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LA: Louisiana

U.S. Attorney To Announce More Corruption Indictments.
It was reported that U.S. Attorney Jim Letten is expected to announce more indictments in the federal probe of alleged corruption in the Jefferson Parish judiciary. So far, several people including a former judge and a high-profile bail bondsman have pleaded guilty to various charges in a scheme in which near-exclusive access to arrestees and jail house information was traded for money and gifts. (Yahoo News, September 29, 2004 summary by Sherldine Tomlinson).

New DA To Re-Examine Corruption Cases. The newly elected Orleans Parish district attorney Eddie Jordan, who earned his reputation as a tough U.S. attorney by tackling several high-profile corruption cases, vowed to examine the city’s corruption investigation. He said he has the blueprints for his own corruption task force a team of prosecutors who will look at the evidence criticized by District Attorney Harry Connick as insufficient. The prosecutors then will decide whether it can be taken to court. Connick has said that most of the cases accusing Taxicab Bureau workers and license applicants of bribery and filing false reports lacked supporting documentation. He said an independent body could decide if the case is worth prosecuting and whether some witnesses have more to offer.(Yahoo News (AP), November 7, 2002 summary Sherldine Tomlinson).

FOMER LA. GOVERNOR ACQUITTED. Former La. Gov. Edwin Edwards was found innocent on October 11 of corruption charges stemming from the liquidation of a failed insurance company. Co-defendant Jim Brown was found guilty of lying to FBI investigators, becoming the third consecutive Louisiana insurance commissioner to be convicted of federal charges. A third defendant was found innocent of all charges. Edwards, 73, Brown, 60, and Shreveport lawyer Ronald Weems, 54, each faced 43 counts of insurance, mail and wire fraud, witness tampering and conspiracy. Brown and Weems were also charged with lying to federal authorities. The three were accused of creating a sweetheart settlement for the owner of a failed insurance company several months after Edwards' fourth term as governor ended in 1996.

(Associated Press, 12 October 2000, summary by Debbie Uy).

New Orleans Police Corruption.

Edwin W. Edwards, 72, the former governor of Louisiana received $400,000 from Edward J. DeBartolo, Jr. to procure riverboat gambling license in 1997. The governor’s eldest son Stephen was to get $10,000 a month lawyer’s retainer. A racketeering trial is underway. A businessman Robert Guidry, a tugboat operator seeking a casino license said he made $1.5 million in payoffs to the Edwardses, sometimes leaving $100 bills in garbage bags. Some money was laundered by inflating rental payments, some as campaign donation. (NYTimes, Apr 20, 2K, pp. A1 and A18).

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Last Update on February 8, 2007