Amex Sues CEO Over $241,000 Topless Bill
By SAMUEL MAULL, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK - American Express is suing the CEO of a communications
company for payment of $241,000 worth of disputed credit card charges
at a Manhattan topless club.
American Express says in papers filed in state court that Savvis Inc.
chief executive officer Robert A. McCormick was in the club Scores in
October 2003 with at least three other men.
After McCormick got the $241,000 corporate credit card bill, Savvis
called American Express and complained that some of the charges were
fraudulent, the lawsuit says. The communications company said its
chief disputed all but about $20,000, according to the lawsuit.
"We firmly believe that Mr. McCormick was the victim of fraud," said
Deena Williamson, Savvis's deputy general counsel. She declined to
comment further.
Lonnie Hanover, a Scores spokesman, said he had not talked to all of
the employees involved with McCormick and could not say what the CEO
purchased.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday against McCormick and Savvis is at least
the third in the past two years involving contested credit card
charges at Scores. One patron sued the club after he got a $28,000
bill and another disputed $129,000 in charges.
After a lawsuit last year, Hanover said that "high rollers" visiting
Scores' "super elite Presidents' Club" spend thousands of dollars on
single bottles of champagne and tip strippers as much as $10,000 for
lap dances and for spending time with them.
The district attorney's office has said it is investigating alleged
overcharging at Scores.
Hanover said that each time a patron spends $10,000, Scores calls the
customer's credit card company to get the charges approved. Scores
even fingerprints the customer and requires him to get on the
telephone with a credit card representative, he said.
"We got authorization for all of the charges," Hanover said of
McCormick's visit. "We followed proper procedures and documentation,
and we were paid."
Court papers say American Express asked McCormick several times to
provide in writing his basis for calling the charges fraudulent.
McCormick failed to respond, and when he was billed again he once
again objected to the charges, the lawsuit says.
American Express says McCormick finally responded in writing in
September 2004, reiterating that some charges on the Scores bill were
bogus, the lawsuit says.
Scores has been paid in full, American Express's court papers say,
while neither Savvis nor McCormick has paid any of the charges.
Failure to pay is a violation of the American Express corporate credit
card agreement, court papers say.
An American Express spokeswoman, Judy Tenzer, said she had no comment.
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