Seven employees at a Manhattan strip club were arrested in connection with illegal prostitution, police said yesterday.

Five women and two men were arrested at about 11:15 p.m. on Wednesday during an undercover investigation of prostitution at Scores, located on West 28th Street, police said.

In an industry where it is common knowledge that men can pay extra money for lap dances in private rooms, police said several of the dancers engaged the undercover officers in conversation and told them they could rent private rooms for sex.

Police characterized the relationship between the men and women as a “business” association, but did not comment further. Employees at Scores refused to comment last night, and calls to the club’s spokesman were not immediately returned.

Among those arrested were Karina Vasquez, 32, of Manhattan, Colleen Matthews, 22, of Livingston, N.J., Marianna Nasyarova, 19, of Brooklyn, and Nicole Green, 23, of Manhattan, who were charged with prostitution. Police also charged Eli Iskolsky, 36, of Brooklyn, and Gustavo Kiste, 29, of Staten Island, with permitting prostitution. Charges against a seventh suspect were dropped.

According to police, one of the suspects, Ms. Green, has several prior arrests for loitering and prostitution. Most recently, she was arrested for prostitution in September 2006 and in October 2005, law enforcement sources said.

Reached by telephone at her home in New Jersey last night, one defendant, Ms. Matthews, insisted she was innocent. “I’m not guilty,” she said. “We’re all not guilty.”

An attorney for Ms. Matthews, Mark Bederow, said the seven defendants pleaded not guilty. “These are merely allegations by police officers,” Mr. Bederow said. “I am confident there will be a favorable outcome,” he said of the other cases.

In addition to its Midtown location, Scores operates six other clubs nationwide, in New York, Chicago, Baltimore, Las Vegas, and Lake Geneva, Wis.