Credit: Screengrab via NFL.com

This morning President Donald hosted a surprise media event to pardon former San Francisco 49ers owner, Edward DeBartolo Jr., who was convicted of fraud in a massive sports gambling scandal back in the ‘90s.

DeBartolo, who lives in the Tampa Bay area and is also the father-in-law of Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister, pled guilty in the 1998 corruption case of former Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards, after he failed to report a felony when he paid $400K for a riverboat gambling license.

At the time, DeBartolo claimed he was extorted by Edwards, but ultimately the scandal resulted in him stepping down as the 49ers owner, paying a $1 million fine, and receiving a one year suspension from the NFL. 

Though the scandal did not result in any prison time for DeBartolo, it pretty much ended his career. And, a year later, DeBartolo gave up his stake of the 49ers.

According to the Associated Press, NFL legends Jerry Rice, Jim Brown, Ronnie Lott and Charles Haley were also in attendance at today’s pardoning ceremony at the White House. 

Trump did not give a reason for pardoning DeBartolo, whose San Francisco 49ers won five Super Bowls under his tenure.

“He’s the main reason why we won so many Super Bowls,” said Rice at the event. “So today is a great day for him. I’m glad to be here and be a part of that. It’s just something I will never forget. This man, he has done so much in the community, has done so much in NFL football.”

Over the years, the 73-year-old DeBartolo has been a major political donor for both Republicans and Democrats, including donations to political committees supporting Charlie Crist, John McCain, and Nancy Pelosi, to name a few. In March of 2019, DeBartolo donated $10,000 to Tampa Mayor Jane Castor's political committee, "Tampa Strong." 

Last October, DeBartolo was a special guest at a high-priced campaign fundraiser for Chronister, who is a registered Republican. The invite-only fundraiser offered a $50,000 ticket to mingle with ‘90s R&B group Boyz II Men, as well as the opportunity to meet DeBartolo. In the days following the event, DeBartolo put $137,000 into Chronister's political committee "Friends of Chad Chronister," according to state finance records. 

The gambling fraud case wasn’t the only run-in with the law for DeBartolo. In 1992, he was accused of sexual assault. Though he was never charged, DeBartolo reportedly paid $200,000 to settle out of court. 

Chronister married DeBartolo's daughter, Nikki DeBartolo, in 2010.

This is a developing story and we'll update it when more information is available. 

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This article appears in Feb 13-20, 2020.

Colin Wolf has been working with weekly newspapers since 2007 and has been the Digital Editor for Creative Loafing Tampa since 2019. He is also the Director of Digital Content Strategy for CL's parent...