DALLAS — A controversial Dallas nightclub owner is closing his businesses.
Glenn Hudson operated The Playground, which police investigators described as a swingers club; and the Fenix Project, which was alleged to be a rave club for young people.
Hudson had defended the clubs as a "spiritual outreach," but he decided to throw in the towel Wednesday morning instead of having his dirty laundry on display in a Dallas courtroom.
News 8 questioned him outside the courtroom after the hearing.
NEWS 8: "Was the city basically just going to catch you in a lie? You said you weren't charging cover charges, and you were charging cover charges. You were running a swingers club."
HUDSON: "No, that's not true."
Hudson initially promised to fight the city to keep the Fenix Project and The Playground open.
But instead of a fight for what he called his "ministries", Hudson appeared in court Wednesday morning and agreed to voluntarily shut his clubs down and never do business in Dallas again.
"The agreement precludes him from operating a similar business establishment or anything we think could go awry in the same way in the city of Dallas," said First Assistant City Attorney Melissa Miles.
Two former employees were set to testify against Hudson. They claimed the Fenix Project, formerly known as The DarkSide, was started as a rave club and nothing more.
"They opened up in Richardson as a rave club and then moved to Dallas and it was a rave club for awhile until it became clear that the permits were not legitimate," said one employee who did not want to be identified.
Former employees said after the city began investigating the club for having an illegal permit to operate a church, Hudson told them to pretend to be a ministry.
Hudson said in the end he felt he could not beat City Hall.
"So if they said I did something, I basically am not going to fight them," Hudson said. "So if they say 'jump,' I'll say, 'how high?'"
E-mail rlopez@wfaa.com
