Guilty Plea Entered in Case Involving Ex-Gov. Edwards

A friend of former Gov. Edwin Edwards pleaded guilty Friday to an extortion charge for allegedly paying Edwards and two others $100,000 a month to ensure state approval of a lucrative riverboat casino.

Federal prosecutors filed the charge against businessman Robert Guidry only hours before Guidry went to the U.S. courthouse with his family and entered the plea to a charge of conspiracy to commit extortion. Guidry agreed to testify against Edwards if the former governor is indicted and goes to trial.

Guidry becomes the fourth friend of Edwards to work out a deal in the last two weeks to testify for prosecutors.

The charges accuse Guidry of funneling money to Edwards, his son Stephen and their friend Andrew Martin to make sure the state granted a license to the Treasure Chest Casino, a riverboat casino on Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans.

Guidry was an owner of the casino project at the time. Edwards was serving his final term as governor, and Martin was one of his advisers.

Edwards and Martin have not been charged. The former governor, however, has said he expects to be indicted as a result of a two-year federal investigation, even though he insists he has done nothing illegal or wrong.