In Indiana, former Republican state Senator Brent Waltz pleaded guilty to receiving $40,000 in illegal campaign contributions from Centaur Gaming for his unsuccessful 2016 congressional run.
The plea came one week before Waltz was scheduled to stand trial on April 18 with John Keeler, a former Spectacle Entertainment executive. Keeler is charged with funneling illegal corporate contributions to Waltz’s campaign through a Maryland political consultant under a phony consulting agreement. Keeler has pleaded not guilty and will stand trial.
Waltz also admitted to making false statements to the FBI. However, his plea deal does not mention cooperating with prosecutors or testifying against Keeler.
At the hearing, Waltz, a state senator for 12 years before he gave up his seat in 2016 to run for Congress, said, “I plead guilty” when Judge James R. Sweeney III. asked how he pleaded to the two felony charges. Waltz faces up to five years in prison for each charge. Prosecutors dismissed three other counts. The judge did not set a sentencing date.
The indictment of Keeler and Waltz in September 2020 came about after an exhaustive FBI investigation into the activities of Spectacle Entertainment and its management. As a result, the Indiana Gaming Commission banned Spectacle from moving forward with its planned casinos in Gary and Terre Haute.
The commission also raised allegations of financial misconduct against former Spectacle Chief Executive Officer Rod Ratcliff, who agreed to give up his state casino license. He was not charged in the campaign finance case but his 10-year career as a major player in Indiana’s gambling industry was finished.
Ratcliff and Keeler founded and managed Centaur Gaming, which sold Indiana’s Anderson and Shelbyville racinos to Caesars Entertainment in 2018 for $1.7 billion. They led a group that then formed Spectacle Entertainment to buy the Gary casino.
According to the indictment, individuals were recruited to make maximum contributions of $2,700 each to the Waltz campaign. They were illegally repaid from money originating from Centaur.
