New Orleans ex-mayor Ray Nagin convicted on 20 charges; Twitter reacts

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Once seen as a hero and one of the pillars of the rebuilding efforts following the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe, former New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin is now the face of the massive corruption and crime wave that took place in the aftermath of that historic natural disaster that nearly destroyed the city.

A jury just convicted former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin Wednesday on 20 of 21 federal corruption counts, including bribery, marking a stunning fall for the feisty official who gained a national profile following Hurricane Katrina.

Nagin, 57, was found guilty of accepted bribes, free trips and other gratuities from contractors in exchange for helping them secure millions of dollars in city work while he was in office.


Nagin now joins a long line of infamous and corrupt Louisiana politicians that has become the state — and the city’s — dubious tradition and distinction.

He will remain free on bond while he awaits sentencing. Each of the charges carries a sentence from three to 20 years, but how long he would serve was unclear and will depend on a pre-sentence investigation and various sentencing guidelines.


Nagin was stoic and emotionally flatlined when the verdict was read. But his wife, Seletha, was being consoled in the front row. Before the verdict, the once-promising politician who was seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party said outside the New Orleans courtroom: “I’ve been at peace with this for a long time. I’m good.”

Perhaps he already knew the verdict before it was read to him.

Nagin left office in 2010 after two four-year terms and was indicted in January 2013 on charges he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and truckloads of free granite for his family business in exchange for promoting the interests of local businessman Frank Fradella.

He also was charged with accepting thousands of dollars in in payoffs from another businessman, Rodney Williams, for his help in securing city contracts.

Nagin is best remembered for his impassioned pleas for help after levees broke during Hurricane Katrina, flooding much of New Orleans and plunging the city into chaos.

The charges against Nagin included one overarching conspiracy count along with six counts of bribery, nine counts of wire fraud, one count of money laundering conspiracy and four counts of filing false tax returns. He was acquitted of one of the bribery counts.

Investigators allege the corruption spanned the time before, during and after Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005.

The charges resulted from a City Hall corruption investigation that had resulted in several convictions or guilty pleas by former Nagin associates by the time trial started on Jan. 27.

Fradella and Williams, both awaiting sentencing for their roles in separate bribery schemes alleged in the case, each testified that they bribed Nagin.

Nagin’s former technology chief, Greg Meffert, who also is awaiting sentencing after a plea deal, told jurors he helped another businessman, Mark St. Pierre, bribe Nagin with lavish vacation trips. St. Pierre did not testify. He was convicted in the case in 2011.

Nagin tried to convince the jury that he did not to know his vacation trips to Jamaica and Hawaii were paid for by St. Pierre. He also said he wasn’t told that a family trip to New York was paid for by a movie theater owner who, prosecutors said, received help with a city tax issue after Katrina wiped out the theater.

Take a look at the Twitter reactions to Nagin’s conviction:

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