburbs was sentenced Friday to a year in prison and six months of home confinement for not reporting $12 million in income that he instead stashed away at an Elk Grove Village warehouse.

Michael G. Wellek, 63, of Libertyville pleaded guilty in 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 in 2000.

He faced a maximum six-year prison sentence.

U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow also ordered Wellek to pay a fine of $75,000 and perform 200 hours of community service.

Prosecutors said Wellek underreported his income on his 2000 tax return by about $2 million. They also charged that he failed to file tax returns between 1989 and 1999, even though his three businesses were successful.

In 2003, investigators found $12 million contained in bags of cash at a warehouse at 2847 E. Higgins Road, which is adjacent to Heavenly Bodies. Each bag had a date and location of each club where the profits were made. Wellek was also operator of Skybox in Harvey and Cowboys in Markham.