Aaron Bennett's construction-management firm has raked in millions of dollars in public contracts across the New Orleans area since Hurricane Katrina
Aaron Bennett, a businessman who has wined, dined and given gifts to key New Orleans and Plaquemines Parish officials while getting lucrative public work from them, was simultaneously paying well-placed lawyers who represented those governments, records show.
View full sizeBenetech was one of the firms involved in renovation work at the French Market. The company was chosen to carry out change orders adding two major items late in the building process. Those lawyers, in turn, helped him get contracts and payments from their government employers.
Bennett's construction-management firm, Benetech, has raked in millions of dollars in public contracts across the New Orleans area after Hurricane Katrina doing everything from rebuilding pumping stations for the Army Corps of Engineers to overseeing a jail reconstruction project for Plaquemines Parish Sheriff Jiff Hingle.
Bennett also emerged as a player in a massive City Hall corruption case. According to testimony during technology contractor Mark St. Pierre's recent bribery trial, Benetech used a no-bid arrangement to funnel about $700,000 in taxpayer money to St. Pierre. Bennett has acknowledged being interviewed by the FBI, though he has not been accused of a crime and h denies any wrongdoing.
In 2007 and 2008, Bennett billed the city of New Orleans more than $2.6 million and billed the Plaquemines Parish Sheriff's Office more than $3 million.
When Benetech had trouble getting compensated for its work in the New Orleans city technology office, Bennett was paying a government lawyer -- Assistant City Attorney Bob Ellis.
Ellis has acknowledged that Benetech paid him more than $35,000 in 2008 for a market survey on the Plaquemines Parish jail project. Ellis emphasized he had nothing to do with the city attorney's approval of work for Benetech -- including overseeing St. Pierre's companies in the tech office, restoration work at the French Market and New Orleans Public Schools and restroom improvements at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.
Appeal for FEMA payment
But public records show Ellis requested and in March 2008 received a memo from a Benetech consultant outlining what technology office invoices the city could get reimbursed from FEMA. Ellis then asked Ralph Thayer, the man in the city's recovery office in charge of FEMA reimbursement issues, to see what he could do to get Benetech paid.
Thayer said it was a struggle to pay all contractors, but Ellis made a personal appeal for Benetech.
"Bennett was a friend of his, and (Ellis) wanted to see if it was possible to see if they could get paid, because they were overdue in getting paid," said Thayer, who retired from the city in 2009. "I said, 'If it's been obligated by FEMA, there's no reason they can't get paid.' "
Ellis said he went to Thayer because the city owed Benetech money for the use of a network tower on top of the One Shell Square office building, a debt that resulted in litigation. He said it was because of a settlement of the suit that he pushed Thayer to pay Benetech. He denied intervening on Benetech's behalf.
"I don't ever remember having a conversation like that," he said. "When it was determined that we owed money out of the litigation, I said, 'You have to pay them then.' "
Elizabeth Alston, whose law firm advises clients on lawyers' rules of professional conduct and the state ethics code, said Ellis' relationship with Bennett presented a clear conflict.
"It doesn't take an ethics lawyer for you to conclude that this is an obvious conflict of interest," she said.
Ellis left the city attorney's office last month, saying he wanted to pursue other opportunities.
Jail contract altered
When Bennett sought the Plaquemines jail management deal in 2007, he also had a man on the inside. Stephen Braud, Bennett's lawyer since 2001, was working as special counsel to Hingle's office. Hingle said that Braud "prepared the (request for proposals), scope of work and contract for the project management services."
Braud's client, Benetech, was the only bidder and was awarded the contract in October 2007.
A year later, when a different attorney was representing the sheriff's office, the contract's scope was altered and it was rebid. That time, it got 25 responses and nine qualifying proposals.
Alston said the fact that Benetech's attorney drafted the initial request for proposals and then Benetech was the lone bidder "makes me question whether Mr. Braud developed that contract to perfectly meet Benetech's skills and resources."
For example, Braud wrote the initial bid request to limit it to companies based in the New Orleans area. When it was rebid, that limitation was removed and the contract was awarded to Massachusetts-based management firm CDM.
Braud said that although he had been Benetech's lawyer for years, he did not advise the firm or its owner when the sheriff's office awarded Benetech the contract. Braud declined to provide further details about how the contract's terms were negotiated.
Bennett said he did not have any "inappropriate" discussions with Braud during negotiations.
Alston said that unless Benetech and the sheriff's office each signed a conflict waiver for Braud, then it would also violate a state legal ethics rule.
But if such a waiver was signed, it was not among the documents released by Plaquemines Parish in response to a public records request.
Paying for meals
In addition to the money Benetech paid Braud and Ellis for work, Bennett also paid for their leisure or meals at times. It's something Bennett has been caught doing with other prominent government figures: He took Hingle out to meals and drinks in New Orleans and New York and to box seats at a Yankees game; set up a private jet and suite tickets for former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin to attend a Saints playoff game in Chicago; and Nagin's former tech chief, Anthony Jones, testified at St. Pierre's trial that Bennett gave him expensive cufflinks to speed up payments.
Bennett said he bought Braud drinks or a round of golf "somewhere along the way." Braud said he plays in an annual charity golf tournament as Bennett's guest but doesn't recall ever getting free meals from him.
Similar admissions were made about his friendship with Ellis. Before he left the city, Ellis said, "We're friends. We go to dinner together. Sometimes he pays; sometimes I pay."
David Hammer can be reached at dhammer@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3322.