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News account of the sentencing of a corrupt New Orleans politician
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Hom e
4 years in prison for New Orleans corruptionfigure with Nova Scotia ties
February 25, 2013 - 11 :17 — Timothy Gillespie
Racketeering claims reach into wilds of KemptvilleAaron Broussard arrived in a New Orleans court Monday morning, where his
35-y ear political career ended with a 46-month prison sentence for fraud
committed while he was president of Jefferson Parish, the most populous New
Orleans suburb.
Broussard, who must also repay $280,000, apologized "for bringing dishonor
to my position. I will pay for that dishonor for the rest of my life." He requested
he be sent to Pensacola Prison when his term starts on April 8.
Before the massive political corruption scandal that rocked all of New Orleans,
Broussard was most well-known for his shameful and histrionic display of
"crocodile tears" on national telev ision in the USA following the Katrina
disaster in New Orleans. It was charged by some that Broussard's actions in the
wake of Katrina caused tens of millions of dollars in damages to hundreds of
New Orleans properties due to avoidable flooding.
Broussard is among a long line of elected officials in New Orleans who were sent
to prison. Also in court was Karen Parker, his former wife and also a central
figure in the scandal, and other co-defendants. Parker, who collected over $1
million in illegal salary , was sentenced to 3 y ears probation and restitution of
$160,000 over 15 y ears. Parish Attorney Tom Wilkinson also received 3 y ears
probation and was ordered to repay more than $250,000. He cannot practice
law for three y ears.
The pre-sentence report has Broussard's sentencing "level" at 28, but the Judge
Head said that he assessed it at 24, due to combining some serial bribes as a
single action. Prosecutor Brian Klebba told the court he would be satisfied with
a sentence of 46 to 57 months.
A federal grand jury ultimately charged Broussard with 27 criminal counts. In
an agreement with the government to avoid trial, he pleaded guilty in
September to two of them: conspiracy and theft.
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Broussard is a former law partner of Danny Abel, co-owner of the famed Trout
Point Lodge in Kempt, near Y armouth, which was initially named by New
Orleans newspapers, telev ision stations and online news sites as being co-
owned by Broussard and somehow implicated in frauds committed by
Broussard. Broussard also owned or co-owned with Parker and others several
businesses in Louisiana and Nova Scotia purportedly designed to manage Nova
Scotia tourism properties, including those surrounding Trout Point.
Broussard Uses His Public Office for Private Gain
The "factual basis" documents surrounding Broussard's guilty plea contains this
accounting: "Additionally , from approximately 2004 through 2010, Broussard
received monies, totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars, that were
characterized as, among other things, “retainers,” “consulting fees” or “finder’s
fees” with various contractors and vendors, all of whom were doing business
with Jefferson Parish during the period of time Broussard was the President of
Jefferson Parish. Moreover, Broussard was a majority owner in a holding
company which owned an investment property in Canada. Broussard received
income from this Canadian property . This property was partially funded by
indiv iduals and/or entities who were contractors and/or vendors doing
business with Jefferson Parish during the period of time Broussard was the
Jefferson Parish President."
Retractions
Charles Leary and Vaughn Perret, also co-owners and managers of Trout Point
Lodge, filed several defamation actions against New Orleans media, winning
retractions about the assertions of ownership by Broussard. Court records in
those cases show that Broussard was an owner of a smaller adjacent lodge,
which was marketed at times by the managers of Trout Point Lodge. Many of
the surrounding properties were also owned by figures familiar in political
circles in New Orleans.
Leary and Perret won a $47 5,000 defamation judgment against investigative
blogger Doug Handshoe, who is well-known in the New Orleans area for
investigative stories about area political and financial corruption. The attempt
by Leary and Perret to have that judgment enforced resulted in a federal court
in Mississippi vacating the award under prov isions of the SPEECH Act, which
became part of U.S. law in order to limit the practice of "libel tourism." The
Trout Point partners are likely to have to pay legal costs in that case exceeding
$50,000.
Leary and Perret, an attorney , have largely represented themselves in the
various court cases, but Leary has also corresponded with some participants
as representing the "Able Law Firm", with telephone contacts registered to
Trout Point Lodge.
Reporters as co-conspirators?
The court files in the series of defamation suits also reveals that reporters at
the Toronto Star and Halifax Chronicle Herald - who had written about Trout
Point Lodge in glowing terms - forwarded private emails from Handshoe to
Leary and Perret, in apparent v iolation of journalistic ethical standards of both
newspapers.
In recent months, Leary , Perret, Trout Point Lodge and other properties the
pair owned or managed were named as co-conspirators in a RICO (Racketeer
Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ) action brought by Concrete
Busters, a firm enmeshed in the larger Jefferson Parish political corruption
scandal.
Lawsuits falling like rain in Nova Scotia and New Orleans
Point Leary & Perret subsequently filed another defamation action against
Handshoe and his web host Automatic (Wordpress), naming the lawy ers in the
Concrete Busters and South Coast Today publisher Timothy Gillespie as co-
conspirators. That suit was then amended to leave Automatic as the only
defendant, with no co-conspirators.
Leary and Perret have also instituted a copy right infringement suit against
Handshoe for an alleged misuse of a Trout Point image on his web site.
Just weeks ago, Danny Abel filed a defamation suit against Handshoe and Anne-
Marie Vandenweghe, a former Jefferson Parish lawy er whose "whistleblower"
actions precipitated the charges against Broussard, Parker and other key
Parish officials.
Who is Randall Cajun?
Vandenweghe, Handshoe, Concrete Busters and the central figures of the New
Orleans political corruption behind the Trout Point law suits are now also
Website con str u cted w ith FastSite by PBN - Pr iv a te Bu sin ess Netw or ks pow er ed by Dr u pa l
A ll con ten t r espon sibility of Best of Nov a Scot ia On lin e Ser v ices
primary figures in the blog posts of "Randall Cajun" on the "Real Malice" blog,
purporting to "explore malice on the internet."
The blog shows an extraordinary knowledge of both the intimate details and
history of recent political and legal intrigue in New Orleans and the arcane and
technical nature of search engine function in display ing posts on various blogs
and web sites.
The blog appears to be designed exclusively to attack Handshoe and to
undermine the validity of Vandenweghe's "whistleblower" lawsuit against
Jefferson Parish. The blog blasts Handshoe for alleged anti-gay comments and
insinuates he has some complicity if the corruption scandals surrounding
prev ious clients. "This material appears libelous and defamatory and designed
to attack Handshoe and Vandenveghe's reputations," a Louisiana attorney told
SCT, say ing that finding the original author should be possible given modern
technology .
New Orleans blogger Jason Berry , of the American Zombie blog, say s that he
has tracked the location of Randall Cajun as close to Y armouth, Nova Scotia,
and that Cajun uses wireless Eastlink serv ice which includes the Kempt
wilderness. Randall Cajun was one of the commenters on American Zombie
recently , and admitted to being the author of Real Malice. Berry told SCT v ia
email that he believes the author(s) to be located at or near Trout Point. The
Lodge is open y ear-round, which would also allow for a guest there - or at one
of the nearby properties - to be the author. The Lodge is genrally the only
facility in the area open y ear-round. "Why would any one else from Nova Scotia
be commenting on New Orleans and Jefferson Parish municipal politics?" Berry
asks.
Jason Berry say s he tracked the IP address from Randall Cajun within in
minutes of his first comment. "He even admitted he was from Nova Scotia and
that it was his IP after I exposed it."
Randall Cajun, according to Berry , hasn't commented on American Zombie
since.
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