Feds looking at 2 more alleged shakedowns involving former Mayor ...

Having already convicted one businessman of bribing former Mayor Ray Nagin, federal authorities are trying to prove two other corrupt deals involving the former mayor before the five-year statute of limitations on some of his alleged crimes expires. One of those deals centers on a payment Nagin allegedly received from Rodney Williams, a former co-owner of the politically active New Orleans engineering firm Three Fold Consultants, according to sources with knowledge of the case.

The other focuses on whether Nagin applied pressure on corporate leaders at Home Depot to steer work to Stone Age LLC, the now-defunct granite-countertop company Nagin ran with his wife and two sons.

The pressure came at a time when Home Depot was building a new store in Central City and was haggling with the city over various items, including the price it would have to pay for nearby city streets and whether it would have to sign a "community benefits agreement" requiring it to hire a certain number of neighborhood residents at certain pay levels.

Three Fold Consultants, founded in 2000, has been a regular recipient of city contracts, particularly in the years after Hurricane Katrina. According to a source with knowledge of the case, authorities are examining a $50,000 payment by Williams to Nagin or Stone Age that was made in late 2007 or early 2008.

The theory of the case is that the payment greased the skids for additional city engineering contracts for Three Fold. The company has had numerous no-bid city jobs: Among nine jobs featured on its website, five involve work for the city or related entities such as the Sewerage & Water Board. The jobs include help overseeing $250 million in street repair and supervising the construction of improvements along Canal Street.

WWL-TV reported Monday night that one contract landed by Three Fold was originally for the management of lighting repairs at four city playgrounds. Eventually, that number swelled to 23 playgrounds, the station reported.

The station also said Three Fold won one contract -- it did not specify the job -- even though the company scored so poorly in a review of contract proposals that it was considered unqualified by the panel conducting the review.

Engineering contracts, because they involve professional services, do not have to go to the lowest bidder. For contracts awarded by City Hall, that means Nagin would have had the last word, regardless of what the technical committee thought. Nagin vetoed an effort by the City Council to change that process.

Three Fold has continued to receive regular work from City Hall since Mayor Mitch Landrieu took office in 2010.

Nagin's lawyer, Robert Jenkins, did not return a call seeking comment. Efforts to reach Williams, of Destrehan, were also unsuccessful.

Three Fold's website no longer lists Williams as a principal in the firm, nor does the Louisiana Secretary of State's office. The firm's other two co-founders, Tarek Elnaggar and Bassam Mekari, are listed as managing partners.

There was some evidence already in the public record linking Three Fold and Nagin. The firm was a regular contributor to Nagin's campaigns: Williams, his late wife Charlene, and the firm itself donated a total of $15,500 to Nagin's campaigns, state records show. (Three Fold and its principals have given similar amounts to Landrieu and various other politicians.)?

Also, an article in the November 2007 issue of the Slippery Rock Gazette -- a trade publication for the granite industry -- focused on the Nagin family firm. The article included an interview with Rodney and Charlene Williams, who were satisfied customers of Stone Age.

"Stone Age Granite and Marble did a fine job in the master bath, so I had them do some smaller work also," the article quoted Charlene Williams saying.

On the Home Depot front, federal authorities have been following leads in the mayor's daily calendar and email folder to see whether Nagin pressured the retailing giant to steer work to Stone Age.

One noteworthy email was authored by Sarah Price, the Home Depot manager who was shepherding the project through, on Jan. 29, 2007. It was addressed to Howell Crosby, a local attorney who was helping to guide Home Depot's project through the city process, and Anne Redd, then an aide to City Councilwoman Stacy Head.

"Our CEO got a voice mail from Mayor Nagan (sic) stating that he would help us with the community groups causing us problems," Price's email said. "Do you know what he is referring to other than the CBA (community benefits agreement) turned into donation letter, etc.? Can you call me asap -- our CEO wants a response now."

The context: Home Depot had complained that the terms of a proposed "community benefits agreement" were too onerous. Head initially pushed for the retailer to sign the deal, while Nagin opposed it. Eventually, Head gave up, and the firm never signed the agreement.

In a 2008 interview, Head said "the administration pressured me to forgo negotiations" on the community benefits agreement because Home Depot had pronounced it a "deal killer."

When the store had its ground-breaking in May 2007, Head -- who had championed the project as a crucial one for her district -- initially said she wouldn't attend, then relented. Nagin was also there; he was introduced to the crowd by Home Depot vice president Dan Paris, according to city emails.

Three days after Price's email went out, Nagin's public calendar shows he met with Home Depot officials at the Stone Age office, which was then located on Earhart Boulevard. Roughly two months after that -- and a month before the ground-breaking -- Stone Age landed a contract with Home Depot that made it the exclusive granite installer for four area stores.

Crosby and Redd both said they didn't specifically remember the email from Price about Nagin, nor did either remember hearing anything specific about Nagin angling for work from Home Depot at the time. Redd noted that she learned of Nagin's contract with the retailer when The Times-Picayune published a story about it in March 2008, and she was incensed to learn of the arrangement, feeling it underscored New Orleans' reputation as a hotbed of corruption.

Home Depot ended its arrangement with Stone Age about a month after the newspaper story was published.

Reached by telephone, Price, who no longer works for Home Depot, referred questions to Walter Becker, a former federal prosecutor who is now a defense lawyer. Becker, who is representing Home Depot in the Nagin probe, emphasized that the retailing giant did nothing wrong.

"We're unaware of any allegations of wrongdoing by Home Depot," said Stephen Holmes, a spokesman for the retailer.

Federal authorities are believed to be fighting the clock as they wrap up their probe into the ex-mayor. Some of the bribes that Frank Fradella, the former CEO of Home Solutions of America, has admitted paying Nagin are getting close to the five-year statute of limitations during which certain charges must be filed. Nagin, through his attorney, has denied wrongdoing.

WWL-TV, for instance, has reported that some of the free granite Fradella says he gave Nagin was delivered in late 2007.

Meanwhile, the payment from Williams to Nagin that is the focus of the newest prong of the federal probe was made nearly five years ago, according to a source with knowledge of it.?

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story said that City Councilwoman Stacy Head did not attend Home Depot's ground-breaking. In fact, Head told the retailer by email she wasn't going, but eventually reconsidered. The story has been updated with the correct information.

Source: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/11/feds_looking_at_2_other_allege.html

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