Representatives of a private southwest Houston game room paid $250,000 to a consultant for Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg and two other men who promised to secure passage of a city ordinance protecting gambling establishments only to discover the pitch was a scam, their attorneys said Wednesday.

Neither the mayor’s office or city council ever proposed or debated such an ordinance. The Prime Social Poker Club’s representatives grew suspicious after inquiring about the ordinance’s progress in a December meeting with a city official who responded that he had no idea what they were talking about. After months of waiting, the Prime Social team grew impatient and pressed the consultant for updates.

Weeks later, Prime Social and another members-only game room, the Galleria-area Post Oak Poker Club, were raided in a probe led by the district attorney’s office on May 1. Nine people, including employees and the business owners, were arrested and charged with money laundering, engaging in organized criminal activity and gambling promotion.

Ogg dismissed all charges against all of the poker room defendants on Tuesday, citing a potential conflict of interest with a former contract employee and political fundraiser. She asked the FBI to investigate the case and pledged to return more than $200,000 police seized in the busts.

Attorneys for the poker clubs praised Ogg for withdrawing the charges and suggested she had been been deceived by one of her own consultants.

“We believe we were the victims of a fraud, much as I believe the DA’s office was also a victim,” said Joseph Magliolo, attorney for Prime Social.

Three attorneys who represent clients from the poker rooms identified the consultant as Amir Mireskandari, a major contributor to Ogg’s campaigns and a consultant under contract to her office. Mireskandari orchestrated the scheme with Houston private investigator Tim Wilson and attorney Jimmy Ardoin, they said.

Magliolo said the consultant, whom the other attorneys said was Mireskandari, directed Prime Social representatives to make thousands of dollars in contributions to his political action committee, Texans for Fairness and Justice.

Mireskandari and Wilson did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday. Ogg since Tuesday has refused to answer questions about the case.

A spokeswoman for Ardoin’s law firm, Jones Walker, said neither Ardoin nor anyone else at the firm had done anything wrong.

Contracts between Harris County and Mireskandari show Ogg hired the consultant to help her office prosecute complex financial crimes for a monthly fee of $1,100. Mireskandari joined the office in January 2017, shortly after Ogg was inaugurated, and his current contract runs until February 2020. It was unclear whether he had a role in investigating the poker clubs.

Mireskandari and his wife have been among Ogg’s most generous political donors. Between 2016 and 2017, the couple gave $14,475 in monetary and in-kind contributions.

The Mireskandaris’ $3.2 million Memorial-area home also has hosted two Ogg fundraisers. At one, Amir Mireskandari paid a $5,475 catering tab, according to Ogg’s campaign finance reports. An advertisement for an April 2017 event lists him as the chair of the campaign’s finance committee.

Prime Social attorney Zachary Fertitta said the only reason his clients agreed to pay the $250,000 to help pass a city gambling ordinance was because someone employed as a local law enforcement consultant had offered to help.

“Without the legitimizing presence of a DA’s office representative, my clients wouldn’t have engaged in this,” Feritta said.

Chip Lewis, who represents Post Oak Poker Club defendants, said Mireskandari and Wilson also offered to help that establishment win passage of a gambling ordinance for an identical fee. He said his clients considered paying the $250,000 out of fear Mireskandari would retaliate through his relationships with law enforcement if they did not, but ultimately concluded the pitch was a scam.

“They understood that what was being sold was akin to snake oil,” Lewis said.

Lewis said Post Oak did hire Wilson’s firm to provide security for the club.

Lawyers for Prime Social and Post Oak said they remain baffled why the clubs were targeted in the gambling investigation and raids. Magliolo said Prime Social principals met with elected officials to ensure their operations were legal.

“Not one of the many leaders, including other county DA’s, people in the Houston heirarchy … believed they were acting in an illegal manner,” he said.

Magliolo said at one point, Houston Police Department officers were allowed to work second jobs providing security for the club — hardly the kind of employees an organized criminal operation would seek, he said.

Each club operated for more than a year before the raids. Post Oak opened its doors at 1801 Post Oak Blvd. in August 2017. Prime Social, at 7801 Westheimer, followed in February 2018.

The clubs operated by charging for memberships and requiring players to pay a fee for time spent at a poker table. Unlike casinos, which typically take a cut of the pot, called a rake, Lewis said the clubs earned no revenue from the poker games.

Magliolo said Prime Social’s owners hope to reopen the club soon.

The clubs still face civil lawsuits by Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan, who is seeking to shut down the clubs as a nuisance. First Assistant County Attorney Robert Soard said Tuesday the county has yet to decide whether to withdraw the suits.

zach.despart@chron.com