Tag: USA v Meffert

All signs indicate a Ray Ray indictment is at hand

If Maurice “Hippo” Katz had lived, he would have given Team Fed both Morial and Harry Lee. I mention this because Sir James wrote a column for yesterday’s Times Picayune about the fact former HSOA CEO Frank Fradella strongly looks as if he copped a plea and is working with Greg Meffert to insure former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is sent to the Graybar Hotel for a very long time.  Jason over at AZ was on to this tidbit a few weeks ago and has been all over Nagin era post-Katrina corruption since this became a story.

For his part Nagin appears to be firmly in denial hiring Aaron Broussard lawyer Robert Jenkins as this Channel 6 story illustrates. Jenkins has an “in” with WDSU, which passed him off as as a simple “legal analyst” in their reporting on the Sal Perricone saga before Jenkins filed motions in the Broussard case over Perricone’s online activities.  Dane Ciolino was the king of such backdoor commentary on his cases but Jenkins clearly knows that media trick too.  What he does not know is how to practice law in Federal Court according to the fabled Slabbed legal team.

Finally, speaking of NOLA political hacks, Jason over at AZ and David over at CoD continue exploring new District B NOLA City Council representative Diana Bajoie’s connections to a Con Profit that derived its state revenue from gaming taxes.  Half Moon promised change folks but hopping in bed with retreads like Bajoie clearly illustrates NOLA City Hall is both open for business and sale.

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Prisoner’s Dilemma back in the news….

Stephanie Grace and James Gill tacked the topic of the 7 year sentence given Rene Gill Pratt for her role in the Jefferson clan scheme to loot out bogus charities funded in part by state/federal earmarks.   We saw the outrage at the sentencing disparity between Betty Jefferson and Rene Gill Pratt on these pages late last week as the topic is framed that Gill Pratt got a stiff sentence because she elected to go to trial and fight the charges while Betty Jefferson essentially received a free pass.  My own opinion is I do not accept that argument to frame this issue.

Way back on these pages I revealed I was a student of low-level game theory and certain related branches of mathematics.  Game Theory 101 includes the concept of prisoner’s dilemma, a topic that has appeared several times on these pages. The bottom line is that the person in legal trouble who cuts the first deal gets the best deal and those that do not roll over end up steamrolled if guilty.  For example, in the continuing criminal investigation involving shit house double-dealing in the Nagin Administration, Greg Meffert wisely chose to cut a deal and will no doubt get a much lesser sentence than the one given Mark St Pierre. St Pierre thought he could con his way out to the bitter end and the results were very bad for him.  Was the sentence a punishment for electing to fight until the bitter end or is it the well deserved fruits of his illegal activity, proven beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law?  I gravitate to the latter point of view personally.

None of this means that Betty Jefferson isn’t a piece of walking excrement Continue reading “Prisoner’s Dilemma back in the news….”

Laying down the Hammer: Hammerman asks about what Ray Nagin knew and when in the St Pierre saga

And the Hammerman concludes Ray Nagin was pretty stupid but he included this exchange involving Jackson based lawyer Danny Drake, Meffert and St. Pierre in his story on what Nagin knew and when he knew it:

In emails discussing the letter to the mayor with Meffert and their lawyer, Danny Drake, it didn’t appear that St. Pierre was trying to inform the mayor. It really came from Meffert, who suggested there was another reason to write it.

“Ok, this is my final proposed letter, this might help while still protecting all of us and without boxing us in,” Meffert wrote in an email to St. Pierre and Drake.

“OK, and just so I understand, this is a letter from me to the mayor, correct?” St. Pierre wrote back. Continue reading “Laying down the Hammer: Hammerman asks about what Ray Nagin knew and when in the St Pierre saga”

Here is a tip for ya Mark. Don't bend over to pick up the soap. Jury finds Mark St Pierre guilty on all counts.

And as I expected St Pierre was taken into custody immediately. Hat tip ‘gate in comments with the news.

Letten still has Ray Ray the Chocolate Guy plus St Pierre’s sack of shit politician/daddy to prosecute based upon what we heard in the testimony.

Congratulations to Team Letten.

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BREAKING: Mark St Pierre went after area blogger after St Pierre's shithouse deals with Meffert and the sex yacht broke on American Zombie.

I’m working on a comprehensive Mark St Pierre post but this last bit of news from the courthouse can’t wait.

We’ve visited on this general topic before but today we again find out the true price of free speech, specifically in investigative blogging as evidence reveals that Mark St. Pierre went after blogger Jason Berry at American Zombie via neighborhood canvas after Jason broke to the world news of the now infamous sex Yacht used to bribe officials with the City of New Orleans. Hammerman has the scoop:

In mid-2006, when the American Zombie blog began the questions about St. Pierre’s use of a yacht for parties for Meffert and Meffert’s access to a corporate credit card, St. Pierre had the blogger investigated. An email presented by prosecutors showed that St. Pierre found out the then-anonymous blogger’s name, Jason Berry, as well as the names of his wife and children.

“The only thing we don’t know is his address and social security number,” St. Pierre bragged to his friends via email.

We have a bit of experience with these type things here at Slabbed. I’ll add the only thing worse than a crook stealing massive amounts of tax money is a crook that has the dishonest behavior rationalized like St Pierre because they tend to do stupid ass things like run a neighborhood canvas on a Continue reading “BREAKING: Mark St Pierre went after area blogger after St Pierre's shithouse deals with Meffert and the sex yacht broke on American Zombie.”

BREAKING: More Mississippi lawyers added to the Louisiana Crime Camera Scandal. A Mark St Pierre-Chocolate guy NOLA fleecing update.

Hey Hammerman you keep the names coming dude. From this morning’s proceedings in USA v St Pierre:

Even before the prosecution got to cross-examine Drake, the Mississippi lawyer said he was advising St. Pierre and Meffert with the understanding that Meffert wasn’t using the credit card anymore.

But Nagin’s tech director was in fact still using it, and continued to until he left City Hall in July 2006.

In fact, in August 2006, Drake said he got into a debate with St. Pierre’s Louisiana counsel, Kent Lambert of the Baker Donelson firm, about whether St. Pierre ever told Lambert about the credit card. Continue reading “BREAKING: More Mississippi lawyers added to the Louisiana Crime Camera Scandal. A Mark St Pierre-Chocolate guy NOLA fleecing update.”

Jason at American Zombie covers the Mark St Pierre trial and highlights an interesting Mississippi connection to Chocolate Guy

Jason Berry aka Dambala at American Zombie has outdone himself with his account of Greg Meffert’s testimony in the trial of Mark St Pierre. For our upstate Mississippi readers Greg Meffert ran technology in NOLA for former Mayor Ray Nagin and the graft to which Meffert has now admitted is simply staggering.  This trial appears to be a prelude to the prosecution of Ray Ray himself as the revelations about St Pierre’s sex party boat pass into the realm of legend. I say all this because Jason’s post linked above is a must read for the entire Slabbed Nation as this snippet illustrates the stench with the Louisiana crime camera scandal extends to the Jackson Mississippi lobbying community:

The stripper sex on the boat act was hard to follow…unless Meff claimed he was fucking a mermaid or something.

Indeed the line of questioning then shifted to more mundane subjects like Lafayette CIO, Keith Thibadoux, and his wife. Meff set Thibadoux’s friends up with bullshit jobs in exchange for Netmethods’ contracts with the City of Lafayette. Some interesting facts were thrown out, including a name I didn’t quite catch that the prosecution referred to as a Mississippi lobbyist. That reference brought an immediate objection from the defense for leading the witness, the objection was sustained. I couldn’t tell if they were concerned about revealing the guy’s profession or if they were just trying to keep the prosecution in line.

I read Jason’s post this morning and after reading that I immediately called him. He later found out the name of the lobbyist and shared it with me.  The lobbyist is not a guy though. It is an organization, one which I have heard quite a lot about of late in fact: Continue reading “Jason at American Zombie covers the Mark St Pierre trial and highlights an interesting Mississippi connection to Chocolate Guy”