Continued legal hassles for Trout Point Lodge

More suits coming?

9oct2012: revised - New Orleans politician Aaron Broussard's federal prosecution for fraud took another big step forward in New Orleans last week, when the disgraced Jefferson Parish president pleaded guilty to a number of charges, which he and his lawyers had previously denied.

 

One of the allegations made against Broussard by his ex-wife and others is that he used his ownership in Nova Scotia vacation properties and property firms to "shake down" individuals and businesses wanting to do business with the most populous parish in New Orleans. Broussard's connection to Trout Point Lodge and to the Trout Point region in trhe Kempt Wilderness has been a frequent issue in various lawsuits and media reports surrounding Broussard over the past two years or more.

 

The Lodge was built ten years ago by well-connected New Orleans lawyer Danny Abel, former New Orleans Lawyer Vaughn Perrett and wild mushroom expert Charles Leary. The lodge and neighboring properties have been a home away from home for ther creme-de-la-creme of New Orleans political royalty and has been the frequent subject of travel and food magazines the world over. Media stories describe Abel, Leary and Perret as "friends for decades". Abel reportedly "infused" the project with funds from his successful law practice, while the couple managed Trout Point Lodge, then the Cerro Coyote property in Costa Rica and a small hotel and cooking school in Granada, Spain.

 

VAUGHN PERRET AND CHARLES LEARY

Late last week, Concrete Busters filed an amended statement of claim in an on-going suit about an alleged corrupt landfill deal in New Orleans, naming Kempt Wilderness Lodge Services, Trout Point Lodge Ltd. and Costa-Rica-based Cerro Coyote, SA as some of thirty-plus co-conspirators and as "shell corporations" designed to hide the trail of funds passing to and through Broussard over the past twenty years. SEE PROJECT NOLA STORY

 

The suit alleges that the co-conspirators are linked though ownership, common directors and officers, similar business functions, centralized accounting and/or finances and businesses benifitting - sometimes exclusively - those other alleged shell corporations.

 

Kempt Wilderness Lodge Services is located on the Trout Point Lodge development and other vacation property businesses owned by Broussard and others are located nearby.

 

Three of Broussard's co-accused turning state's evidence and submitted statements of fact which implicate Broussard in yet more alleged crimes while in office, including the use of vacation properties to generate bribes. The Concrete Buster suit is connected to allegations that Broussard was complicit in funnelling a multi-million dollar landfill contract to Fred Heebe, one of New Orleans' most influential businessmen.

 

One of the allegations by his ex-wife and former co-owner of a real estate business located in the tony and isolated Trout Point Road neighborhood, nestled in the idyllic Tobeatic bordering the Tusket River in East Kempt, Nova Scotia, is that he used his Nova Scotia properties in illegal enrichment schemes while in office. Broussard has also played a prominent role as the focus of at least three defamation suits surrounding reports in New Orleans media that he was a part-owner in the luxury Trout Point Lodge "eco-resort", near his properties in the area. 

 

Broussard and his ex-wife and a former parish attorney were charged in Dec., 2011 for their roles in an alleged payroll fraud conspiracy and, in a plea deal, Karen Parker Broussard also implicated Broussard in misuse of the wilderness retreat property near the Tobeatic Wilderness, where the couple also had a vacation property rental business located. 

 

In court documents in a defamation suit against Fox 8 News, Trout Point Lodge and owners Charles Leary and former New Orleans lawyer Vaugn Perrett claimed that Broussard had no business connection to the Lodge and was nothing more than a neighbor whose vacation property they sometimes marketed through various channels. Broussard was apparently a frequent visitor to the Trout Point area and, according to court documents form the Fox 8 case, also stayed at and dined at Trout Point Lodge regularly.

 

Nova Scotia business records show that Public Works Investments, listing a mailing address c/o Trout Point Lodge, was established in 1999 and was owned by Aaron Broussard and Karen Parker-Broussard.  Broussard also admitted in filings with the State of Louisiana that he was once a partner in another real estate rental and management firm, Kempt Wilderness Lodge Services. That firm now lists as an address 7 Trout Point Road and as owners New Orleans lawyers Roy D’Aquila and James Smith. D’Aquila, who died of an apparent heart attack recently, is named in affidavits filed by Trout Point Lodge in the Fox 8 case. The registered agent for the firm is Yarmouth lawyer and Town councilor Martin Pink.

 

After construction of the Lodge in 2000, the adjoining Trout Point road area became a Mecca of sorts for New Orleans-based businessman, many of whom had close ties to Broussard and other Louisiana political and business leaders and some of whom reportedly have said they were introduced to the area by Broussard.

 

New Orleans media and legal sources tell SCT that the most recent court filings could be the "tip of an iceberg."  In addition to Broussard "naming names" in what is believed to be a broad network of corruption centred on Broussard's activities, he apparently "has left a broad path of people who feel betrayed by him and now see an opportunity for payback." One source told SCT that, despite Broussard's guilty plea and the likelyhood of him "naming names", federal prosectors and the FBI are still "quite interested" in the Nova Scotia and Costa Rica connections to what might be a major graft and/or money laundering scheme. 

 

Cerro Coyote in Costa Rica was owned and managed by Leary and Perret before its sale in recent years.

 

Leary, Perrett and Trout Point Lodge received a half-million dollar defamation judgement against a Mississippi blogger early this year. That case has now ajourned to the Mississippi courts, where Doug Handshoe and Slabbed New Media are contesting the judgement under the American Free Speech Act. Handshoe has accused the pair of "libel tourism" and is confident that the Mississippi court will rule in his favour.

 

Handshoe and Slabbed have been central figures in substantial revelations in recent years about the massive political frauds which have been committed by influential New Orleans politicians and business leaders. Handshoe first wrote about Broussard and his Nova Scotia connections more than two years ago.

 

A recent filing by Leary and Perrett for an "emergency" judgement in the case has not been decided.