A Miami strip club operator flashed the money in an eviction case and started a fight with its landlord on a new front.

A&S Entertainment LLC, which does business as The Office, surprised its landlord when it paid more than $680,000 into escrow — the full amount claimed in their business dispute — and offered a counterclaim of its own.

“We thought that they were never going to pay because it was so much money,” said opposing counsel Eduardo “Eddie” Rasco of Rosenthal Rosenthal Rasco in Miami. “We were getting ready to take possession when lo and behold they said they were ready to wire it to the account. We said, 'Wow! We never expected them to do that.' ”

The adult entertainment club is fighting landlord CRSJ Inc., which in December filed a single-count eviction complaint for possession of the building at 250 NE 183rd St. in Miami. A&S signed a 15-year lease in 2012, setting rent at more than $48,600 per month.

A&S has been paying rent, but the landlord claimed the tenant owed a 5 percent annual increase, maintenance fees, taxes, insurance and other expenses amounting to nearly $801,875.

“I don't understand how they could have the money to pay it and just don't. I wish I knew the answer,” said Rasco, who teamed with partner Melissa Groisman. “Apparently, they have the money based upon the fact that they paid it all at once.”

A&S disputed any obligation to pay triple-net lease expenses beyond the base rent. The club also argued it never agreed to annual increases and claimed it had no obligation to provide liability insurance for the landlord.

GrayRobinson Miami shareholder Juan Martinez and Fort Lauderdale litigator Elias Hilal of Williams Hilal Wigand Grande represent the landlord. They declined comment but filed a motion asking Miami-Dade County Court Judge Caryn Schwartz to determine the rent due. The filing cites conflicting language in the lease that called for a 4 percent annual increase but an apparent typo that indicated “5%” in parentheses.

Schwartz deferred action on the insurance claim, relied on the lower figure of 4 percent to calculate the annual increase and ordered A&S to pay nearly $680,812 into escrow or the court registry.

Florida law requires tenants fighting eviction to deposit the disputed sum before raising defenses.

CRSJ's legal team expected the strip club operator, faced with the six-figure requirement, to take down its poles, pack up the glitter and vacate the building.

But A&S had other plans. After demonstrating it had the cash to cover the landlord's claims, it buckled down for an aggressive defense with a counterclaim to rewrite the lease and correct the figure describing the annual increase. The club also alleges the statute of limitations bars claims for unpaid rent predating December 2012, and CRSJ issued a defective five-day notice that incorrectly mixed alleged past-due rent with sums that aren't in default.

The high-dollar value means the eviction case will likely jump into circuit court to allow the parties to litigate some of the claims.