C. Ray Nagin, 56, a resident of Frisco, Texas, and formerly the mayor of New Orleans, was charged in a 21-count indictment with bribery, honest service wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy, and filing false tax returns, announced U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente, FBI Special Agent in Charge Michael Anderson, and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Special Agent in Charge James Lee.
According to today’s federal grand jury indictment, between December 2004 and the present, Nagin and several others participated in a conspiracy to commit bribery and honest services wire fraud. The indictment alleges that Nagin, in his role as chief executive, devised a scheme to defraud the city of New Orleans and its citizens of his honest services through bribery and a kickback scheme, whereby Nagin used his public office and official capacity to provide favorable treatment, including awarding contracts, that benefitted business and financial interest of individuals providing him with bribes and kickbacks in the form of checks, cash, granite inventory, wire transfers, personal services, and free travel. The indictment charges Nagin with accepting numerous bribes and payoffs from consultants and contractors, money laundering conspiracy, and filing false tax returns for the years 2005 to 2008…
The indictment alleges, among other things, that Nagin accepted approximately $72,250 in bribes from Rodney Williams and his company, Three Fold Consultants LLC. The indictment also alleges Nagin accepted bribes from Frank Fradella, including $50,000, granite inventory, and nine payoffs in the form of wire transfers from Fradella totaling $112,500. In some cases, money was deposited into Nagin’s Stone Age corporate account, or free granite inventory was provided to Stone Age.
FBI press release link: click here