Pressure's On As Morial Cronies Near Trial

"The most frequently asked question on the street these days is whether the feds will ever indict ex-mayor and now-Urban League President Marc Morial.

Speculation on the issue has been rife since the FBI used a battering ram to gain entry to his brother Jacques' digs early one morning more than two years ago. Meanwhile a string of indictments and guilty pleas has opened up the seamy underbelly of the Morial administration.

Next month Morial's former property management director, Kerry DeCay, and three others go on trial for their roles in one of the more spectacular scams allegedly pulled off under hizzoner's nose. If anyone has the goods on Morial, the pressure to rat him out must by now be severe." |Read more|

Letter Reveals Private Deals

"A long-whispered-about document describing a slew of undisclosed interests in public contracts held by members of former Mayor Marc Morial's inner circle surfaced in court records Monday courtesy of federal prosecutors, eight days before some in the group are scheduled to stand trial in a case alleging extensive corruption at City Hall.

Among other arrangements, the counter letter filed with the court, which describes a partnership between lawyer Roy Rodney and restaurateur Stan "Pampy" Barré, indicates that their firm, S & J Consulting LLC, stood to earn about $1.4 million over 12 years as a subcontractor for a city recycling program, and was in line for a one-third share in a joint venture to run the recently reopened Old Gentilly Landfill." |Read more|

Morial Friend Agrees to Deal in Tax Probe

"New Orleans political consultant William Schultz, a member of former Mayor Marc Morial's inner circle, was charged Tuesday with failing to file federal tax returns for two years during which he made money from companies run by other Morial associates.

Schultz, 57, has agreed to plead guilty to the charges and has paid nearly $187,000 in back taxes as part of a deal with federal prosecutors that requires him to help the government with other investigations, according to U.S. Attorney Jim Letten.

Schultz, for whom the deal proposes a one-year prison term, is accused of not reporting his 2001 and 2002 income to the Internal Revenue Service, including consulting fees he was paid by restaurateur Stan Barre's firm, Pampy's Inc., and Moss Creek Development, a construction company owned by Reginald Walker." |Read more|

City Hall Graft Trial Delayed

"The long-anticipated corruption trial of four men charged with looting a massive energy-efficiency contract signed by former Mayor Marc Morial, has been delayed from September to January because one of the principal defendants says he is suffering complications from a recent kidney transplant, court records show.

Attorneys for Kerry DeCay, who served as Morial's director of property management, asked for the deferral in federal court in mid-July, saying that DeCay is having trouble concentrating because of various medications he is taking after the operation, and is thus not fit to stand trial.

DeCay received a kidney transplant from his wife on Feb. 14, court records indicate. The trial was originally set for Sept. 5, but has been rescheduled for Jan. 16 by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier.

The case revolves around the alleged siphoning of more than $1 million from a contract Morial signed with Johnson Controls Inc. of Milwaukee valued at up to $81 million. It was the largest contract let by the Morial administration, and the court case has the highest profile of any yielded thus far by a multiyear federal probe of contracting practices during Morial's eight years in office.

Defendants in the case, along with DeCay, include restaurateur and Morial confidant Stan "Pampy" Barre and businessmen Reginald Walker and Julius Lips Jr. Given the close ties between Morial and some of the defendants, the case is expected to shed new light on the ways that business and politics often intersect in New Orleans.

Another six people charged in the case have pleaded guilty to felony charges. They include Terry Songy, who was a project manager for Johnson Controls, and five subcontractors to the company. All six are cooperating with prosecutors." |Read more|

Former Mayor Morial Let Down by Allies' Guilty Pleas

"New Orleans lawyer Pat Fanning, who represents Morial, said that during a phone conversation this week with his client, the ex-mayor relayed feelings of sympathy for his three former associates, but added that he is "disappointed" by their courtroom admissions.

"He is sad for his friends, and particularly their families, because there is a distinct possibility they will go to jail," Fanning said. "At the same time, if they did what the government said they did -- and he has no knowledge of the facts of this case other then what he has read in the media -- he is very disappointed that they would have done those things."

For the record, businessman and Morial confidant Stan "Pampy" Barre; Kerry DeCay, the city's former property management director; and construction company owner Reginald Walker have pleaded guilty to multiple felonies in connection with a scheme to loot a massive energy-management contract awarded by Morial in the waning months of his eight years in office. As part of their respective pleas, all three men have agreed to cooperate with prosecutors." |Read more|

Six More Charged In Orleans City Hall Probe

"Court hearings were scheduled Wednesday for four men indicted as part of the investigation into corruption at City Hall under former Mayor Marc Morial's administration.

A city contract with a Milwaukee-based company, Johnson Controls, remains at the center of the investigation, which resulted earlier this year in grand jury indictments against four people with ties to Morial or his administration — restaurateur and Morial friend Stan "Pampy" Barre; Kerry De Cay, the director of property management under Morial; and subcontractors Reginald Walker and Julius Lips Jr.." |Read more