A federal grand jury in New Orleans has indicted the top two officials of the Louisiana Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, the nonprofit organization that represents the interests of the state’s racehorse owners and trainers in their dealings with racetracks and regulators. LHBPA President Sean Alfortish and Executive Director Mona Romero, both of Kenner, are charged with 27 counts of conspiracy, wire fraud, health care fraud, witness tampering and asset forfeiture as the result of a two-year investigation of the organization, which reaps millions of dollars a year in purse money from the state’s four racetracks. The indictments closely follow charges filed in a civil lawsuit late last year that alleges Alfortish, Romero and others on the board pocketed hurricane relief funds, mismanaged video poker settlement money, and used corporate credit cards for personal expenses, after having rigged the election that gave them control over the organization in the first place. (Read the Business Report story here.)
The indictment also contains new allegations about how Alfortish and Romero allegedly siphoned off nearly $1 million in funds from the horsemen’s medical trust to pay for travel to the Cayman Islands, evening gowns, diamond cufflinks, entertaining lobbyists and public officials, and “the cost of attending the inauguration in Baton Rouge of a public official and a fundraiser for that public official held in California.” That official is not named. The suit goes on to allege that health care benefits to horsemen and their families were reduced and payments to providers were delayed because of the resulting lack of funds.
“We’re outraged that the LHBPA board of directors has resisted this for two years and that thousands of dollars in legal fees were used to preclude us from getting at the truth,” says Madro Bandaries, a New Orleans attorney who filed the civil suit against the board last year on behalf of horseman Arthur Morrell, a former state senator. “But this totally supports our lawsuit and the other civil lawsuit that is pending, and will help move them forward faster.”
