Supervised release for Hermosa Beach bar owner on laundering charges
Jeff Bellandi, a Hermosa resident and co-owner of Waterman’s restaurant on Pier Plaza, was sentenced to three years of supervised release earlier this month over his involvement in an international gambling and drug trafficking ring.
In January, Bellandi pleaded guilty to illegal gambling and money laundering conspiracy in a San Diego federal court. Based on the sentencing guidelines for the charges, Bellandi could have faced more than 20 years in prison.
David Paquin, a Manhattan Beach attorney representing Bellandi, said the lack of prison time was a reflection of Bellandi’s relatively minor involvement in the wide-ranging criminal conspiracy. The Hermosa restaurateur was one of nearly two dozen people arrested in early 2016 in connection with the case against a crime syndicate run by Owen Hanson, a Redondo Union High School alumnus. Hanson is expected to be sentenced in September, and could face life in prison.
Hanson was a standout volleyball player at RUHS and played at USC. He also was a walk-on with the national champion Trojan football squads under former coach Pete Carroll. According to filings from federal prosecutors, Hanson ran ODOG Enterprises, which served as an illegal sports book and trafficked drugs in the United States and Australia.
Bellandi was not charged with drug offenses. According to Paquin, Bellandi got involved with Hanson through Luke Fairfield, a San Diego CPA who was also arrested in the case. Fairfield initially planned to go to trial, but later pleaded guilty and is now awaiting sentencing.
Fairfield is the brother of Eli Fairfield, the branch manager of New American Funding in Manhattan Beach, who was not charged. According to the USC athletics website, Eli Fairfield played volleyball at USC at the same time as Hanson. (The university took down Hanson’s athlete profile page shortly after news of his arrest broke.)
At the time Hanson approached him, Bellandi was having financial problems. He was struggling to pay for medical treatment for his mother, who had just suffered a stroke, Paquin said. Hanson asked Bellandi to let Luke Fairfield “open a couple of accounts” in Bellandi’s name, and Bellandi agreed.
“It’s not an excuse, but if you read the indictment it makes it sound like Jeff was this greedy gambling dude trying to make money. Jeff’s not a gambler. It was a moment of weakness,” Paquin said.
The arrangement netted Bellandi between $1,000 and $1,500 per month. According to court documents, Bellandi must forfeit $60,000 that was “received from his offense of conviction.”
As part of the conditions of supervised release, Bellandi will have to provide a DNA sample, submit to periodic searches of his home by a federal probation officer, and disclose personal and business financial records.
Bellandi was also ordered to participate in a home confinement program for eight months. Apart from exceptions like going to work or a medical appointment, Bellandi is to remain at home unless the outing is preapproved by a probation officer.
Bellandi will remain a co-owner of Waterman’s, Paquin said. An audit conducted by the FBI and the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control found no connection between Waterman’s and the ODOG operation.