Tag: La Ferme D’Acadie

Let’s chat about the media and Aaron Broussard’s relationship with First Bank and Trust and tie a few things together. Part 1

OK folks it is time to come clean, sort of anyway.  Since late July I have been publishing documents courtesy of my fictional “gabby cousin Slabb O’Leak” that really did not come from him.  😉  Actually some of y’all may have noticed some redactions that are beyond my control but suffice it to say that I have found a literal pot o’ gold of Aaron Broussard personal information, between 80,000 to 90,000 pages of information in fact, including documents like the ones between Broussard and First Bank and Trust that I posted Friday.

I’ll add indeed verily I promise I have every reasonable expectation that there is lots of Goatherder jackassery contained in Slabbed’s Pot o’ Gold and I expect soon to publish full, unredacted versions of the various ownership agreements in ventures Broussard peddled such as La Ferme D’Acadie, Cerro Coyote and perhaps even Rauda House.  Slabbed has learned in the course of its exhaustive and ongoing investigation these documents were previously unknown to the investigative community, a defect I personally cured.

Here at Slabbed the tenets of my investigation follows one rule and one rule only: Follow the money.  Following money plays to my strengths and I have 425,000 reasons to follow the trail in its entirety and frankly I’m content to let the aftermath sort itself out.  Along those lines on Friday we introduced Joe Canizaro to the Slabbed Nation.  Joe is a Biloxi native made good from doing real estate development and is likely a hecto-millionaire somewhere in Tom Benson’s zip code.  Both have papal appearances on their resumes though Benson actually got the pope to genuflect and kiss his Saints Superbowl Ring. Lest I digress because unlike Benson, Canizaro had the power to have Aaron Broussard conduct business for First Bank and Trust on Parish Letterhead.  At the time Broussard was on the Board of Directors of FBT.

But in the course of my inspection of these documents there is another story line that I began developing last month that has since come into very sharp focus and that would be the story of the media, specifically how they handed the then unfolding scandal in Jefferson Parish, the second most populous parish in Louisiana and the most populous of the 7 parish NOLA Metro area.  In particular we examine the TeeVee stations today, which cover events like the Red Dress run in NOLA for charity in-depth, but never have a reporter to spare to cover Parish council meetings. Continue reading “Let’s chat about the media and Aaron Broussard’s relationship with First Bank and Trust and tie a few things together. Part 1”

Slabbed explores former Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard’s business activities in Nova Scotia Part 2: You own 100% of 2% of nothing.

Trout Point Lodge Owners Vaughn Perret, Danny Abel and Charles Leary

In part 1 of this series I covered the genesis of Trout Point development and the associated fleecing of the ACOA by our three amigos Danny Abel, Vaughn Perret and Charles Leary. The fallout was slow in developing though as certain employees at the ACOA that were involved with the La Farme D’Acadie disaster actually died in the interim and the ACOA was not especially diligent in pursuing repayment of the tax money given to the 3 American partners. When the ACOA filed suit Trout Point did not contest it and a default judgment was entered.  Later the default was set aside and the litigation began a tortuous path in the Canadian court system. It came to a head in 2008.

I highlighted the entire ACOA disaster in several posts but this one has received the most attention and for good reason as the lawsuits involving Leary, Abel and Perret and the  ACOA heated back up and one of the major issues turned on exactly who owned La Ferme D’Acadie.  Let”s review shall we:

In June 1998 the plaintiff, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, made a “repayable contribution” to a partnership involving the defendants, in order to assist in the startup of a cheesemaking and tourism business. The partnership was subsequently dissolved and incorporated by the former partners, and part of the business was moved to another location. In September 2001, the plaintiff declared that the partnership was in default of the repayable contribution agreement. The plaintiff launched an action in June 2002, the defendants being Mr. Leary, his former partners and the partnership itself.

Like I said one of the sticking points was the disclosure of the owners of La Ferme D’Acadie, which Leary claims is the Dairy Farm portion of the Nova Scotia operations and despite the fact Abel’s name evidently appeared on the paperwork to get the loan Leary was insistent Abel was not involved and the gyrations are simply stunning as we continue from the court opinion: Continue reading “Slabbed explores former Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard’s business activities in Nova Scotia Part 2: You own 100% of 2% of nothing.”

If you were sold a stake in either La Ferme D’Acadie or Cerro Coyote Slabbed wants to hear from you!

My archival post regarding the Cerro Coyote hotel in Costa Rica has generated more leads folks as more local investors in the project that had no clue Abel, Leary and Perret sold the hotel and whom received not a penny back on their investment have sent me bat signals and that does not count the inquiries from those who are still coming to grips with the fact their “friends” Danny Abel and Aaron Broussard fleeced them. So while the news is settling in please meet the new owners of the former Inn at Coyote Mountain:

Bill Duron: Bill is chairman of the Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation, agency of the Government of Ontario and serves on the boards of the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation, Canadian National Sportsmen’s Shows and the Advisory Board of Ryerson University’s School of Retail Management.

Melody Duron – high-end interior decorator

William Thorsell, former publisher of the Globe and Mail and director of the Royal Ontario Museum.

Those so interested in sharing can email me here.

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La ferme pue pire que la route putes un vagin: “The distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion” Part 3 Fin.

There is a way to look at the past. Don’t hide from it. It will not catch you–if you don’t repeat it

From Rural Delivery Magazine, March 2002 continued: (Part 1, Part 2)

The American partners had purchased nearly 200 acres of property west of the Tobeatic Wilderness protected area for their newest venture called Trout Point Lodge. The main lodge, a 3-story log cabin with 10 guest rooms, is assessed at $615,000. Leary told Rural Delivery that he and his partners spent more than $2 million on the venture which includes a mezzanine library, dining room, and two bars. The company planned to market directly to Americans seeking to combine a vacation with culinary instruction.

The July meeting seemed to be an opportunity for La Ferme d’ Acadie to regain ACOA’s confidence. It might have worked. But an unsigned and undated memo prepared after the meeting points out that Leary failed to mention a fairly significant detail…….

The incompetence at ACOA is stunning. Locally in Jefferson Parish you commonly see elected officials claim ignorance or incompetence as a reason the taxpayers are fleeced via scams like the Jefferson Parish canal bottoms scandal or the ongoing saga of the Performing Arts Center.  I can’t judge whether the bungling in Nova Scotia is willful as I and many others such as our own Gambitman suggest is the case in the Performing Arts Center debacle but the end result for the taxpayers is the same either way. In the case of Leary and ACOA the detail he failed to mention was the cheese plant was in the process of being sold as we continue: Continue reading “La ferme pue pire que la route putes un vagin: “The distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion” Part 3 Fin.”

La ferme pue pire que la route putes un vagin: “The distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion” Part 2

“No man is rich enough to buy back his past.”

From Rural Delivery Magazine, March 2002 continued:

The Agency pointed out the time to begin repayment was at hand. But documents reveal this was a problem for the company. Within days ACOA received a request from the company to change its repayment schedule. The requested changes are unclear because ACOA officials chose to sever the document, meaning ACOA would not release the reasons for the requested amendments nor would they release the new repayment schedule. But by October 18, documents show that ACOA account manager John Beeston complied with the company’s request and amended the amount it was required to pay each month.

Signs of Trouble
An internal ACOA e-mail from Simon d’Entremont to Beeston dated April 17, 2000, provides the first sign that La Ferme d’ Acadie was facing serious problems. D’Entremont wrote: “I spoke to Charles Leary this morning. I’ve asked for current financials. After I see them, I’ll be going over to visit the site and discuss his problems with him. I’ll let you know what I come up with.”

On May 5, d’Entremont drove to Chebogue Point for the scheduled meeting. But company officials did not show up. Instead, d’Entremont found an apparently abandoned property with a for sale sign posted on it. Just 11 months after opening their doors and after federal investments and tax credits totaling more than $150,000, La Ferme d’ Acadie was effectively out of business. Continue reading “La ferme pue pire que la route putes un vagin: “The distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion” Part 2″

La ferme pue pire que la route putes un vagin: “The distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion” Part 1.

The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.

From Rural Delivery Magazine, March 2002:

Some deals just smell like aged Roquefort
ACOA taking action to recover funds
By Shawn Fuller

The federal government’s Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) is taking action to recover money loaned interest-free to Americans who created great hopes and little else in the Nova Scotia farm community three years ago.

La Ferme d’Acadie, the Yarmouth N.S. based cheese manufacturing plant started in 1999 with much fanfare and a substantial injection of public money is closed and ACOA is scrambling for repayment of a no-interest loan in excess of $100,000.

Collapse of the cheese plant has left behind a trail of angry and confused milk producers. Rural Delivery has now learned the quick demise of the company created just as much confusion within ACOA. Continue reading “La ferme pue pire que la route putes un vagin: “The distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion” Part 1.”

Friday Music: “Maaaahhh you got purty lips”

Anything for you Bro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_5kv8QeBBc

We have breaking news from Nova Scotia!!!!!!!!!!!!

Folks a quick programming note. I’m working on Part 3 of my series on Trout Point Lodge and how it fits into the broader Jefferson Parish Political Corruption Scandal but just received word of new developments in Nova Scotia. These are not my developments to break but here is a hint:

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Slabbed takes a look at the Trout Point business venture: Let's start at the end and work back.

I think by now even our most casual readers know our successor website, slabbed.org was knocked offline courtesy of the Times Picayune’s corporate parent Advance Publications and this started a chain of events that resulted in Slabbed temporarily being moved back to WordPress. I’d submit this was a miscalculation of gargantuan proportions for several reasons, which will become clear as I roll out this series of posts on Aaron Broussard’s connections to Trout Point Lodge and its purported owners, Charles Leary, Danny Abel and Vaughn Perret.  I say purported because others were sold 2% ownership interests in the Trout Point development as touted by Broussard and those folks are the bagholders in this deal.  IMHO to properly tell this story we need to start at the end and work back so it is with this second retraction of the Times Picayune’s reporting on Trout Point Lodge where we begin:

In January 2010, The Times-Picayune published several articles that mentioned Trout Point Lodge and its business dealings while discussing Jefferson Parish politics and the scandal in the administration of former Parish President Aaron Broussard. The newspaper retracts publication implying that Trout Point Lodge was involved in the scandal.

The newspaper believes there is no basis for making any implication that Trout Point Lodge, Limited or its owners, Daniel Abel, Vaughn Perret, or Charles Leary, were involved in any wrongdoing and, indeed, never intended to make any such implication. The Metropolitan Crime Commission complaint to the Louisiana Ethics Board about Broussard’s vacation property in Nova Scotia in fact did not name or implicate any of them. The Times-Picayune apologizes for errors in its reporting regarding Trout Point Lodge and its owners.

This much is true, Trout Point Lodge nor its purported owners are involved in what we call the Jefferson Parish Political Corruption Scandal and Continue reading “Slabbed takes a look at the Trout Point business venture: Let's start at the end and work back.”