Ex-New Orleans Mayor and Tuskegee Alum Ray Nagin found guilty of corruption
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Posted By: Reginald Culpepper on February 12, 2014 Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was convicted Wednesday on charges that he accepted bribes, free trips and other gratuities from contractors in exchange for helping them secure millions of dollars in city work while he was in office, including right after Hurricane Katrina. The federal jury found Nagin guilty of 20 of 21 counts against him. He sat quietly at the defense table after the verdict was read and his wife, Seletha, was being consoled in the front row. Before the verdict, the 57-year-old Ray Nagin said outside the New Orleans courtroom: "I've been at peace with this for a long time. I'm good." The Democrat, who left office in 2010 after eight years, was indicted in January 2013 on charges he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and truckloads of free granite for his family business in exchange for promoting the interests of local businessman Frank Fradella. He also was charged with accepting thousands of dollars in in payoffs from another businessman, Rodney Williams, for his help in securing city contracts. Nagin is best remembered for his impassioned pleas for help after levees broke during Hurricane Katrina, flooding much of New Orleans and plunging the city into chaos. Nagin testified that key witnesses lied and prosecutors misinterpreted evidence including emails, checks and pages from his appointment calendar linking him to businessmen who said they bribed him. The defense repeatedly said prosecutors overstated Nagin's authority to approve contracts. His lawyer said there is no proof money and material given to the granite business owned by Nagin and his sons was tied to city business. The charges against Nagin included one overarching conspiracy count along with six counts of bribery, nine counts of wire fraud, one count of money laundering conspiracy and four counts of filing false tax returns. He was acquitted of one of the bribery counts. Each charges carries a sentence from 3 to 20 years, but how long he would serve was unclear and will depend on a pre-sentence investigation and various sentencing guidelines. No sentencing date was set. Prosecutors say he took hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of bribes including money, free travel and granite for Stone Age LLC, a family granite business. They allege the corruption spanned the time before and after Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005. The charges resulted from a City Hall corruption investigation that had resulted in several convictions or guilty pleas by former Nagin associates by the time trial started on Jan. 27. Fradella and Williams, both awaiting sentencing for their roles in separate bribery schemes alleged in the case, each testified that they bribed Nagin. Nagin's former technology chief, Greg Meffert, who also is awaiting sentencing after a plea deal, told jurors he helped another businessman, Mark St. Pierre, bribe Nagin with lavish vacation trips. St. Pierre did not testify. He was convicted in the case in 2011. Nagin said he did not to know his vacation trips to Jamaica and Hawaii were paid for by St. Pierre. He also said he wasn't told that a family trip to New York was paid for by a movie theater owner who, prosecutors said, received help with a city tax issue after Katrina wiped out the theater. If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! |
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Reginald Culpepper
President, Fulfillment and Web Services, HBCUCONNECT Clark Atlanta University class of 1998 Member Since September 2000 |
Comments
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It's a set up. Saturday, February 15th 2014 at 3:44PM |
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ha ha jenny penny you saying that because your trashy ass finds him to be a cute cat daddy dontcha? yeah you can envision your hands rubbing that bald head while he's busting nuts all in you huh?
Sunday, February 16th 2014 at 10:43PM |
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Ray Nagin's sentencing is scheduled for June 11 (which is coincidentally his 58th birthday). Word on the street is that Ray Nagin wants to serve his time at a federal prison in Louisiana near his family, but the judge may deny his request and send him to a medium-security prison in Minnesota. Wouldn't it be funny if they gave him more time than the fool who shot Jordan Davis for playing loud music? (NUP) Wednesday, April 2nd 2014 at 1:13PM |
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Feds going after Ray Nagin for $500K following corruption conviction By Robert McClendon, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune Email the author | Follow on Twitter on April 08, 2014 at 6:34 PM, updated April 09, 2014 at 10:39 AM Federal prosecutors are trying to seize more than $500,000 from former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin following his February conviction on corruption charges. Prosecutors filed asset forfeiture papers Tuesday (April 8) in U.S. District Court and requested for a hearing on April 29. Since Nagin was convicted of 16 counts of bribery, wire fraud and money laundering, all of the money related to those charges should be turned over the federal government, prosecutors argue. Nagin was also convicted of four counts of filing false tax returns, but those are not mentioned in the forfeiture documents. Even if the motion is successful, the U.S. Attorney's Office may have a hard time getting the money. Nagin has recently declared he was broke and began soliciting donations to a legal defense fund. Nagin is set to be sentenced June 11. A jury decided Nagin's guilt on the corruption charges, but U.S. District Judge Ginger Berrigan will decide whether he will have to forfeit the $501,200. Prosecutors and Nagin's attorney, Robert Jenkins, agreed before the trial that the jury wouldn't have to stay around to decide on the forfeiture in the event that he was found guilty. Jenkins did not return a message requesting comment. In a document supporting their forfeiture request, the prosecutors note that Berrigan is not required to hear oral argument on the issue. The government also notes that it could have sought a larger forfeiture judgment against Nagin but opted instead to seek only the money directly to the corruption charges. When arguing a forfeiture case, the government does not have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the money was tied to criminal activity. Instead, it's only required to demonstrate the connection through a "preponderance of the evidence." Since a jury already convicted Nagin on the 16 charges related to the $501,200, the government has already met its burden of proof and then some, prosecutors argue. The government arrived at the $501,200 figure by adding up all of the kickbacks and bribes that Nagin was convicted of taking, including private jet travel, vacations, cash, granite and contracts for a counter-top business he owned with his sons. Absent from the total is $10,000 related to a bribery charge on which Nagin was acquitted. Thursday, April 10th 2014 at 12:57PM |
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HERE IS A LESSON THAT IS TAUGHT IN OUR BIAHISTORY CLASSES..." A WHITE MAN WILL ONLY GET HIS HAND SLAPED FOR COMMITTING A CRIME THE A BLACK MAN'S HAND WILL GET CUT OFF"... LIFE IS ABOUT LEARNING FROM OUR MISTAKES, LIKE MAYBE FORGETTING WE ARE NOT WHITE?... THE HARD WAY !? (SMILE) Thursday, April 10th 2014 at 6:47PM |
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@NAGIN, IF IT HELPS ANY KATRINA WAS A BADPLACE FOR BUSH TO TRY AND GAIN POLITICAL AND FININCIAL PARTNERSHIPS AS THEY BACKFIRED ON HIS DAYS IN OFFICE AS WELL. (SMILE)
Thursday, April 10th 2014 at 6:47PM |
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