Tag: United States Department of Justice Office of Inspector General

Trolley lolley lolley, fa la la la……

Bay St. Louis council calls for federal probe into $186,000 in police-forfeiture money ~ Wes Muller

Playing games with pooled bank accounts is nothing new or particularily innovative on the book cooking front.  What gets me is the fact that the same pot of money is apparently spent over and over and over again.  I’ll term it Hocus Pocus accounting and it is fairly easy to see through.

Speaking of Hocus Pocus accounting in the Bay we have a Hocus Pocus budgeting as well as.  You see folks in Mississippi by law Municipalities must prepare their budget on the cash basis with one exception. What this means is revenue per the budget is recognized when actually received rather than when earned. This means with the exception of previous fiscal year claims paid within 30 days after September 30 that expenses are recognized when paid rather than when incurred. Since we’re talking governmental accounting this also means that capital expenses are shown as an expense when paid and both loan principal and interest are expensed when paid.  Adjusting for claims paid 30 days after year end this also means the following equation is true. [Section 21-35-23, Miss. Code Ann. (1972)]

Beginning Cash in fund + budgeted revenues – budgeted expenses = Ending Cash in fund

Now I would encourage everyone to visit the City’s website and download the original and amended budgets for 2014-2015. Look hard for the equation I highlighted above but you can also take it from me that you won’t find it because the City did not use the correct format for its budget. Correct format??? What the heck is Handshoe talking about? I’m talking about the Mississippi Audit and Accounting Guide for Municipalities promulgated by the Mississippi State Auditor’s office, which by law has the authority to dictate the form of the budget. [Sections 21-35-7 and 21-35-29, Miss. Code Ann. (1972)] The following is what I am talking about being missing from the Bay Budget: Continue reading “Trolley lolley lolley, fa la la la……”

Bay City Council votes 7-0 to request DOJ OIG Investigation of City Drug Asset Forfeiture Funds

The City of Bay St Louis has been out of the news cycle here at Slabbed for a few months now but here in the dog days of August last night’s meet produced big news on a couple of fronts the main one being this morning’s City Council meeting headline. There has been chatter about the Drug Asset Forfeiture Funds since the last meeting and it was clear from Chief Denardo’s remarks last night regarding the Bay Police Department’s inability to access the funding source to make undercover drug buys there was a problem in finance. The council request asks for a review of the forfeiture accounts from 2008 forward.

Additionally Slabbed has learned this morning from a source with knowledge of City Hall operations requesting anonymity that Mississippi State Auditor’s office investigators have visited City Hall this morning requesting a meeting with Mayor Fillingame, Chief Denardo and City Clerk Smith regarding problems in the Forfeiture Funds. State Auditor’s Office Investigator Susan Syerson was in attendance at last night’s meeting.

Additionally Councilman Lonnie Falgout questioned the amount of cash currently shown on the City’s financial statements for the 2014 Refunding Bond Debt Service Fund indicating his calculations show a shortage of close to $100,000 in the fund. Mayor Fillingame promised to present a reconciliation of the cash in that fund at the next scheduled council meeting.

Finally, what started out as a dust up over how much Bond Vig would be due City Attorney Donald Rafferty turned into a bidding war between Butler Snow and Jones Walker with Continue reading “Bay City Council votes 7-0 to request DOJ OIG Investigation of City Drug Asset Forfeiture Funds”

Rut Roh, we still have mystery!!!

Online commenting scandal involving ex-New Orleans prosecutors Sal Perricone, Jan Mann shrouded in secrecy despite new report ~Jim Mustian

Mainly that pesky Horn report per Jim’s article, a document that Slabbed revealed just yesterday was so closely held as to be forever banished to the crypt at DOJ HQ in Washington DC.

That said there are a few of us that got a special visit back in the day and today we form a survivors network of sort. You see folks it wasn’t just the thumbscrews but more so being forced to watch the entire run of Dusty’s Trail multiple times until we broke that resulted in the PTSD. In any event none of us are talking as the memories are simply too painful to recount.

Stay tuned.

The investigators were very clear that only Judge Engelhardt would see the report……..

Former Mayor Ray Nagin appears unlikely to get Danziger Bridge records detailing government misconduct ~ Juliet Linderman

“Frankly, Mr. Jenkins,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Alma Chasez said to Nagin’s attorney Robert Jenkins, “you’re not citing anything to suggest that there’s case law to give what you’re asking for. It’s not obvious to me why you need this report to defend your client.”

Federal magistrate seems dubious about Nagin’s ‘Perricone defense’ ~ Gordon Russell

Set the alarms for October 28, 2013.

BREAKING: 7 more years bad luck for the former Team Letten(mego)

Thanks to multiple readers for the heads up.  I scanned Judge Engelhardt’s 129 page order and have concluded:

  • Neither I nor Slabbed was mentioned. (Whew)
  • Judge Engelhardt indicated he knows the identity of NOLACat60, a former Slabbed commenter that I believe is now deceased, along with the several other identities contained in the subpoena sent to the Times Picayune which the Times Picayune successfully fought.
  • Judge Engelhardt had some strong words for both the AP and the Times Picayune in light of the suit filed by the T-P seeking access to the Horn report.
  • The fact someone posted online about the Danziger Bridge case straight from the hive in Washington DC does not surprise me in the least.
  • Jim Letten purportedly knew about Jan Mann posting online very early on after Sal Perricone was unmasked by Fred Heebe.  If true that allegation is damning towards Letten IMHO.
  • We get to see the USA v Kaufman et al aka the Danziger Bridge trial all over again.
  • This is certain to dominate the news cycle in NOLA and in certain lawyerly circles nationally for days.

Click the pic below the jump to score the 129 page pdf: Continue reading “BREAKING: 7 more years bad luck for the former Team Letten(mego)”

Saturday Slabbed: Let’s toot the Horn

Evidently the Slabbed Nation is many things and one of those things is a very small subset of us that can say they spoke with the OIG folks making the rounds for the John Horn DOJ misconduct investigation into the NOLA US Attorney’s office. I mention this because last week Gordon Russell and his team over at NOLA Media Group updated the status of the Horn Investigation that included some expert insight. The bottom line is no one is talking right now to the media in response to FOIA requests. True Dat.

But

What if one of us that knows the gang on a more personal level made a call?  I know I got a business card complete with the Team Horn hotline and it turns out so have a few other folks. 😉  So here is the question asked by that NOLA Media Group story which needed additional color:

The letter does not make clear whether the OPR reports sought by the newspaper have been wrapped up. The letter “should not be taken as an indication that the excluded records do, or do not, exist,” Hardy wrote.

This is lurid stuff indeed, especially for former prosecutors with the last names Mann or Perricone so here’s that additional color: Continue reading “Saturday Slabbed: Let’s toot the Horn”

A couple of thoughts on yesterday’s River Birch bombshell

I’ve been pretty speechless since I heard about this because I have NEVER seen anything like this in 17 years with the federal government. NEVER saw the government let someone off the hook by publicly announcing that they are NOT going to indict him OR publicly stating that they were ending an investigation. Of course, the government closes investigations all the time–but NOT with a public announcement.

It is so highly unusual that I think there must be something HUGE uncovered in the DOJ investigation. First of all the announcement is from the Public Integrity Section, DOJ. From that I deduce the Prosecutorial misconduct is so massive or widespread that don’t want it presented as a defense in federal court. And they are letting high level targets off scot free because of it.

I’m guessing this has gone way beyond Perricone and Mann. Was the online commenting widespread in the office and/or included other high profile federal employeees such as federal law enforcement agents? Have they now learned that this is a problem in other USAOs? Or does it mean that was Letten personally involved? Whatever it is, it should come out and it’s going to be ugly.

The rumor mill has steadfastly maintained at least one more assistant US Attorney commented along with a sitting Judge. I think it is about way more than that however:

I was asked if I got any leaks from politicians.

It was clear to me that Team Horn was looking at more than just the Danziger Bridge shooting case. The question of getting leaks on the investigation from politicians has stuck with me since that day because it was so far out in left field from what we knew from media reports and the local rumor mill at the time. I do know this, the peeps with whom I speak including my best sources never underestimated Fred Heebe:

I would highly urge everyone to read Judge Engelhardt’s entire 50 page order and reasons to see first hand what a mess liars that continue to lie can make.  BTW, before everyone clammed up the Wino did tell me she thinks Fred Heebe has another hole card to play.  All I can say is get the pop corn ready ’cause if that’s true, then we have more episodes of Beavis and Butthead coming.

In hindsight the micro signals were all there. I think the spectacle of Aaron BrousStar’s sentencing gave us a sneak peek at what was coming.  Incroyable as noted by Empire Parish nailed the source of Judge Head’s discomfort: Continue reading “A couple of thoughts on yesterday’s River Birch bombshell”

Slabbed examines the harassment of internet commenters and Fred Heebe’s witch hunt for private citizen’s expressing their opinion: Part 1

Gordon Russell updated the saga of the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General’s investigation into Sal Perricone and Jan Mann playing on the internet as the deadline for the delivery of the report to Judge Kurt Engelhardt has quietly passed without a peep on PACER or the peeps running the investigation.

The deadline for a special prosecutor to file a report with a federal judge on his inquiry into possible leaks and inappropriate online commenting by lawyers in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Louisiana’s Eastern District quietly passed last week. But it’s not clear where the matter stands; the special prosecutor, John Horn, who is based in Georgia, declined to make any comment about his probe Thursday.

I have a good idea where “the matter stands” because I met with the gang from DoJ OIG last month and I asked them about the process and how it will unfold. The report is for Judge Engelhardt and I do not think the investigative materials collected in support of said report will ever see the light of day. That said Gordon explains why it was easy for me to say I did not expect to be subpoenaed by Team Horn:

Technically, the Horn probe is part of the Danziger Bridge case — U.S. v. Bowen et al. That’s because it’s an outgrowth of the defendants’ motion for a new trial based on alleged prosecutorial misconduct — highlighted by former Assistant U.S. Attorney Sal Perricone’s admissions that he commented pseudonymously about various federal cases on NOLA.com, including the bridge case.

Slabbed covered the Danziger trial but we simply followed and highlighted the other media reports which made the visit I received from DoJ OIG someone curious at first blush.  That said it was clear to me the Horn investigation was broader than USA v Bowen and it should be because Sal and Jan commented upon a wider array of topics than the Danziger shootings including USA v Broussard, a topic where Slabbed is at the razor’s edge leading the local news coverage.  I know my Jefferson Parish corruption folks and I think the visit I received confirms that fact.

So what in the blue hell does all this have with Fred Heebe’s internet commenter witch hunt and the harassment of those commenting on the scandal in Jefferson Parish by the Goatherders?  I dropped a hint not long ago and I’m going to drop the same hint again courtesy of Jason Berry at AZ: Continue reading “Slabbed examines the harassment of internet commenters and Fred Heebe’s witch hunt for private citizen’s expressing their opinion: Part 1”

I can confirm I just met with two Special Agents with DoJ OIG…….

As I stated earlier, I have not been subpoenaed by Team Horn nor do I expect to receive one.  I gave a general description of the kind of people that speak with me but did not identify anyone by name.  I was asked if I were willing to identify my sources and I declined, citing the promises of confidentiality that I made to my sources. That said, I did swear that to the best of my knowledge and belief that I have never received information from Jim Letten’s office, the US Attorney’s Office in general or any state or local investigative agency.  I swore that because it is the God’s honest truth.  We rake our muck the old fashioned way here at Slabbed and will continue to do so in the same fashion.

All hell is breaking loose on a number of fronts folks. Please stay tuned.