Louis Joseph Posner

Louis J. Posner (May 29, 1956) is an American activist who founded VoterMarch in 2001.
Early life and education
Posner graduated from the Berkshire School in 1974 where he was the Editor-in-Chief of the school newspaper which won a journalism award by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. Posner attended Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania. He graduated as an accounting major from Drexel University in 1979. He was Vice President of the Drexel University student body and a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma and Beta Alpha Psi honor societies and TKE fraternity. Posner later served as President of the New York City Chapter of the Drexel University Alumni association.
After graduating college, he received his masters degree in 1985 from Pace University's Lubin School of Business. Posner received his law degree in 1989 from New York Law School.
Activism
In November 2000, Posner founded VoterMarch, a nation-wide not-for-profit organization for voter rights and electoral reform, in response to irregularities in the 2000 U.S. Presidential election in Florida. VoterMarch was headquartered in New York City and included affiliate chapters VoterMarch DC, Seattle VoterMarch, and Voter West.
On March 10, 2001, Posner was a plenary speaker at the "Grassroots Use of the Internet" conference at Yale University.
Footage from Posner's speech at the Voters' Rights March at the West Capitol steps in Washington, DC was seen on the political documentary film, Florida Fights Back: Resisting the Stolen Election.
Posner is active in the peace movement and the Protests against the Iraq War and was the founder of No Blood for Oil, a Voter March affiliate.
Career
Posner entered private practice in New York City in 1990. His law practice concentrated on real estate, bankruptcy and reorganization and corporate matters. Posner was admitted to practice before the New York Appellate Division, the U.S. Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 2009, Posner started working as a commercial real estate broker and business consultant in Manhattan.
Strip Club
Posner also operated the Hot Lap Dance Club, which in 2008 was listed by Askmen.com as the .
Following an undercover sting operation at the HLD Club, Posner was arrested in New York City on July 17, 2008 and charged with promoting prostitution at that club. The prosecution also charged Posner with laundering money from the Hot Lap Dance Club through various bank accounts, including Voter March's account. In an exclusive jailhouse interview days after his arrest, Posner insisted that the HLD Club was one of the cleanest clubs around and that law enforcement were "making a mountain out of a molehill."
In March 2010, just prior to his scheduled criminal trial date, Posner was re-arrested and charged with three misdemeanor counts for falsely reporting police corruption to the Internal Affairs Bureau, the agency of the NYPD set up for handling citizen complaints of police misconduct and corruption. Posner had accused the NYPD Vice Enforcement police of attempting to "shake him down while operating the club", and that a competitor gentlemen's club had also bribed the NYPD to close down the popular HLD Club. That same day, while jailed on the new misdemeanor charges, Posner pleaded guilty to the making of false reports, and to one count of promoting prostitution in the third degree, a felony. He was sentenced to 5 years' probation (the terms of which forbid him to own or enter into any strip club) and sixty days of community service. As a result of his guilty plea, Posner was automatically disbarred by New York. Under the plea agreement, the money laundering charge was dismissed.
At the time of Posner's arrest in July 2008, authorities seized over a half million dollars in Posner's funds, which could be subject to a civil asset forfeiture proceeding as "criminal proceeds" from the strip club operations. The State Supreme Court Judge subsequently issued an order permitting Posner's use of these seized funds for payment of attorneys' fees, private investigator fees, accountant's fees, and necessary living expenses. Following a request by the NYPD for a stay of all payments and for reconsideration, Manhattan Judge Michael Obus issued a memorandum decision in March 2011 refusing to vacate the orders for payments. The NYPD appealed the Judge's Decision. In July 2011, the New York Appellate Division unanimously affirmed the decision and orders of the State Supreme Court directing the release of seized funds for those purposes.

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