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Thursday, July 19, 2001
Ewing will be called to testify in Gold Club trial
Associated Press
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ATLANTA -- Basketball star Patrick Ewing and former professional wrestling executive Eric Bischoff will be called as witnesses next week in the Gold Club racketeering trial.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Art Leach told a federal judge Friday that the celebrity witnesses likely will be called late next week.
Strip club owner Steve Kaplan and six associates are accused of bilking customers, sending cash to the mob and using the lure of sex with club dancers to attract celebrity patrons.
In testimony last month, a former Gold Club dancer said she saw a stripper perform a sex act on Ewing in 1996 as Kaplan watched. Ewing, who gained fame as a star for the New York Knicks, played last season for the Seattle SuperSonics.
Bischoff was reinstalled last year of the aging WCW, but the move failed to regain viewers. The rival World Wrestling Federation bought WCW earlier this year.
The Gold Club trial is in its 11th week. Attorneys for Kaplan and his associates claim the defendants were simply smart businessmen who ran a high-profile club.
Leach says Christian Schmidt, a former Gold Club manager, also would be called to testify next week.
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