GOVERNMENT CONFLICTS, CORRUPTION AND INDICTMENTS

- LOUISIANA -

Date	Individual / State Agency	Who, What, Where?
12/16/04	New Orleans	Orleans Parish Kick Backs Glenn Davis, age 51, of New Orleans, Louisiana and Charles "Chuck" Swanson, age 59, were charged in a two count indictment with violating the Hobbs Act for kick backs paid to Carl Coleman, then the Risk Manager of the Orleans Parish School System. The indictment alleges that beginning in1997and continuing through 2001, Swanson and Davis, along with Lillian Smith Haydel, who has previously been charged and convicted of the scheme, kicked money back to Carl Coleman in order to retain highly lucrative health insurance contracts for insurance companies they represented. Swanson and Davis are both charged with conspiring to pay the kickbacks to Coleman, as well as the actual kickbacks.
06/01/06		Congressman Has $90,000 in Freezer According to the Los Angeles Times, the FBI says it taped Louisiana Democrat William J. Jefferson taking $100,000 in cash. Agents investigating allegations of bribery involving a Louisiana congressman found $90,000 in $100 bills wrapped in aluminum foil in the freezer of his home. It gives a whole new meaning to the term “cold cash.” According to the 83-page affidavit, Jefferson offered to help a McLean, Va., businesswoman win contracts to install telephone and Internet service in Nigeria and Ghana in exchange for 30% of the business. Jefferson proposed she deliver a substantial amount of money to move the deal along, the affidavit alleges. All the while, FBI agents were listening to the conversations, because the woman had reported the dealings to the government and was cooperating with investigators. Jefferson has denied any improper behavior and has not been charged with a crime. The House Ethics Committee announced Wednesday that it would investigate Jefferson. At a dinner a year ago, Jefferson and the informant negotiated, on paper, the percentage of the company that the congressman wanted for his children, the affidavit said. He even joked about the possibility that he was being watched, the affidavit said: "As they continued to write down figures on the paper, Jefferson began laughing and said, 'All these damn notes we're writing to each other as if we're talking as if the FBI is watching.' " On July 30, the congressman met the woman for breakfast at the Ritz-Carlton hotel near the Pentagon. As they were leaving, Jefferson took from the trunk of her car "a reddish-brown-colored leather briefcase which contained $100,000 cash in denominations of $100 bills." He put it in his Lincoln Town Car and drove away, the affidavit said. Four days later, most of the marked bills were found in Jefferson's freezer. The rest of the cash was recovered from his office assistant and his lawyer.