There has been a criminal case we’ve been following here at Slabbed involving a corporate attorney that ended up on the wrong side of the law. When Nowdy sent me the PACER docs she didn’t quite know what to make of things as she doesn’t have the advantage of proxmity to the story. Before I get to naming names let’s examine some of the contents of the Government’s Sentencing Memorandum:
ACCEPTANCE OF RESPONSIBILITY
The goverrnment will not object to the two point reduction for acceptance of responsibility based upon the defendant’s statement expressing remorse and acceptance of responsibility which is as follows:“Since I entered my guilty plea, I have had time to reflect on how I handled my legal situation and what went wrong with my decision-making along the way. Unfortunately, my personal life includes a long series of bad judgments and poor decision-making for reasons I don’t full (sic) understand.
Up until I pled, I continuously tried to shift responsibility for my own misconduct and rationalize my behavior. I am not sure what is wrong with my judgement and decision-making process but it relates somehow to the fact that-I don’t have much balance in my life. My life was my work. On most nights for many years, I left the office after the night cleaning Crew. I never bought a house, never married, never had children. I lived very frugally in a $500.00 per month apartment and never took a vacation. At firm Christmas parties, I received the “Table for One” award or a blanket and a pillow for my office, as the firm poked fun at my being a loner and a workaholic. Given that I had spent most ofmy life working and saving every penny, I could not rationally and objectively deal with giving up all ofthe money and accept the consequences of my misconduct.
Even more troubling were my actions after initially attempting to rationalize my behavior and denying my own culpability. I had worked for a powerful firm with rich, powerful clients. This environment created an arrogance in me, which coupled with my poor decision-making, resulted in monumentally bad judgements in my personal situation.
In my practice as a defense lawyer representing…..(corporate)….clients and other tortfeasors accused of all sorts of misconduct, negligence, malfeasance, etc. I learned to deflect the focus of the charges and allegations against my clients by raising all sorts of misdirections, counter points, and counter claims, which did not necessarily have any basis in fact.Unfortunately, trying to be my own lawyer, I used this same approach to try to deflect the resolution ofthe charges against me, as reflected in my filing a motion to…….against the advice of (my lawyers).
Of course the writer of this heart felt letter of apology is none other than Jamie Perdigao, who in one last gift to the Slabbed, confirms the abuses of the court system involving these large corporate oriented law firms. We’ve blogged on this many times most recently here in a post Nowdy ended with a report of sanctions against Ungarino & Eckert, a firm out of NOLA.
We’ve blogged on the Perdigao saga extensively and have an entire page dedicated to the PACER filings. We also took some shots for daring to peel back the respectable veneer of the insurance defense firm Adams and Reese. I’m personally very proud that our blogging, including the publication of evidence of ticket fixing by A&R partner and NOLA traffic traffic court Judge Ronald Sholes ended up on the front page of the Times Picayune. I personally think our posts will wear fairly well with the passage of time with perhaps one exception. I also continue to have reason to think we’ve not heard the last of Jamie Perdigao. Let’s continue on with Mr Perdigao’s letter of apology and determine what is missing from his list of regrets:
For example, I made uncorroborated allegations against Jim Letten relative to the Guidry plea deal. Even though the Fifth Circuit had already exhaustively dealt with Guidry’s plea deal and found nothing improper, I put my own spin on it hoping to obtain corroboration after filing the motion. In addition, I made uncorroborated allegations against the line prosecutors in connection with their discussions about my former firm. These allegations relating to the disclosure of tax information was based totally on hearsay and was uncorroborated. I should never have made these allegations. As they correctly pointed out, their conduct was authorized by the very statute I cited. The prosecutors were simply doing their jobs and in fact had a real understanding of my situation and had initially offered me a plea bargain which was very fair to me and which took into account the entirety ofthe fact and circumstances concerning my relationship with my firm and my clients. (cite additional allegations from motion to recuse).
After the motion had been briefed by both sides, Judge Fallon recognized that my uncorroborated allegations would never meet the criteria established by the case law and denied the motion. After reading the Judge’s ruling, I realized what a terrible mistake I had made. I instructed Charlie Griffin and Bill Wessel not to appeal the judge’s decision and apologized to them for insisting that they file the motion in the first place.
I wish I could turn the clock backwards, re-think my arrogance and poor decision making, and do things differently. I would have accepted the initial plea offer and never filed the motion to recuse. I know it is not possible to turn the clock back. I have accepted the consequences of my actions and am trying to rebuild my life. I would like to recant and to apologize in person to the individuals that I wrongly smeared, but if that is not possible, I would appreciate if you could include these statements in your report.”
So we have Jamie Perdigao, a broken man whose human frailties have been exposed to the world apologize to his lawyers (both of whom I understand are excellent lawyers) and Jim Letten for his recusal motions. But what aboout the allegations involving the Guidry plea deal including payoffs to Dollar Bill Jefferson? What about the allegations he levied against his former firm and it’s relationships with Allstate and former Louisiana Insurance Commish Robert Wooley?
None of this means Letten still isn’t pissed as he concludes his sentencing memorandum with what I think is a recommendation that constitutes cruel and unusual punishment:
Finally, the government requests this Honorable Court to include in the conditions of the defendant’s sentence and supervised release that as it regards his criminal activities associated with computer fraud (intrusions and hacking) that the defendant’s computer usage be very restricted including but not limited to a prohibition of internet use.
And in another twist in a case full of them we find that Mr Perdigao is related to former Speaker of the United State House of Representives Bob Livingston who called Letten’s office on Jamie’s behalf. I could be wrong but I think Letten told Mr Livingston to f_off in his sentencing memo.
Jamie Perdigao will be sentenced today in Judge Fallon’s courtroom.
Update:
Perdigao gets 15 years. Susan Finch at the T-P must have a different letter of apology than what was posted to PACER.
sop