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New Orleans ex-mayor Ray Nagin indicted | New Orleans ex-mayor Ray Nagin indicted |
(35 minutes later) | |
Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has been charged with 21 counts including wire fraud, bribery, filing false tax returns and money laundering. | Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has been charged with 21 counts including wire fraud, bribery, filing false tax returns and money laundering. |
Mr Nagin, mayor from 2002-10, came to national attention in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. | |
Prosecutors say Mr Nagin, 56, accepted payments, travel, granite, and other illicit gratuities in exchange for city contracts and other favours. | |
At least four Nagin associates have already pleaded guilty in the case. | |
Fall from grace | |
According to the federal indictment, Mr Nagin accepted more than $160,000 (£100,000) in bribes for his family granite business. | |
In exchange, Mr Nagin helped local businessman Frank Fradella secure millions of dollars in contracts from the city in the wake of Katrina, prosecutors have said. | |
Mr Nagin is also charged with accepting payoffs worth at least $60,000 from another businessman, Rodney Williams, who was given contracts for engineering, management and architectural work in the city. | Mr Nagin is also charged with accepting payoffs worth at least $60,000 from another businessman, Rodney Williams, who was given contracts for engineering, management and architectural work in the city. |
Fradella and Williams have already pleaded guilty in connection with the case and are expected to testify against the former mayor, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. | |
Two former officials in Mr Nagin's administration have also pleaded guilty to corruption charges dating from their time at city hall. | |
Mr Nagin was a cable television executive before he entered public life in 2002. | |
He was backed strongly by white voters in his first run for mayor, styling himself as a candidate with bipartisan appeal and a progressive agenda. | |
Mr Nagin was thrust into the national spotlight during Hurricane Katrina and was re-elected to a second term as mayor in 2006. | |
Subsequently, a surge in violent crime, the slow pace of reconstruction, and the burgeoning corruption scandal at city hall undermined his popularity. | |
Since leaving office in 2010 he has stayed out of the political spotlight and has reportedly relocated to Dallas, Texas. |