Ex-city official must give up casino profits

Thursday, April 1, 1999 | 10:32 a.m.

The Sun Herald newspaper reported Circuit Court Judge Jerry Terry ordered Bellande to pay the city $140,000 -- the amount he earned in three years from casino contracts.

Bellande's company, Gulf South Distributing, sold beverages to casinos from 1992 to 1994 -- the same period the City Council approved leases of city property to the casinos.

Terry ruled Bellande violated state ethics laws, even when he abstained on some of the votes. The law says public officials can't have a financial interest in a company that has a contract with the government body on which the official serves.

The Attorney General's office sued Bellande four years ago on behalf of the state Ethics Commission.

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