Ogg cancels her contract with adviser
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg has canceled a contract with a consultant accused of defrauding a private Houston poker club in a $250,000 scheme, her office said.
First Assistant County Attorney Robert Soard said Ogg canceled the contract with Amir Mireskandari on Monday, the day before the district attorney dismissed charges against nine employees of two Houston membersonly poker clubs. She cited potential conflicts of interest, including the consultant, in announcing the dismissal of the charges.
Ogg also said she had asked the FBI to investigate the cases.
Attorneys for Prime Social Poker Club said the game room’s owners paid $250,000 to Mireskandari and two other men, who said they would secure passage of a city ordinance protecting gambling establishments.
Neither council members nor Mayor Sylvester Turner ever proposed or debated such an ordinance.
The owners of Post Oak Poker Club said Mireskandari approached them with an identical offer. They considered paying the fee, fearing the consultant would use his law enforcement connections to target the club if they refused, but ultimately decided the pitch was a scam.
Police raided both clubs in May in a probe led by the district attorney's office.
Ogg has refused to answer questions about her relationship with Mireskandari, who has been one of her most generous campaign contributors. Dane Schiller, her spokesman, did not immediately respond to a request for a written record of Ogg’s order to cancel the contract.
Ogg hired Mireskandari shortly after her inauguration in January 2017, to help the district attorney’s office investigate complex financial crimes for an $1,100 monthly fee.
Mireskandari was paid $18,337 between February 2017 and May 2018, records from the county auditor show. He has not billed the county since last May.
His most recent contract, which Ogg approved in February, was effective until February 2020.