Ten people linked to a company that operates several downtown Austin bars were arrested Thursday and charged with a variety of crimes, including distributing cocaine, transferring firearms used to commit drug trafficking and money laundering, according to newly unsealed federal indictments.

Yassine Enterprises owner and President Hussein Ali "Mike" Yassine, his brothers Hadi Ali Yassine and Mohammed Ali Yassine, their assistant Marisse Marthe Ruales and six others were taken into custody following an investigation that dates to 2007, records indicate.

Ruales and the three Yassine brothers are each charged with money laundering, court documents show.

"Authorities believe that they used several business establishments located in downtown Austin to launder over $200,000 in cash, which they believed to be the proceeds of narcotics trafficking," the U.S. attorney's office said in a statement.

Those arrested will remain in federal custody, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office said, until a hearing set for 10 a.m. Tuesday. They face maximum prison sentences of 20 years to life if convicted.

The suspects were not available for interviews Thursday. At least one, Sami Derder, manager of the Roial nightclub, has already retained an attorney.

"He's a good guy," Joe Turner, Derder's lawyer, said. "They didn't find any drugs at his house, and they didn't find any drugs at his club."

Turner, who routinely handles federal court cases, called Thursday's arrests "the largest coordinated bust I've seen in years," with law enforcement officers reportedly brought in from other Texas cities to assist. "They had so much to do," he said.

Court documents, portions of which are redacted, appear to indicate there is an 11th unnamed suspect. However, officials declined to provide additional details.

A number of agencies are involved in the case, including the FBI, Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, as well as the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, state comptroller's and attorney general's offices and Austin police.

Officers from the combined agencies swarmed the Yassine Enterprises offices on West Fourth Street and some of the company's nine bars — Pure, Spill, Kiss & Fly, Stack Burger Bar, Treasure Island, Hyde, Fuel, Malaia and Roial — Thursday morning, and were spotted removing computers and boxes of documents. Bottles of alcohol were also being inventoried.

Mike Yassine started Yassine Enterprises in 1996, according to the company's website.

The clubs it operates – located on Colorado, Trinity, West Fourth, West Fifth and East and West Sixth streets — will remain closed for the foreseeable future, law enforcement officials told the American-Statesman.

Investigators wouldn't say much Thursday, providing few details on the case other than those contained in the indictments. Spokespeople for the IRS, Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and Austin police referred all questions to FBI spokesman Erik Vasys who would only call the investigation "usual and routine."

In addition to the money laundering charge, Mohammed Yassine is accused of distributing 500 grams or more of cocaine and transferring a firearm knowing it was going to be used in a drug-trafficking crime.

The remaining defendants are accused of distributing cocaine — in at least one case as much as 5 kilograms, which is about 11 pounds.

Citing federal statutes on money laundering, prosecutors are seeking a court order that would require the Yassines and Ruales to forfeit $214,500, the reported value of property involved in the alleged crimes. Forfeitures sought from others involved in the case are $24,500, $20,000, $13,600 and $2,450.

Other assets could be seized if they are unable to pay.

A public records search shows the Yassines have had multiple liens filed against them by vendors, the IRS and the state. Other suspects have been accused of a variety of misdemeanor and felony crimes in the past, including assault with bodily injury, drunken driving and driving with a suspended license.

Bobby Cervantes, who spent a year and a half as manager of Kiss & Fly, told the American-Statesman that he suspected something was amiss at Yassine Enterprises, prompting him to quit in September 2010.

"I found all these boxes — probably the ones they seized today — that seemed to show discrepancies, misreporting and falsification of stuff," he said.

Cervantes said he reported his findings to several agencies, including the IRS, Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and the Texas Workforce Commission. He said Mike Yassine then accused him of stealing from the business — something Cervantes denies.

"My whole reason for leaving Austin was to get away from Mike," Cervantes, who now lives in Dallas, said. "I've been trying to get back for a year. I'm ready to move home.

"You have no idea how relieved I am right now."

Figures from this January, the most recent numbers available from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, show Pure paid $8,586.90 in mixed-beverage taxes, ranking it among the city's most-patronized bars.

Roial wasn't far behind, reporting it collected $8,453.34 in taxes.

All nine of the bars routinely host high-profile events, with past parties sponsored by the ABC, E!, MTV and VH1 networks, Entertainment Weekly and Playboy magazines and Marriott hotels, according to the Yassine Enterprises website.

A class-action lawsuit was filed in January against Yassine Enterprises, alleging that as many as 300 employees were paid less than federal law requires.

Jake Webb, a one-time bartender at Roial, claims in legal documents that the company was "generally paying no wages at all to tipped employees," such as bartenders and waiters.

Attorneys for Yassine Enterprises released a statement after learning of the lawsuit, saying the company was "committed to complying with all laws regarding the payment of tipped employees."

Dan Byrne, one of Webb's attorneys, said Thursday's arrests shouldn't affect the case's progress.

"The suit is still there and trucking along," he said.

The opt-in deadline for the class action was recently extended, Byrne said. Employees now have until April 9 to join. So far, 48 have submitted the required paperwork.

"I wouldn't say we saw this coming," Byrne said. "This goes beyond the unconscionable business practices we're alleging.

"It was definitely a surprise."

Contact Gary Dinges at 912-5987

Bars owned by Yassine Enterprises

� Fuel, 607 Trinity St.

� Hyde, 213 W. Fourth St.

� Kiss & Fly, 404 Colorado St.

� Malaia, 300 E. Sixth St.

� Pure, 419 E. Sixth St.

� Roial, 120 W. Fifth St.

� Spill, 212 E. Sixth St.

� Stack Burger Bar, 208 W. Fourth St.

� Treasure Island, 413 E. Sixth St.

Source: yassineenterprises.com

Arrested

� Hussein Ali "Mike" Yassine, 40, Austin

� Hadi Ali Yassine, 35, Austin

� Mohammed Ali "Steve" Yassine, 38, Austin

� Marisse Marthe "Madi" Ruales, 33, Austin

� Sami Derder, 38, Pflugerville

� Edgar Orsini, 40, Cedar Creek

� Amar Thabet Araf, 29, Austin

� Alejandro "Cueta" Melendrez, 42, Austin

� Nizar "Nino" Hakiki, 32, Austin

� Karim Faiq, 29, Manor

Source: U.S. attorney's office