May 14, 2016
The Seminole Tribe of Florida dropped on Friday its court filing aimed at preventing the disclosure of what it believed was confidential financial information about the tribe’s casinos and their financial performance in 2015. Tribal officials decided to drop the claim after political news publication POLITICO released certain financial details.
Attorneys for the tribe asked a local judge to block POLITICO from publishing information from Seminole Gaming CEO Jim Allen’s deposition, so as for Seminole officials to have enough time to determine whether the said information contained trade secrets.
However, the news publication released earlier this week an article about Mr. Allen and his recent deposition, in which it quoted the executive saying that the tribe generated a total of $2.4 billion in revenue in 2015, of which $2.2 billion came from gambling operations.
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However, First Amendment Foundation President Barbara Petersen said that under the current Florida laws, financial information could not be defined as a trade secret. The current state of affairs is about to change later this year.
Ms. Petersen explained that the state had not violated the law by allowing POLITICO access to the financial information as officials were not aware of the fact that the said information was to be defined as a trade secret by the Seminoles. [READ MORE]