He is the last of five defendants in Jefferson Parish political corruption investigation
Bill Mack, a Kenner telecommunications contractor and the last defendant in the 4-year investigation of Jefferson Parish political corruption, was sentenced Thursday to 20 months in prison for conspiring to bribe Parish President Aaron Broussard. U.S. District Judge Nannette Jolivette Brown handed down the punishment 11 months after Mack admitted paying Broussard $66,000 for help in getting parish contracts. (See update.)
The sentencing came as part of a plea agreement that Mack struck with federal prosecutors, who have secured guilty pleas from Broussard, chief administrative officer Tim Whitmer, parish attorney Tom Wilkinson and Broussard's ex-wife, Karen Parker. Broussard, who resigned in 2010, is serving three years, 10 months in federal prison. Whitmer and Wilkinson, who also resigned that year, are serving probation, as is Parker.
The judge also fined Mack $60,000. And she ordered him to serve two years on probation upon his release from prison.
By law, Mack could have faced as long as five years in prison, three years on probation and a $250,000 fine. But maximum sentences in federal court are rare for first-time offenders, and the sentencing guidelines for Mack's crime suggested 30 to 37 months.
In addition, the government asked for half of that range because of Mack's cooperation with prosecutors. Brown, whom President Barack Obama to the court, said it was one of the most significant government requests for leniency she's seen in her one year, nine months on the bench.
Mack paid Broussard in almost monthly installments of $1,500 from 2004 to late 2007, according to the government's charges. Broussard retrieved the payments from the Kenner office of Mack's company, First Communications Co.
Aaron Broussard Broussard, acting in his capacity as Jefferson's top executive, steered about $40,000 in contracts to First Communications. And he unsuccessfully attempted to tailor a "request for proposals" worth $200,000 for the company in 2008, according to the government. One of the contracts Mack garnered through the scheme was awarded two days after Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005,
The government also alleged that Mack and Broussard tried to conceal the scheme by making them appear legitimate. But the formal charges do not specify how this occurred.
. . . . . . .
More to come on this story on NOLA.com.