30JAN2012: In the midst of a widening probe surrounding the roiling fraud scandal involving top players in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, attorney Roy D'Aquila has died in New Orleans, of an apparent heart attack. D'Aquila was the law partner of Aaron Broussard, currently the key figure in the federal investigation, which has resulted in 33-count indictments against Broussard, his ex-wife Karen Parker-Broussard and parish attorney Tom Wilkinson. Broussard, Parker-Broussard and A'Quila have been owners of property and property management firms based in the Trout Point development in East Kempt, adjacent to a popular luxury lodge in the area.
D'Aquila was a fifty per-cent partner in Kempt Wilderness Lodge Services, with a business address at 7 Trout Point Road, adjacent to the Tusket River. Until recently, Aaron Broussard was a partner in the business, which purports to provide rental and management services to property owners in the area, many of whom are connected to political framework of New Orleans. Recently, in a plea deal with the federal prosecutors, Karen Parker-Broussard asserted that her fomer husband used his properties in Nova Scotia as part of a wide-spread scheme to enrich himself at the expense of the taxpayers in Jefferson Parish.
One of the assertions against Broussard has been that he inappropriatel received lucrative legal contracts over many years from local judges while supposedly serving as a full-time president of Jefferson Parish. The business went to the D'Aquila law firm.
Since the scandal broke in 2010 as front page news in New Orleans, there have been several law suits filed based on allegations that Broussard, D'Aquila and others were part owners of Trout Point Lodge. Those assertions have been vigorously opposed by lodge owners and former New Orleans-area businessmen Vaughn Perret and Charles Leary. The pair have pursued law suits against the New orleans Times-Picayune, Fox 8 Television in New Orleans and the political blog Slabbed.
The Times-Picayune published a retraction of their story regarding D'Aquila and the suits against Fox 8 is on-going, with a court record now surpassing 4,000 pages. The defamation suit against Slabbed publisher Doug Handshoe has a damages hearing set for Yarmouth on Monday and is almost certain to move to the U.S. courts, where it is likely to confront the harsh reality of the recent SPEECH Act, which prohibits U.S. courts from certifying judgements from foreign courts which do not meet the standards of the U.S. Constitution.
Although part of the the Trout Point Lodge plaintiffs have asserted throughout the legal proceedings that scandal did not reach the doors of the lodge, documents in the Fox 8 case provided to the courts by Leary, Perret and Trout Point Lodge services show a 2010 letter from D'Aquila confirming discussions between business partner Brousaard, Leary and Perret regarding the insurance for their property being placed on a rider for that of Trout Point Lodge and requesting that the insurances for the properties be merged. Court records do not show whether this was done.
It is expected that futher indictments against Broussard relating to the Nova Scotia property schemes will be added as "superceding" charges, which may also shed additional light on the involvement of D'Aquila and other New Orleans political figures. It is rumoured that several of the Jefferson Parish vendors and contractors who Broussard allegedly involved in the scheme may be cooperating with prosecutors since the recent revelations by Parker Broussard.
To see the extent of the real estate holdings in the Kempt Wilderness for New Orleans business and political leaders, click here.
Comments
The plot certainly thickens and with a little imagination who knows what could be contrived out of this drama of sorts.Perhaps a short play for a summers evening's amusement.Oh,well..................One thing for sure SCT is on to something. Remember most of the ice berg is under the water unseen!