Ray Nagin, mayor of New Orleans during the horrible Hurricane Katrina catastrophe, has recently been sentenced to 10 years in prison for corruption! Nagin who was indicted in February of 2013 faced 21 accounts of corruption for taking cash and bribes as gifts. Nagin’s recent sentencing found him guilty of 20 out of 21 accounts. This is very unfortunate for the city of New Orleans who has already seen enough calamities hit their city. Check out the excerpt below to see what the former mayor was charged with.
[ Nola News Via Gordon Russell]
- Accepting $50,000 and “numerous truckloads” of free granite from Frank Fradella, the former chief executive of Home Solutions of America, a now-defunct firm that specialized in disaster recovery. The cash bribe was routed through Michael McGrath, a Home Solutions board member, to disguise it, the indictment says. McGrath is now serving a 14-year prison term for bank fraud. Home Solutions received numerous contracts from the city and other local government entities after Hurricane Katrina; Fradella had been angling for a much bigger redevelopment deal, but he never got it. The indictment charges that Nagin “met with investors” from HSOA’s board and “pledged his support for Fradella’s business interests” with the city. In addition to the $50,000 bribe, Fradella also made nine monthly payments of $12,500 to Nagin, totaling $112,500, after Nagin left office, the indictment says. The document lists each of those payments as a count of wire fraud.
- Accepting $72,500 in bribes, paid by cash and check, from Rodney Williams, the founder of Three Fold Consultants, a local engineering firm. To give the bribes a veneer of legitimacy, Williams formed a sham company, BRT Investments, that was granted a 4.5-percent stake in the Nagin family’s granite firm, the document says. Three Fold — which has severed its affiliation with Williams — received numerous no-bid design and engineering contracts from the city during Nagin’s last few years in office.
- Using his political stroke to help kill a “community benefits agreement” that would have required Home Depot to hire a certain number of residents from the surrounding neighborhood, and pay them above-market rates, at the retailer’s new Central City store. The indictment charges that in return for mayor’s help, the Nagin family’s granite firm — Stone Age LLC — received a “coveted” contract to be the exclusive granite installer for four Home Depot stores in the New Orleans area. The indictment does not name Home Depot, referring to the company as “major retail corporation.”
- Allowing technology vendor Mark St. Pierre, who had a substantial no-bid contract with the city, to pay for the Nagin family’s lodging and other expenses on a trip to Hawaii in December 2004 and January 2005, and then to cover first-class airfare for a family trip to Jamaica in October 2005. After the Hawaii trip, St. Pierre began paying for cell phones for members of the Nagin family, the indictment says. In 2006, St. Pierre hosted a campaign fund-raiser in Chicago at which Nagin received “concealed and direct” contributions.
- Helping the owner of a movie theater in eastern New Orleans, listed in the document as “Businessman A,” get out of delinquent tax and loan payments to the city. The amount of the debt is not specified. In return, the businessman spent $23,500 to send the Nagin family to New York City by private jet and limousine, the indictment says. The money was routed through a third party to hide the source, prosecutors allege.
- Releasing misleading or false public records on at least three occasions. The indictment says Nagin in February 2009 released a version of his public calendar that hid “his relationship with co-conspirators,” including Fradella. In addition, it says he filed at least two sworn affidavits with the state Board of Ethics that did not dlsclose anyone outside the Nagin family had a stake in Stone Age, and also did not disclose Stone Age’s dealings with Williams, Fradella and McGrath.
- Failing to report the income he received from bribes in the calendar years 2005-2008.
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