Ray Nagin, the former mayor of New Orleans, was indicted on charges of fraud, bribery, and other felonies, earlier today.
A federal grand jury nabbed Nagin on 21 corruption charges, including six counts of bribery, nine counts of deprivation of honest services through wire fraud, four counts of filing false tax returns, and one count each of conspiracy and money laundering.
According to former technology official Greg Meffert, Nagin had been waiting for two years to face the charges, and pleaded guilty in 2010 to allegations of taking bribes in exchange for extending business contracts in the direction of businessman Mark St. Pierre.
The charges were brought to the political figure after months of investigations by federal prosecutors.
Key witnesses, like businessman Rodney Williams, helped to bring Nagin down. Last fall, Williams admitted to making $60,000 worth of payments, to an unidentified public official— believed to be Nagin—in 2008. The payoffs were made in exchange for having business steered towards his company.
Nagin and his sons, Jeremy and Jarin owned the counter top company, Stone Age LLC. Both Jeremy and Jarin appeared before a grand jury last fall but were not said to be targeted in the investigation.
Once a cable executive, Nagin became mayor of New Orleans in 2002, and held the position until 2010.
In 2005, he became the media point person in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the catastrophic natural disaster that displaced hundreds of thousands of resident, and killed more than 1,500 people.
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Photo: Nola.com
