Metro Council member Buddy Amoroso has agreed to pay a $5,000 fine to the State Ethics Board, after a year-long investigation found he violated state ethics law when his family’s real estate company leased an apartment to a tenant under the city’s public assistance housing program.
According to the Ethics Board ruling, the Amoroso family firm, Prime Properties LLC, entered into a contract with the Public Housing Agency of the City of Baton Rouge, under the Housing and Urban Development Housing Assistance Program, receiving some $27,000 from the city-parish agency between January 2013 and July 29, 2016.
Amoroso says the funds came from a Section 8 tenant, a single mother with five children that he entered into a lease agreement with in 2012 before he was became a council member.
But the Ethics Board found that Amoroso did benefit from the lease financially after he was sworn into office.
Amoroso says he says he self-reported the violation to the Ethics Board last year, and that much to his surprise it launched a full-scale investigation into the matter.
Amoroso says he was given two options—pay the fine or face charges.
“I personally think it was excessive,” he says. “I never had contact with this tenant or with the city about this tenant or any matter. … But I’ve always believed in being transparent; that is why I signed the form.”
In addition to Amoroso’s $5,000 fine, the Ethics Board fined Prime Properties LLC $3,000.
—Stephanie Riegel
