A former Indiana legislator has been sentenced by federal authorities to prison for accepting bribes from a casino company following an FBI probe.
A former Indiana legislator has been sentenced to prison by federal authorities for accepting bribes from a casino company, following an FBI probe.
Sean Eberhart, a 58-year-old Indiana resident, was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services fraud.
Eberhart, who will also be subject to an additional year of supervised release, served between 2006 and 2022 as the elected Republican representative of Indiana House District 57.
US Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, Zachary A. Myers, said: “This criminal’s former constituents, and all Hoosiers, rightfully expect elected officials to act on the public’s behalf, and not to line their own pockets.
“Legislation must not be for sale to the highest bidder, especially when they have such a tremendous impact on our state and its economy.
“Public office is a public trust, and those who break that trust by taking bribes will be identified and held accountable.
“The federal prison sentence imposed today demonstrates our office’s commitment to root out public corruption at all levels of government and uphold the law regardless offenders’ status or position.”
During Eberhart’s time in office he served as a member of the House Committee on Public Policy, which has jurisdiction over gaming in Indiana.
Eberhart accepted bribes to support bill
According to court documents, between January and May 2019 Eberhart conspired with an unnamed individual to use his elected position to benefit the person’s company, Spectacle Entertainment.
In return, Eberhart was promised a role at Spectacle involving a $350,000 salary and an equity stake in the company.
Spectacle was formed by the individual and his former colleagues after off-track betting operator Centaur was acquired by Caesars Entertainment in July 2018 for $1.7bn.
Spectacle itself was acquired by the Seminole Tribe-owned Hard Rock International in 2021.
While the individual is not named in the records, their description fits the profile of former Spectacle and Centaur CEO Rod Ratcliff, who was banned from the state’s gaming industry in 2021.
Spectacle was involved in aggressively lobbying Indiana lawmakers, including by flying governor Eric Holcomb on private flights.
The scheme involved Eberhart agreeing to use his position as a legislator to advocate and vote for a gaming bill that would have positively impacted Spectacle.
It involved the transfer of the licences for two casinos on lake Michigan to Spectacle.
As such, this would have reduced the typical $100m transfer fee the company was originally set to pay, to just $20,000.
Alongside the federal investigation, the Indiana Gaming Commission also investigated Spectacle, and hit the business with a $530,000 fine in 2021.