The former state Representative for Indiana, Sean Eberhart has been sentenced to 12 months and a day in federal prison over bribery allegations which led to him lobbying for favourable casino regulations in the region.
Charges date back to late 2018 and early 2019, when it was reported that the 57-year-old had done deals with a gaming company called Spectacle Entertainment. The group also were set to give Eberhart a lucrative role after his tenure.
It came amidst Spectacle Entertainment’s ambitions to purchase the state licences for two casinos that were based on the waterfront of Lake Michigan, and to relocate those casinos to other areas beneficial to Spectacle.
In order to have progressed with these plans the firm would have needed approval from government officials in the region.
The federal charges detailed that an owner of Spectacle, identified as Individual A, offered, and Eberhart accepted, the promise of future employment at Spectacle, which included annual compensation of at least $350,000.
In exchange, Eberhart allegedly utilised his position and political weight as member of the Indiana House of Representatives to progress the bill and advocate and ultimately vote for passage of the bill on terms favourable to Spectacle.
Key to these was the authorisation of the transfer and relocation of the two casinos, reducing the transfer fee from $100m to $20m.
The case and charges against Eberhart were described as “extremely serious” given his disregard for the trust of the public.
Responding to the charges, a despondent Eberhart stated: “I am truly and deeply sorry for what I did” as he accepted full responsibility for the act.”
