Envy nightclub surrenders liquor license; owners investigated

A downtown Minneapolis nightclub is surrendering its liquor license at the same time its owners are being investigated for alleged tax fraud.

Owners of the Envy nightclub agreed to give up its liquor license Thursday morning, effective Nov. 12, after the city threatened to revoke it. Shortly afterward, agents from the Minneapolis Department of Revenue executed a search warrant against the club and its owners.

Susan Beamon, who owns the nightclub Envy with her husband, James, declined to comment on the criminal investigation, but she says Minneapolis city leaders have targeted her because they don't approve of her customers.

"I think that the majority think that Envy — or downtown, that area, not just Envy — attracts, their words, 'undesirables.'"

Beamon says she is trying to sell the club. The search warrant alleges that she and her husband failed to file tax returns for the last two years and that they previously reported low or no income, despite owning an expensive Cadillac and a downtown bar.

Minnesota Revenue Commissioner Myron Frans says the documents will show whether crimes were committed. The Revenue Department says the tax investigation is not connected to the city's actions.

"The facts usually speak for themselves. In the tax world, what's important is you do your homework, you get your documents, you analyze the data," Frans said. "And if it justifies the allegation of tax fraud then the case kind of makes itself.

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