(CN) - The former head of Nebraska's liquor commission has been charged with fraud and is accused of providing favors to a strip club in exchange for money, free lap dances and sexual favors.

Hobert Rupe, 58, was executive director of the state's Liquor Control Commission - which regulates alcohol and oversees liquor licenses - from 2004 until his resignation in June. Prior to that, he was a state prosecutor for nearly 10 years. According to the 11-count federal indictment, filed last week but unsealed on Wednesday, Rupe was given "free private dances, free VIP dances, a waiver of any cover charge and free alcoholic beverages," as well as cash.

"I am extremely disappointed at this failure of leadership at the Liquor Control Commission," Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen said in a written statement. "The conduct alleged in the indictment unsealed today falls completely short of what Nebraskans expect of officials placed in positions of public trust."

Also indicted as a codefendant is 45-year-old strip club impresario Brent Zywiec, who co-owns The Office Gentleman's Club and The Night Before Lounge in Lincoln, Nebraska. Prosecutors say they've obtained surveillance video footage, taken in 2024, showing Zywiec "handing a bundle of cash to Hobert Rupe under a table to keep others in the room from witnessing the cash handoff"

"Shortly thereafter, Rupe was observed transacting cash in a private room to pay for a private session," prosecutors say in the indictment.

Employees of The Office Gentleman's Club would, according to the indictment, "note on sticky notes the amount of money taken out of the business safe in order to provide to Hobert Rupe." The sticky notes would read COB: the cost of doing business.

Investigators said they also recovered, from Zyweic's iCloud account, "at least one compromising video of Hobert Rupe receiving oral sex the dancer."

Prosecutors say that in exchange for this VIP treatment, Rupe would "effectively insulate" Zyweic's two strip clubs from law enforcement, while directing state police to investigate Zyweic's competitors, including Club Omaha and Club 180, for liquor license violations. Rupe would also "pass along sensitive law enforcement investigative techniques and plans to Brent Zyweic to let him know that law enforcement was actively investigating competitor clubs," according to the indictment.

Between 2021 and 2025, Zyweic paid Rupe around $65,000, according to the indictment.

In May, the three-member Nebraska Liquor Commission voted, unanimously, to suspend Rupe without pay, after a federal search warrant was served investigating Rupe's conduct.

Courthouse News has reached out to the defendants' attorneys for comment.

Source: Courthouse News Service