Sex, Poker, Millions: Body Shop Owner Hit With Explosive Fraud Lawsuit

The owner of The Body Shop, West Hollywood’s longtime Sunset Strip strip club, is facing a multimillion-dollar fraud lawsuit filed this week by his former best friend.

The CA Post reports Craig Franze, who owns the all-nude club at 8250 Sunset Blvd., allegedly took $2.9 million from Mike Galam and his son, Johnathan, in what the complaint calls a “fraudulent bait-and-switch scheme.” Franze had agreed to broker the transfer of two rival adult clubs, the suit says, but he didn’t follow through. He signed both over to his own companies and locked the Galams out entirely.

Twelve years of friendship.

The clubs at the center of the dispute are 4Play and Plan B, with Plan B located at 11637 W. Pico Blvd. in Los Angeles. It’s a suit that also names Archie Donovan as a co-defendant. The filing hit Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday.

Galam, who’s owned Bare Elegance for years, had known Franze for more than 12 years. The two were “once best friends,” according to the complaint. During the pandemic, the suit says, Franze fell on hard times and moved in with Galam. He’d been living with his then-best friend while running underground poker games for cash on the side.

The takeover wasn’t the only alleged scheme. The suit claims Franze and Donovan then drained both clubs of profits and corporate assets.

Galam also alleges Franze had been working as a manager at Bare Elegance before the scheme began and was “systematically embezzling” more than $1 million from that club as well. He’d been using the money to fund his own lifestyle, the suit says.

“This included using embezzled money to purchase an expensive Rolls-Royce for himself as well as a Maybach and a Corvette for his wife along with over a half dozen other vehicles,” the complaint reads. “Once Franze took over the 4Play and Plan B and started siphoning money from these clubs as well, his lavish personal spending skyrocketed.”

The suit also alleges he spent $150,000 on a diamond ring for his wife and nearly $18,000 on jewelry for his girlfriends. He’d also been renting a home in Encino for $30,000 a month, the complaint says.

The allegations don’t stop there. The complaint also accuses Franze and Donovan of sex trafficking, illegal alcohol and drug sales, and running high-stakes underground poker games involving millions of dollars.

Philip Wiszowaty, who goes by Dazo, told the New York Post he’d played in several of the underground games Franze hosted.

“I played in Craig’s games hosted with Michael ‘Meatball’ Morton for four weeks,” he said. “I actually cashed out $820,000 chips and took a picture of my chips before going to sleep. The next day, Craig and Meatball insisted it was only $680,000 despite my picture showing them otherwise.”

Wiszowaty said he’d also won $1.2 million during a separate session that included NBA Hall of Famer Paul Pierce at the table but was paid out less than half of what he was owed.

“When you complain, they’ll threaten you and try to intimidate you,” he told the Post.

Franze denied the allegations in a statement to the Post. He called the complaint false and described it as an extortion attempt.

“Importantly, the complaint is unsupported by evidence and is unverified. Galam owes my partner and I millions of dollars and has a long trail of many more millions he owes others. We are in the process of filing our own complaint, which sets forth the actual facts, includes substantial supporting evidence, and will be verified,” he said.

Galam told the Post the complaint speaks for itself.

The lawsuit seeks to transfer ownership of Franze’s clubs to Galam.