PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – A federal appeals court on Friday upheld the convictions of the Lincoln Park dog track and two of its former executives who were found guilty of plotting to bribe a powerful state lawmaker in exchange for political favors.
A jury last year convicted the gambling parlor, and Nigel Potter and Daniel Bucci of conspiring to pay up to $4 million to former Rhode Island House Speaker John Harwood.
Prosecutors say the executives hoped to win support for more gambling machines at Lincoln Park and block approval of a rival casino proposed by the Narragansett Indian Tribe.
Defense lawyers said the executives had only preliminary discussions about the payments and never agreed together on any illegal scheme.
They also said the money, which the men discussed in faxed messages, were actually intended as a performance bonus or retainer fee to Daniel McKinnon, Harwood’s law partner and a lawyer for Lincoln Park.
But the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a ruling handed down Friday, said the evidence was clear that Harwood was the real target of the payments and that the executives used deliberately coded language in their faxes to conceal their true intent.
The large sum of money involved in the case suggests that Bucci and Potter were explicitly attempting to influence Statehouse legislation, the court said.
“We think a reasonable jury could infer that Potter and Bucci expected some of the money to reach Harwood – a partner in the firm – even if they did not know the precise way in which the money would reach him,” the court said in an opinion authored by Chief Judge Michael Boudin.
No money was ever paid, and neither McKinnon nor Harwood was charged.
Bucci, Lincoln Park’s former general manager, was sentenced last October to 41 months in prison. Potter, the former chief executive of Wembley PLC, Lincoln Park’s British parent company until last year, received a three-year prison sentence. Lincoln Park itself was fined $1.5 million.
U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente said he was gratified by the court’s decision.
“Today’s opinion reaffirms the message to political figures and to those who do business with them – we will make room in federal prison for those who would buy or sell political influence in Rhode Island,” Corrente said in a statement.
Attorneys for the three defendants did not immediately return calls for comment Friday afternoon.
A first trial ended in February 2005 with a federal jury in Providence acquitting the defendants on certain counts in the indictment and deadlocked on others.
The second trial was relocated to Worcester, Mass., because of media coverage surrounding the case. The defendants were convicted in August 2005 of conspiracy and several counts of wire fraud.
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