Tag: USA v Perdigao

Meantime in Louisiana nary is heard a discouraging word……..

Illinois gaming officials show Louisiana video poker mogul the door ~ Joseph Ryan, Chicago Tribune 7/20/12

Video poker protections questioned ~ Joseph Ryan, Chicago Tribune 10/6/13

But in the denial of one application, court records show the Gaming Board took issue with the criminal record of one of (Nicky) Nichols’ Illinois partners and Nichols’ association with his father-in-law, Robert Guidry, who once testified to paying bribes to land a Louisiana casino license.

The Gaming Board also said Nichols “engaged in questionable business practices related to business transactions” with Tim Whitmer, once a Louisiana parish official.

Whitmer had a deal to invest in a gambling firm co-owned by Nichols at around the same time that firm was seeking approval from Whitmer’s parish to build a truck stop casino, the Times-Picayune reported in 2009. (A parish is Louisiana’s political equivalent of a county.)

Whitmer later pleaded guilty to covering up a felony in an unrelated federal case.

Transparency, you bet – easy to see right through action of Jefferson Parish Council ~ Whitmergate comment bump

This says it all as I quote Click Jeff’s Walt Bennetti:

At the last council meeting, Councilwoman Cynthia Lee-Sheng was criticized for receiving tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions in a single day from a group of businesses owned by the same individuals. “I’m not going to apologize for receiving campaign contributions,” Lee-Sheng said. “I’m happy to help my contributors.

http://www.clickjefferson.com/npps/story.cfm?ID=2506

Those businesses and their owners just so happen to be in the video poker truck stop gaming business as her father was and that she is by inheritance. And one of the most repulsive sidebars to this is yet again gambling crap, is the corrupting influence of that supreme POS Bobby Guidry. It is his son-in-law, Nicky Nichols, through his Redman gaming business, that entered into contract negotiations with Whitmer and the Coulons, Tim and son Chris, for the proposed new video truck stop on HWY 90 past Westwego. A location necessitating Byron Lee’s sponsorship of a zoning change to accommodate all the ‘connected’ parties; and a Parish Council voting to exempt Redman from Code requirements in direct contravention to the opinions of the JP Planning Dept.!!! Continue reading “Meantime in Louisiana nary is heard a discouraging word……..”

And Slabbed’s been getting quality muck via leak from metro NOLA ever since……..

What can I say folks but time flies when you’re having fun!

New Orleans Traffic Court Judge Ronald Sholes to step down ~ John Simerman

Sholes himself was found to have interceded in dozens of cases on behalf of traffic scofflaws in 1999 and 2000, although there was no evidence that he took anything for doing it. Sholes defended the practice, saying traffic law violators often have a hard time gaining access to the prosecutors who have the authority to dismiss their tickets.

Yo Rafael Welcome to Slabbed. Perdigao rats out Sholes ~ Slabbed circa June 2008

And that ended up on the front page of the Sunday Times Picayune where Gordon Russell gave Slabbed its major first cross over hat tip.

Our friends at We Saw That remember the earliest days of Slabbed’s NOLA area corruption coverage….

If Slabbed the book is ever written, the section on the beginnings of our Louisiana chapter of the Slabbed Nation would certainly start with our coverage of the saga of Jamie Perdigao, a name I’ve seen dropped in comments several times of late here.  It was Perdigao that landed Slabbed on the front page of the Times Picayune, in a story written by Gordon Russell, if memory serves, back in 2008.  It was our coverage of Perdigao’s fight with Jim Letten’s office that would later open doors for Slabbed as a variety of people would end up contacting us as a result of that topic. Jamie Perdigao ended up being crushed and these days he is doing his time at the Pensacola FPC.  More so than anything else though, our coverage of the Perdigao saga along with  USA v O’Dwyer illustrates we call these cases on what we perceive are their own merits.

Though the Slabbed of yore is now long gone, sleeping with the cyberfishes thanks to the Goatherders, snippets of some of our original pages do survive and the good folks at We Saw That linked a post there circa 2008 last night on twitter marking the date that Slabbed landed on their radar.

Since then some of the players in USA v Perdigao, including former Congressman Bob Livingston, have periodically surfaced on these pages.  New Orleans has got to be the biggest small town in the US though the themes of everyone knowing everyone else recur across the deep south.  If you’re newbie to Slabbed and want to understand the inside of the current commenting scandal inside of the New Orleans US Attorney’s office I’d start with USA v Perdigao.

“True Life Adventures” of a corporate lawyer…..(Updated)

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. Continue reading ““True Life Adventures” of a corporate lawyer…..(Updated)”

What in the world is going on with USA v Perdigao?

I found Waldo and I’m hoping Sally James and NAAS  will stop by with comments on the Motion for Continuation filed in USA v Perdigao.  waldo1

Now comes David L. Arena, Senior United States Probation Officer, and moves the Court for an order continuing the sentence in the above-matter which is currently set for February 11, 2009, because additional time is needed to prepare a pre-sentence report. Neither defense counselor, Charles Griffin, nor Assistant United States Attorney, James Mann, have any objections to a brief continuance. Therefore the probation officer moves the Court to continue the sentencing date in this case for approximately 30 days.

Somehow, I don’t think Sop will be surprised by the delay or the reminder in this Notice of Continuation. Continue reading “What in the world is going on with USA v Perdigao?”

Saturday Catch Up: Perdigao Forfeiture and RICO

As I observed in a previous comment to Sally, it is hard to continue a civil suit from behind bars so the dismissal of Jamie Perdigao’s RICO suit against Adams and Reese was an expected development in this continuing saga.

Related to the civil suit is the criminal case where DoJ filed motion for forfeiture of money Perdigao turned over after his initial arrest. What I found interesting is what was missing from both the motion and the preliminary order granting the DoJ motion.

I continue to have reason to believe we have not heard from Mr Perdigao for the last time. (h/t Mr NAAS for the PACER docs.)

sop

We Have Some New Filings on USA v Perdigao

In fact we have the plea agreement, factual basis, forfeiture, a sentencing date and more on the Perdigao legal page. I noted some of the docs were not signed by Mr Wessel.

I’ve read the docs and have some thoughts but am interested in hearing what Sally and some of the others have to say. All the docs can be found on our Perdigao legal page.

sop

Perdigao’s case goes to trial in 27 days

Got your calendar handy?  Here’s today’s docket entry in USA v Perdigao:

Minute Entry for proceedings held before Magistrate Judge Louis Moore, Jr:Arraignment as to James G Perdigao (1) Count 1ss-63ss held on 10/31/2008. Defendant remanded. Pretrial Conference set for 11/13/2008 01:30 PM before Judge Eldon E. Fallon. Jury Trial set for 12/1/2008 08:30 AM before Judge Eldon E. Fallon. (Court Reporter Magistrate Clerical.) (dno, ) (Entered: 11/03/2008)

At this point, he faces all 63 counts of the second superseding indictment – including the 30 he entered a guilty plea to last Friday.

With the pre-trial conference set 10 days from now, it’s a good time to mention there are a number of pending  motions before Judge Fallon.  We’ll be posting decisions as the information becomes available.

Breaking: Perdigao Pleads Guilty to 30 of 63 Counts (Updated 3X)

Just up on the Times Picayune breaking news:

One of the state’s best minds in gaming law pleaded guilty this morning to bilking the white-shoe law firm he worked for of $30 million, then stashing the bulk of it in a Swiss bank account.

Jamie Perdigao, 46, pleaded guilty to 30 of the 63 felony counts he was facing, and agreed to forfeit the $30 million, which was already in the possession of the U.S. Marshal’s Office. Clad in prison garb and shackled at the wrists and ankles, Perdigao made his plea before U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon. Continue reading “Breaking: Perdigao Pleads Guilty to 30 of 63 Counts (Updated 3X)”

Perdigao’s Puzzle – Plea on all hallows eve with all saints to follow (Sop Updated) (Nowdy updated, again Friday)

No one could make this stuff up; so, adding to the Perdigao Puzzle, are four new items on the docket – including the Second Superseding Indictment that NAAS mentioned in comment – along with this from the ABA Journal: Ex-Partner May Plead in Fraud Case Over Alleged $30M La Law Firm Theft.

A news agency is reporting that James Perdigao…is expected to plead guilty.”Court records show that former Adams and Reese law partner James Perdigao has a change-of-plea hearing scheduled for Friday,” reports the Associated Press. However, his legal counsel and a spokesman for the local U.S. Attorney, Jim Letten, did not comment…

At a hearing Monday, an FBI agent testified that Perdigao has continued accessing the Adams and Reese system ever since he was fired in 2004. He filed a racketeering suit against Adams and Reese earlier this year which the law firm says is baseless. It contends that the firm trumped up the theft claim after he refused to go along with unsavory practices.

Meanwhile, a federal magistrate revoked Perdigao’s $2 million bond on Monday, based in part on new claims that he hacked into the law firm’s computers earlier this month…Those claims resulted in a grand jury indictment yesterday, the AP notes…I

In that case, Perdigao is accused of stealing confidential correspondence between the firm, prosecutors and the FBI, as well as bills and records… (emphasis added)

The irony of scheduling Perdigao’s change of plea hearing on October 31st, is not lost – Perdigao versus the saints starting at 11:00am tomorrow before Judge Fallon. Continue reading “Perdigao’s Puzzle – Plea on all hallows eve with all saints to follow (Sop Updated) (Nowdy updated, again Friday)”