Scottie Ewing, pro skier and swinger, on a slippery slope with the IRS

Scottie Ewing has had quite the career. While still a pro skier, he became an entrepreneur, starting a number of businesses that promoted partying... and prostitution. I first encountered him when he'd opened a swingers' club, the Sindicate, in a very unlikely spot -- the arts district on Navajo Street...

By Patricia Calhoun

May 26, 2010

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Scottie Ewing has had quite the career. While still a pro skier, he became an entrepreneur, starting a number of businesses that promoted partying... and prostitution. I first encountered him when he'd opened a swingers' club, the Sindicate, in a very unlikely spot -- the arts district on Navajo Street -- and was causing problems for both the landlord and neighbors.

And then there was his fight with a competing swingers' club, the Scarlet Ranch, as Jared Jacang Maher detailed in this 2006 cover story. But Ewing just kept swinging, opening the Sugar House on West Alameda. Now, though, things aren't looking so sweet for Ewing.

The feds have charged Ewing with one count of tax evasion for failing to report income "related to the operation and sale of a prostitution business" he owned in 2005 and 2006.

According to the IRS, Ewing used Sindicate Media & Consulting to "disguise from the Internal Revenue Service the true source and amount of the income he received from Denver Sugar/Denver Players."

Back in 2006, its website touted the Sindicate as "an upscale lifestyle scene that caters to young, attractive couples and single women," and boasted of a bar and dance area, as well as a "group play/voyeur area."

Voyeurs will want to watch what happens next with Ewing, who's currently out on bond.

Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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