Robert J Guidry Pleaded Guilty to Paying a Bribe. Now, He’s The Top Donor In Okaloosa County 2024 Election Campaigns

The webpage lavishes praise on the man, saying he has a “classic tale of American bootstrapping entrepreneurial success” and that “Bobby Guidry started earning $300 a month from the tug business [Harvey Gulf International Marine, Inc.]. With his monthly rent at $90.00, car note at $50.00, and a wife and child at home, his finances were extremely tight. But Bobby and his brother preserved and built the family business over the decades to become the clear industry leader with a fleet of offshore vessels unmatched in quality and power.”

It added that Bobby and his brother turned a profit every month they were in the business (from 1963 to 2008) and “with a great sense of timing that had always marked his career, Mr. Guidry, and his family sold Harvey Gulf International Marine to a New York private equity fund in August of 2008 only weeks before the financial crisis gripped the nation.”

But, others, like WWL-TV in New Orleans’ David Hammer describe him as “the man behind one of the most infamous bribes in Louisiana history.”

Back in the early 1990s, Guidry wanted to gain a riverboat gambling license from the State Government, then led by Edwin Edwards. If you know a lot about Louisiana politics over the last two hundred or so years, you won’t be surprised to learn that the federal government accused then-governor Edwin Edwards’ son, Stephen of asking Guidry for a bribe in exchange for a riverboat gambling license from the state.

According to State Prosecutors, an appeal document to the US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, and a plea deal he signed, Guidry paid the bribe (worth about $1.4 Million dollars at the time.)

According to court documents, “Guidry, the owner of the Treasure Chest Riverboat Casino, testified that in 1994 he had agreed to pay Appellants $100,000 per month in exchange for a license hearing before the Riverboat Gaming Commission. Guidry received a license and, after Governor Edwards left office in 1996, began making the monthly cash payments of $100,000. Guidry testified that between February 1996 and April 1997 he paid a total of $1.4-$1.5 million to Appellants. Guidry gave this testimony in exchange for immunity from further prosecution pursuant to a written plea agreement with the federal government.”

Three years after Guidry obtained the license, the Louisiana Gaming Control Board, paragons of virtue that they are, approved the sale of the license by Guidry to another entity. The transaction was allowed, despite an active investigation into how Guidry got the license in the first place. 

Guidry raked in about $170 Million from the sale, which was approved by the state government – according to those same documents. 

The State pursued him for additional damages from the ill-gotten permit, but a federal court said the money he got from the license sale was his responsibility. According to a case brief on Justia regarding the charges brought against Guidry, “The district court ruled that (1) restitution for property loss was not appropriate, because the State of Louisiana did not part with “property” when it issued Guidry’s riverboat [489 F.3d 696] gaming license,3 and (2) restitution for any loss suffered from Guidry’s conspiracy to breach fiduciary duty (his own and that of state officials) was not appropriate, because the harm alleged by the State was not the kind of direct harm that warrants compensation under criminal restitution statutes.”

The case wrapped up in 2007, about a year before he sold the Marine Business.

We reached out to Guidry and his associates to request an interview, but as of this story’s publication, we have not heard back from them. Should we get a response, we will update this story.