Sam Aldabbagh sat on that bench as if the courtroom were a casting set.
It was 2019, and the owner of the Can Can Room strip club was facing a lawsuit from The Siegel Group, the real estate company that had bought the building where his business operated in Las Vegas.
He was accused of operating an illegal brothel, demanding sex acts from the dancers, and having VIP rooms with beds for transactions. His lawyer came out to defend him, calling him “a family man” and denying everything.
Judge Mark Denton dismissed some of those allegations at a hearing on December 16, but kept the case alive over breach of contract, so the trial would continue.
No one knew at the time that the real news would be something else: the wig, the golden glasses, and that face of absolute indifference that turned Aldabbagh into Las Vegas’s most meme-worthy character.