Supreme Court Ruling Allows Attorney General To Unravel More East Chicago Corruption

When East Chicago won its riverboat license for Showboat Marina in 1995, the City of East Chicago established several nonprofit entities to which the licensed riverboat would be required to contribute 3.75% of its gross revenues. A subsequent investigation by the Attorney General's Office concluded that the $16 million paid to one of the entities, East Chicago Second Century, could not be accounted for and could be traced to the political crony principals of the nonprofit. The nonprofit went to court to force a buyer of the riverboat license to continue payments to it. The Attorney General intervened, seeking the establishment of a constructive trust for the nonprofit's assets. The nonprofit succeeded in getting the Attorney General's case dismissed at the trial court level in Marion County by then-Superior Court Judge Cale Bradford (now a Court of Appeals judge), a decision which the Court of Appeals affirmed. In a big win for the Attorney General's office, the Supreme Court unanimously reversed the lower courts and reinstated its constructive trust suit. Now, we can find out just how much those cronies enriched themselves at the expense of the public. Click here to read the decision. The Indiana Law Blog has more here.