LouisianaVoice has learned that Louisiana Public Service Commission member Eric Skrmetta, in addition to his involvement in a Mississippi Gulf Coast casino operation, also entered into an agreement with the same company in an effort to gain approval of a casino in Harvey, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans in adjacent Jefferson Parish.
Skrmetta, of Metairie, represents PSC’s 1st District.
Neither the income he derived from his partnership with Boomtown Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, nor the agreement with Boomtown in the Jefferson Parish endeavor are mentioned in his FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE STATEMENT on file with the Louisiana Board of Ethics.
Documents filed with the SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION (SEC) indicate a letter of intent was signed on March 26, 1993 between Boomtown, The Skrmetta Group, Inc., and Skrmetta Machinery Corp.
Skrmetta Machinery Corp. was chartered in 1968 and remains in good standing, according to filings with the Louisiana Secretary of State’s office. 117 Eric Skrmetta is president of Skrmetta Machinery and is listed as an officer of The Skrmetta Group.
Skrmetta’s financial disclosure statement lists The Skrmetta Group as one of his holdings but does not mention Skrmetta Machinery. Nor does he include any income from either corporate holding or from Boomtown.
SEC filings also show that an agreement to lease real property in Harvey was signed between Boomtown and the two Skrmetta entities.
On Nov. 18, 1996, Boomtown entered into an agreement with Skrmetta. Under terms of that agreement, the company agreed to pay him $5.673 million in return for Skrmetta’s 7.5 percent interest in a partnership between Skrmetta and Boomtown. Boomtown was required to pay a down payment of $500,000 b Dec. 5 of that year and the remaining $5.173 million to be paid “not later than Aug. 10, 1997.”
An agreement between Skrmetta and Boomtown currently pays Skrmetta an average of $500,000 on the LEASE of the property on which its Biloxi casino is situated. That amount does not include his 5 percent cut of gaming revenue from casino operations. Neither of those income sources are included in his financial disclosure statement.
Today, the industry has been cleaned up considerably, with casinos now owned by Indian tribes or major hotel and leisure industry companies whose stocks are publicly traded and reviewed by the SEC.
Still, regarded as cash cows, casinos remain the target of those hoping to make a quick fortune. Authorities found in the 1970s that a number of casinos in Nevada, namely Las Vegas, had been taken over by organized crime which took control of union pension funds to facilitate casino expansions. And later, Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City, N.J., owned by Donald Trump, was fined $10 million after having been convicted of money laundering.
In Louisiana, there are no prohibitions to elected officials holding an interest in gaming enterprises.
Louisiana Voice 
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