Former Indiana casino executive pleads guilty

[TexasTowelie]

Two men have pleaded guilty to federal crimes for their roles in paying and receiving secret political contributions through a middleman. Today, a former Indianapolis-based casino executive pleaded guilty to causing the casino company to make false statements on its federal tax return by concealing contributions to a local political party as deductible business expenses.

Last week, a former Indiana State Senator, charged in the same indictment, pleaded guilty to two charges: using sham donors to receive illegal contributions into his campaign for U.S. Congress, and making false statements to special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

According to court documents, John Keeler, 72, of Indianapolis, Indiana, former vice president and general counsel of Indiana-based casino company New Centaur LLC, paid $41,000 in New Centaur corporate funds to Maryland-based political consultant Kelley Rogers and directed him to funnel $25,000 to a local political party committee in Marion County, Indiana. To further conceal the nature of the contribution, Keeler caused New Centaur’s federal tax return filed with the Internal Revenue Service to falsely describe the $41,000 payment to Rogers as a deductible business expense.

Also, according to court documents, Darryl Brent Waltz, 48, of Greenwood, Indiana, a former {Republican} Indiana State Senator and 2016 candidate for U.S. Congress, worked with Rogers to funnel $40,500 in illegal conduit contributions to his congressional campaign. Rogers directed corporate funds from New Centaur into the “Brent Waltz for Congress” campaign through over a dozen straw donors and Waltz himself. Waltz pleaded guilty to receiving these fictitious donations. Waltz also pleaded guilty to lying to and misleading FBI agents who were investigating the illegal contributions.

Read more: https://indypolitics.org/former-indiana-casino-executive-pleads-guilty/

[royable]

1. Funny how the article doesn't say what party Waltz was with

but I guessed correctly.

[TexasTowelie]

2. I put it in brackets in the fourth paragraph when I posted the OP

so that nobody had to search.

[royable]

3. My apologies, TexasTowelie.

I'd seen your bracketed insertion of Waltz's party affiliation before I'd posted, and should have mentioned that you'd put it in. Or I shouldn't have posted at all... My larger point that I had been trying to make was that the article for which you provided the link didn't list Waltz's party affiliation. That had initially made me suspect biased reporting, and I wrote an unresearched response. But on looking today at the Website where the article was posted, Indy Politics, I see now that the author, Abdul Hakim-Shabazz, who appears to write most all the articles for the Web site, is not right-leaning, and the article was likely written with the assumption that the Website's Indiana-based readers would know the party affiliation of their former senator.

Thanks for all the articles you post with news from all over the US & territories!

[TexasTowelie]

4. You're welcome and no need to apologize,

I make it a habit to point out the political affiliation of any politician that I report on for malfeasance if it isn't clear in either the title or the excerpt. Coincidentally, about 90% are Republicans.

I'm trying my best to get back up to speed on posting in the state groups. Unfortunately, the fog of war, some anemia, and work around the apartment have affected my productivity over the last couple of months.