NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, who gained worldwide attention when Hurricane Katrina hit his city in 2005, was found guilty Wednesday on charges that he 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.
The jury on Wednesday convicted Nagin of 20 of 21 counts against him. Prosecutors allege he took bribes worth more than $500,000 in a string of criminal acts that began before Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005 and continued during the recovery.
He 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 a local businessman.
He also was charged with accepting thousands of dollars in payoffs from another businessman for his help in securing city contracts.
Before the verdict was read, Nagin said outside the courtroom that he’s “been at peace with this for a long time. I’m good.”
The defense argued that the prosecution case was built on testimony from businessmen who entered plea deals and told prosecutors what they wanted to hear in hopes of getting light sentences.
Among more than two dozen prosecution witnesses were five who said they were involved in bribing the former mayor.
The alleged graft included money, free vacation travel and truckloads of granite for Stone Age LLC, a business Nagin and his sons owned.
Nagin, a Democrat who served two terms from 2002 to 2010, was the chief defense witness. He vehemently denied taking bribes. He said he was duty-bound to OK contracts awarded to low bidders or through a process in which committees recommended contractors. He denied that the contracts were tied in any way to money, materials or favors he or his family business received.
He also denied any tie between free vacation travel he received from businessmen and actions he took as mayor.
He said he thought his former technology chief, Greg Meffert, had paid for vacation trips to Hawaii and Jamaica when, it turned out, they were financed by convicted businessman Mark St. Pierre, a city vendor at the time.
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