Hilton Head adult club Millennium Cabaret issued business license

A Hilton Head Island adult entertainment club held its legal, grand opening Thursday night after operating for several weeks without a business license.

Millennium Cabaret officially opened at the old location of the Gold Club, 1 Dunnagan’s Alley, under the ownership of Stephanie Rose, wife of former Gold Club owner Mike Rose. The rebranded club was cited for doing business without a license and having a sign without a permit, both misdemeanors, but has now been issued a business license and a temporary liquor license, Town of Hilton Head Island attorney Brian Hulbert said Thursday.

The only stipulation of the license is that there can’t be involvement in the management of Millennium Cabaret by Mike Rose, who recently pleaded guilty to laundering money through the Gold Club on Hilton Head and his club locations elsewhere, Hulbert said.

“There’s no confirmation she was involved in money laundering or drugs or had any knowledge of those crimes being committed,” Hulbert said, referring to the federal case against Mike Rose and several co-defendants.

Mike Rose is scheduled to be sentenced in California federal court at the end of March.

Attempts to reach Stephanie Rose were unsuccessful. She was not at the club on Tuesday evening and did not respond to a request for comment.

Millennium Cabaret’s citations will be handled in Hilton Head Island Municipal Court and are punishable by up to $1,092.50 each, Hulbert said.

While the brand was created by Mike Rose, he said via email that that is his sole connection to the new Hilton Head strip club. His business license was suspended in February after the town learned of his federal convictions, and his business license revocation hearing was scheduled for Tuesday.

However, Mike Rose filed documents to close the Gold Club the same day, settling the issue, Hulbert said.

The federal investigation involving the Gold Clubs began in 2010, when a confidential informant relayed to an FBI agent that another defendant, Richard Leyland, had laundered money, according to court records. The agent’s dealings with Leyland eventually led to an introduction to Mike Rose, who was pitched as a strip club owner looking for investors and potentially open to laundering money from a cocaine enterprise.

At the first meeting in Feb. 2012, Mike Rose asked the agent about his client, saying, “Are these ‘High Times’ executives” — referring to a marijuana legalization magazine — “or is this the mob?”

When told the clients were Colombian drug importers, Mike Rose said, “That’s fine,” court records show.

The agent also told Mike Rose, “I don’t want you to feel like you jumped on a train, and you can’t get off. I am the guy who can stop that train.”

Mike Rose responded, “Yeah, if I want to be done with it, I want to be done with it. That’s fine.”

But from there, the operation grew.

The defendants agreed to launder about $2.3 million in drug money through the Gold Clubs, by depositing the money into business bank accounts, providing the agent with fake invoices and returning most of the money, minus a cut for themselves, according to federal court records.

Mike Rose also tried to persuade the agent to invest in a new club he hoped to open in Las Vegas, even promising he could “fudge the forms” of a background check, “keep the client’s investment secret, and return money to the client through false invoices for services that were never performed,” the judge wrote in his final order.

“While Rose did not match ( associate Vladimir) Handl’s eagerness in constantly requesting to expand the scheme, the lengthy recordings of his phone conversations and in-person meetings clearly show that he appeared to be an instrumental and willing participant,” Judge William Alsup said.

On Tuesday, Mike Rose tweeted, under the handle @goldclubmike, that he was “officially retired.”

“It feels dam (sic) good to start new projects...” he wrote.

Meanwhile, a Facebook page for Millennium Cabaret advertised its grand opening Thursday, offering a free buffet and specials on food and drinks.

“Come see what all of the talk is about!” the page said.

This story was originally published March 18, 2016 at 5:21 PM with the headline "Hilton Head adult club Millennium Cabaret issued business license."