CHICAGO _ A Chicago-area strip club operator was held on a $50,000 bond Sunday after prosecutors said he allegedly hired a thug to target three associates and "put them in the hospital."
Seif El Sharif, of Dyer, Ind., was arrested Friday on charges of conspiring to commit aggravated battery, according to prosecutors and court records.
The 67-year-old, who has owned strip joints in Harvey and Bedford Park, appeared Sunday before Cook County Judge James R. Brown.
An assistant state's attorney accused Sharif of paying a "confidential source to commit battery on the three victims."
An FBI task force that the Cook County sheriff's office is part of received information that Sharif had agreed to pay someone to harm three people, but no one was harmed, said Sophia Ansari, a spokeswoman for the sheriff's office.
Sharif's attorney, Stuart Goldberg, told Brown the charges stemmed from a "business dispute" and are fictitious.
"In the strip club industry, when a number of people own different shares and it becomes prosperous, it can create problems," Goldberg said. "The defense theory is that he was set up."
Goldberg said his client owns Club O, in Harvey.
Sharif has owned strip clubs in suburban Cook County dating to 1995, according to news reports.
He did not respond to a request for comment.
