Pardon requested
An ex-gaming executive and lawmaker from Indiana who helped funnel casino cash to the Republican Party is seeking a presidential pardon.
served a two-month prison sentence
According to the Indiana Star on Thursday, John S. Keeler, 76, is seeking a pardon from President Donald Trump. Keeler, 76, served a two-month prison sentence in 2022 after being found guilty of making contributions to the GOP with casino funds.
Keeler served time after federal prosecutors found him guilty of a “straw donor” scheme designed to conceal the source of political contributions from his employer New Centaur LLC.
New Centaur owned both Indiana’s racinos at the time Keeler unlawfully funneled the funds.
A search of clemency appeals on the US DOJ’s website reveals Keeler filed some time this year and that his pardon petition status is “pending.”
Racinos and Ratcliff
According to the Star, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana (USAO-SDIN) said it “could not confirm with certainty” that the Keeler listed on the DOJ’s clemency online arm was the same Keeler formerly employed by New Centaur.
The Indiana daily however, stated that a “search of federal prison and court records show no other matches.”
The ex-New Centaur Vice President Keeler held a lawmaker role in the Indiana House for 16 years before being appointed general counsel and VP for the racino formerly run by former state casino kingpin Rod Ratcliff.
The Indiana Gaming Commission permanently banned Ratcliff from holding another role in the state gambling industry after an investigation, despite the ex-casino magnate never being charged with a crime. According to reports, Ratcliff’s support of President Trump goes back to when “both men operated riverboat casinos in Indiana in the 1990s and shared a business partner in insurance executive Stephen Hilbert.”
the firm donated $100,000 to Trump’s first inauguration in 2017
During Ratcliff’s tenure at New Centaur the firm donated $100,000 to Trump’s first inauguration in 2017.
In 2016 Keeler meanwhile, according to court records, used New Centaur funds to pay a Maryland political consultant $41,000 and then directed the consultant to funnel $25,000 into the fundraising arm of the Marion County GOP.
Up to Trump
The US pardon process typically works with the DOJ reviewing petitions before recommending any to the ruling POTUS.
President Trump, however, doesn’t have much truck with process and has previously granted clemency “to reward allies and supporters who never formally applied for pardons.”
