By Stephanie Grace
NEW ORLEANS, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Former New Orleans Mayor Ray
Nagin, who chided federal officials for their slow response
after Hurricane Katrina inundated the city, pleaded not guilty
in federal court on Wednesday to charges that he took kickbacks
in exchange for city contracts.
It was Nagin's first appearance in court - and his first
public appearance in the city he led for eight years - since a
federal grand jury handed down a 21-count public corruption
indictment in January.
The charges include bribery, wire fraud, filing false tax
returns, conspiracy and money laundering. Nagin, who now lives
Texas, pleaded not guilty to all charges before U.S. Magistrate
Judge Sally Shushan.
Shushan set Nagin's bond at $100,000, ordered him to
surrender his passport, and limited his unrestricted travel to
Louisiana and Texas. He can visit other states only with the
court's prior approval.
Shushan set a trial date of April 29, although major public
corruption cases generally take far longer to reach that stage.
A pretrial conference was set for April 16. The case was
assigned to U.S. District Judge Ginger Berrigan.
The former mayor, who had been known for his chattiness,
said little to the judge or a sizable media contingent.
"No, man, I can't make any comments," he said as he entered
the courthouse, accompanied by his attorney Robert Jenkins.
Nagin was a little-known businessman when he burst into
public life in 2002, wooing voters with promises to think
outside the box and rid City Hall of patronage. In 2005, after
Katrina struck and several levees crumbled, his desperate plea
for federal officials to "get off your asses" and help was heard
worldwide.
Re-elected to a second term in 2006, Nagin was widely
faulted for overseeing a halting recovery. The indictment
focuses on questionable activity from this period, although some
of the activities described purportedly occurred before the
catastrophic storm.
Nagin is accused of taking gifts and more than $200,000 in
cash from three city contractors, and using his official
position to land a granite installation deal with Home Depot for
a company he formed with his two sons, Jeremy and Jarin. He is
also accused of accepting several truckloads of free granite
from one of the corrupt contractors.
Two of the contractors, Frank Fradella and Rodney Williams,
have pleaded guilty and are cooperating with prosecutors. The
third, Mark St. Pierre, was convicted in a 2011 trial with the
help of former Nagin technology chief Greg Meffert, who had
pleaded guilty to accepting kickbacks from St. Pierre.
Nagin is also accused of trading a tax waiver for a
luxurious trip to New York with a New Orleans theater owner,
identified in the indictment only as "Businessman A."
The indictment also lists "Family Member 1" and "Family
Member 2" as alleged co-conspirators. The relatives are
presumably Jeremy and Jarin Nagin, who appeared last fall before
a grand jury and provided documents in response to a subpoena,
according to their attorney.
New Orleans has a history rich with political intrigue, but
Nagin is the first mayor to face criminal charges.
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