Inside Report for July 15, 2008

• By ALLEN M. JOHNSON JR.
• Advocate New Orleans bureau
• Published: Jul 15, 2008 - Page: 7B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Reprints
• Twitter
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

James “Jamie” Perdigao, 46, is hardly a household name in New Orleans, even though federal prosecutors say the indicted lawyer stole $30 million.

According to the government, Perdigao purloined a far greater sum during his 13 years as a law partner at Adams & Reese, LLP than all court-ordered restitution orders combined against: imprisoned former Gov. Edwin Edwards ($2.5 million), incarcerated former Louisiana Senate President Michael O’Keefe ($1.7 million), and four — recently sentenced — associates of former Mayor Marc Morial’s administration ($1 million).

Yet, competition for headlines in New Orleans is pretty stiff. Lacking signs of a robust recovery from Hurricane Katrina, metro area news accounts are often filled with dramatic crimes and personal failings. For example, standing before U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier last week, Morial confidant Stan “Pampy” Barre admitted “skimming” $1 million from a city contract in 2002, and with a prosaic apology that all but ended the charismatic former mayor’s boast of a scandal-free administration.

“The city trusted me, and I stabbed her in the back in the dark of night,” said Barre, before the judge sentenced him to five years in prison.

To hear Perdigao tell it, Barre had plenty of help ripping off the public.

Perdigao, who faces trial on unrelated criminal charges, alleges Adams & Reese blocked federal grand jury investigations of the Morial administration after the former mayor went to work for the firm. Moreover, in a sensational civil racketeering suit, Perdigao places both himself and his alleged victims, Adams & Reese and the firm’s top lawyers, at the center of other alleged scandals and unethical schemes, including: the misuse of Louisiana film tax credits, an alleged 1997 bribery scheme involving U.S. Rep. William Jefferson (who faces trial on unrelated bribery charges in Virginia), ticket-fixing at New Orleans Traffic Court, and numerous alleged violations of professional standards of conduct for Louisiana lawyers.

Adams & Reese denies Perdigao’s allegations as both false and “fantasy.”

The firm is also asking U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon to stop Perdigao from divulging the affairs of the firm and its 27 clients.

In addition, after two years of apparently dispirited cooperation with FBI agents and federal prosecutors, Perdigao has accused  U.S. Attorney Jim Letten of pulling punches against sleazy government informants to protect high-profile court victories. Perdigao cites former Treasure Chest Casino owner Robert Guidry — the feds’ star witness against Edwin Edwards eight years ago. Guidry was a major client of Adams & Reese then, and as a partner for the firm Perdigao handled non-criminal matters for the millionaire. Perdigao says Letten failed to follow his juicy leads of alleged misconduct by Guidry, allegations the prosecutor vigorously denies.

Ironically, Perdigao himself was called by the government to testify about Guidry’s gambling interests, during the Edwards’ trial on Feb. 8, 2000. Eight years later, attorneys for Guidry and Adams & Reese have denounced Perdigao’s complaint as the self-serving statements of a “pathological liar.”

Letten is far less succinct when countering “Perdigao’s perfidy.”

Yet, Rafael Goyeneche, president of New Orleans Metropolitan Crime Commission, says the MCC is interested in Perdigao’s detailed allegations that a part-time Traffic Court judge employed by Adams & Reese also fixed tickets. “If true — and it’s a pretty important ‘if’ — and the allegations of ticket fixing can be proven, then the firm may have some exposure,” Goyeneche said.

Meanwhile, Judge Fallon recently had not yet ruled on a request by Adams & Reese to dismiss Perdigao’s civil suit. Perdigao remains both free on bond, pending his Dec. 1 criminal trial, and relatively obscure, for someone accused of stealing $30 million.