Seattle nightclub owner sentenced to 12 years on drug and weapons charges

SEATTLE — A Seattle nightclub owner was sentenced in U.S. District Court Tuesday to 12 years in prison for drug distribution and illegal gun possession, the result of an extensive investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Steven Asir Thomas, 40, of Olympia, was informed by U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour that the lengthy sentence was prompted by the amount of drugs involved and the defendant’s intent to have an attorney assaulted because of a business dispute involving his nightclub.

“This defendant was brazen in his criminal conduct, bragging about his plans to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine, and launder money through a Seattle nightclub,” said Annette L. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington. “While he plotted assaults and ways to trade guns for drugs, he didn’t know law enforcement was listening to every word. Now instead of enriching himself at the expense of public safety, he will pay his debt to society by serving time in prison.”

Following a six-day jury trial in April, Thomas was convicted of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, money laundering, conspiracy to possess firearms in order to facilitate drug trafficking crimes, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

According to court records and testimony at trial, Thomas, who had owned various nightclubs in the Seattle area, told agents he wanted to open a new nightclub near the Seattle Center called “Ice Nightclub,” which would actually serve as a cover to launder drug money and generate cash for additional drug purchases. In October 2013, Thomas worked to set up a drug deal trading methamphetamine for assault rifles.  On three other occasions, agents seized drugs the defendant had either ordered or had delivered.  

Also in October, Thomas picked up a pound of methamphetamine from a source and then “sold” it to an undercover agent in Portland, Oregon. Approximately a week later, another two-pound load of methamphetamine was seized on a bus headed to Portland – the courier was bringing it to Thomas.  In March 2014, Thomas arranged another one pound sale in Portland of highly pure methamphetamine to an undercover agent.

In order to launder money he believed to be the proceeds of drug dealing – some of which was provided to him by undercover agents posing as drug dealers –Thomas set up bank accounts in the name of Ice Nightclub. His plan was for drug dealers to give him cash disguised as an investment in the club. He would then write a check from Ice Nightclub accounts to an entity connected to the drug dealers to make it appear that the Ice Nightclub was paying for services rendered. Thomas would then collect a fee from the “drug dealers” for his assistance in disguising the criminal source of the funds.

While executing a search warrant at Thomas’s residence in March 2014, HSI special agents found a loaded pistol next to his bed. The defendant is prohibited from possessing guns due to a 2006 felony drug conviction in Arkansas. Agents found further evidence of drug dealing at the house, including cocaine, 14 cell phones, scales, currency bands and remains from previous marijuana grow. 

This was an Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation, led by HSI, with substantial assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Seattle Police Department.