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St. Pierre Convicted on All 53 Counts

Posted on Jun 1, 2011 in Local Issues

On Thursday the jury in Mark St. Pierre’s corruption trial only needed six hours to bring the most recent case of civil corruption in New Orleans to a close. They returned guilty verdicts for all 53 felony counts including 10 counts of bribery, 24 counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and one count of conspiracy to defraud the citizens of New Orleans. [caption id="attachment_2068" align="alignright" width="155"] Photo Courtesy of nola.com[/caption] The sordid story was originally revealed by a local blogger and the Times Picayune. They recounted how St. Pierre paid over $880,000 in bribes and kickbacks to city officials in exchange for city contracts, how he threw yacht parties with strippers for the officials, and the company credit card used to buy trips, cruises, and drinks. The company credit card was even used to pay for the Nagin family’s trip to Hawaii, although Nagin denies any knowledge. St. Pierre was the last member of the corrupt group to be convicted as Greg Meffert and Antony Jones, the city officials on the take, pled guilty early last year along with St. Pierre’s business partner. The end of this most recent corruption speaks well of U.S. Attorney Jim Letten’s conviction to root out corruption. Letten hopes this case will serve as a symbol that City Hall is “not for sale,” and Ed Quatrevaux, the New Orleans inspector general, offered a warning to any yet undiscovered schemes saying, “If you've got some scheme going, it's best to shut it down now and send a check to the city of New Orleans.”