HOUSTON — Nine people were charged Wednesday with money laundering as police and prosecutors raided two poker clubs in west Houston.
The Houston Police Department and Harris County District Attorney's Office are focusing on Post Oak Poker Club and the Prime Social Poker Club, where bank accounts were frozen and face seizure.
The district attorney's office says millions of dollars have flown through those accounts illegally.
“Poker rooms are illegal in the State of Texas,” District Attorney Kim Ogg said. “We are changing the paradigm regarding illegal gambling by moving up the criminal chain and pursuing felony money laundering and engaging in organized crime charges against owners and operators. Players are not being targeted.”
The suspects are charged with first-degree felonies after a two-year investigation by the district attorney's office and HPD.
Chief Art Acevedo say illegal gambling cannot be allowed to continue because "it drives organized crime and fuels other criminal activity."
These are the suspects who are charged in Wednesday's raid:
Post Oak Poker Club, 1001 West Loop South, Suite 400
Daniel Jeffery Kebort, owner
William Jack Heuer III, owner
Alan Harris Chodrow, owner
Sergio Diaz Cabrera, owner
Kevin Louis Chodrow, owner
Prime Social Poker Room 7801 Westheimer Rd.
Dean Maddox, owner
Mary Switzer, comptroller
Brent J. Pollack, general manager
Steven Farshid, assistant general manager
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