Louisiana: citizen seeking recourse

Aside from all of the hullabaloo the antics of Double Bill Cassidy has created in respect to the upcoming election, I am only concerned that the actual issue of him potentially defrauding LSUHSC and hence the State of Louisiana of taxpayers' money be investigated.  I am also very concerned that DHECC Claims Administrator Pat Juneau's billing to the State for time spent expediting a private company's (based in Houston, TX) claim in the GCCF be examined as well.

So...I have drafted a letter to the Louisiana State Legislative Auditor asking his office to do just that.  I believe criminal activity may have occurred on both of these issues and it is the Legislative Auditor's responsibility to track down the truth on matters such as this.  Here is the letter I have sent them and I would encourage everyone who reads this post to contact their office and ask them to launch an investigation into both, or even one, of the two issues I have written about here on AZ:

Dear Mr. Purpera,

Hello, my name is Jason B. Berry, I am an independent investigative reporter from New Orleans.  I am the author of a blog, The American Zombie, where I have attempted to expose public corruption within New Orleans and the state of Louisiana over the past seven years since the levee failure in the wake of Katrina crippled my beloved city.  

I have uncovered two separate instances within the past month regarding potential fraudulent billing to state entities that I believe warrant the Louisiana State Legislative Auditor’s attention.  I am writing to you to implore you to please investigate both of these issues with an equal level of vigilance and integrity despite the political influence of both Louisiana public figures involved in the potential wrongdoing.  

The first issue is in regard to the current Claims Administrator of the Deepwater Horizon Economics Claims Center, Patrick Juneau.  While the DHECC is not a public or state entity, Mr. Juneau was contracted by the State of Louisiana prior to his tenure with the DHECC as a consultant to the state in respect to its legal claim against the oil company, BP, for damages incurred during the Deepwater Horizon oil rig accident and subsequent oil spill which blanketed the the Gulf of Mexico and devastated the region’s ecosystem and economy.

As per Mr. Juneau’s own billing records, he billed the state for time he spent with state officials and for phone calls to the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF), the entity that preceded the DHECC, in order to help expedite and facilitate a private company’s claim within the GCCF queue.  The company he lobbied for is Omega Protein, a company incorporated in Houston, Texas and is wholly private.  I implore your office to investigate why Juneau, under contract with the state of Louisiana, billed the state to do work for a private company based in Houston.  I think the public deserves to know why this contractor was billing the State of Louisiana to use his power and influence to lobby the GCCF on behalf of a private company in Texas.  

The second issue that I have uncovered is in respect to Dr. Bill Cassidy, U.S. Representative of the 6th District of Louisiana, and his billing practices to the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (LSUHSC) after he ascended to his position as a U.S. Congressman.  

It appears Mr. Cassidy was retained by LSUHSC after he was elected to Congress at a salary of       approximately $20,000 /year for 5 years.  His work obligation was for 30 hours a month or 7.5 hours a week.  Mr. Cassidy was supposed to supply the University with time sheets documenting his hours in order to collect his $1666/month.  Upon a public records request, only 16 of 63 timesheet were produced by LSUHSC and some of the signatures on the 16 time sheets do not seem to match Dr. Cassidy’s.  LSU has stated they can not locate the missing 50 time sheets which is of great concern regarding the documentation of what work Dr. Cassidy actually did to continually receive his salary.

Both of these stories can be referenced on the American Zombie blog at the following links:

Pat Juneau’s billing to the state for work done on behalf of Omega Protein:

http://www.theamericanzombie.com/2014/11/dhecc-cheap-fish-swim-deep.html

Dr. Cassidy’s billing to LSUHSC:

http://www.theamericanzombie.com/2014/11/paging-dr-cassidy.html

There have been numerous other articles written about Dr. Cassidy’s billing to LSUHSC that I would encourage you to investigate including these:

http://cenlamar.com/2014/11/25/double-bill-cassidy-for-years-bill-cassidy-billed-lsu-while-working-in-congress/

http://cenlamar.com/2014/11/27/double-bill-cassidys-double-talk/

http://cenlamar.com/2014/11/29/double-bill-cassidy-did-congressman-bill-lsu-for-meeting-with-campaign-supporter-at-his-dc-office/

http://theadvocate.com/news/10948862-123/questions-raised-about-bill-cassidys

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/11/bill_cassidys_part-time_job_at.html

Thank you for your consideration on behalf of the citizens of the State of Louisiana and myself.  If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me.  

Sincerely,

Jason B. Berry

The American Zombie

ashedambala@gmail.com

Here is the letter as a .pdf if you want to download it and include it as an attachment to any letter you may want to send to the Legislative Auditor's office.

AZ letter to Louisiana State Legislative Auditor requesting investigation into Juneau and Cassidy billing issues

Incidentally, this is the Hotline Page:

http://www.lla.la.gov/hotline/

I am sending this letter to everyone on the Key Personnel page:

DPURPERA@LLA.LA.GOV

PPENDAS@LLA.LA.GOV

TCOLE@LLA.LA.GOV

NEDMONSON@LLA.LA.GOV

RHARRIS@LLA.LA.GOV

JMOREHEAD@LLA.LA.GOV

JIRWIN@LLA.LA.GOV

ECOXE@LLA.LA.GOV

JSCHAYE@LLA.LA.GOV

If you just want to put pressure on them to investigate, send an email to Mr. Daryl G. Purpera. 

Thank you AZ readers for paying attention....together we're heavy.  

DHECC - BP files for McGladrey Reports

The BP attorney, who drafted the scathing letter detailing how the Claims Office spent 14 million with auditing firm McGladrey, LLP and then buried their work has filed a motion to the Judge Barbier's court to force the office to produce the audit(s).  

Here is Don Haycraft's motion (in segments/exhibits):

Main motion, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Some of those exhibits are funny because you clearly see how hard some of our local MSM entities are shilling for Juneau and the PSC.  

I don't think there's any damn way Barbier can justify keeping these audits buried considering BP paid 14 million for them.  If he does deny the motion it would be the most blatant attempt to cover up Juneau and the PSC's misgivings yet.

But if that audit is as damning as I've heard it is, I'm sure Juneau bought the Judge a strong aperitif at Annunciation and pleaded with him to keep the cat in the bag.

On a side note, I've been super busy in the past week and I haven't had time to really go through the IBM zombie stalking report enough to comment on it.  Juneau also filed his response to BP's motion to remove him and I was only able to skim that but I want to comment on it as well.  Hopefully I will have some time this week to get 'er done. 

DHECC - Louis Freeh: Trojan stalking horse

...yes I'm mixing metaphors, deal with it

An interesting document landed on my desk recently and I wanted to share it with AZ readers.

Memo to Louis Freeh and Pat Juneau from Plaintiff Steering Committee regarding policy on fraudulent claims

There is so much right and wrong with this letter, I don't know where to begin.

Let's start with what's right about it.  The PSC is correct in that BP did agree to the current terms of the settlement and originally showed little concern for the potential of numerous fraudulent claims being filed under the agreed upon parameters.  They are correct that recently the number of claims being paid has dwindled to a miserable number due to the overly zealous scrutiny of the Freeh group attempting to justify and expand their multi-gazillion dollar contract with the Claims Office.  They are also correct in fighting for the claimants to get their claims paid in a reasonable time frame.

What's wrong about it?

- They suggest that when fraud is alleged or suspected the claimant be notified and given a chance to (a) withdraw the Claim, (b) do nothing, or (c) attempt to respond with an explanation, clarification and/or additional documentation.

Was Casey Thonn given this option?  Obviously the more powerful Page 60 (of Louis Freeh's first report), PSC law firm was given the option considering we've seen nothing come of that.  Recently Louis Freeh filed a memo claiming shrimper Jason Zirlott of Alabama filed a fraudulent seafood claim but only mentioned Zirlott's law firm in an attachment.  Why was the law firm that filed the claim for Zirlott not run up the flag pole by Louis Freeh like the AndryLerner firm was with the Thonn claim?

Even more so than a claimant, if a law firm has knowingly filed a fraudulent claim they should be censured in some way, not simply ignored or covered up like the Page 60 PSC firm has been.  The public deserves to know who is gaming the system especially considering at least one of the firms gaming it was a PSC firm entrusted to represent the entire class.  I suspect it's the same firm that drafted this letter.

- The memo suggests that Louis Freeh was brought into the settlement to "enforce a broad array of local, state or federal statutes, ordinances, requirements or regulations."  It follows with "The purpose is not to 'catch' people, but to validate legitimate settlement program claims."

Uhhh...no.  Freeh was brought in to investigate corruption and potential issues of fraud...that's exactly why he, a former director of the FBI, was chosen.  Of course once he got his foot in the door he kicked it down, redefining and greatly expanding his role in the DHECC.  Freeh has now filled the office with his own employees whose sole goal seems to be to grind the settlement to a screeching halt and minimize BP's financial burden. The trojan horse is empty and the Freeh battalion has now conquered Troy.

It's also my personal opinion that Freeh was introduced to the Court by a member of the PSC and this specific attorney handed him the evidence he used to "prosecute" the Thonn claim.  I believe this was done for two reasons, one is that it was a personal vendetta by this specific attorney for past dealings with the Andrys and secondly I believe Thonn, AndryLerner, Lionel Sutton and Christine Reitano were offered up to BP as a red herring to pacify BP's cries of fraud at the time.

It's rather karmic that the PSC, who have continually whined about BP's "buyer's remorse", now appear to have buyer's remorse with their chosen stalking horse, Louis Freeh.  I suspect Judge Barbier also shares that sentiment.  But I'm sure they're not too upset considering they already got their own claims paid.

    

DHECC - Lerner files for discovery on expedited claims

Today Glen Lerner filed a motion for discovery with Judge Barbier's court to obtain any information regarding the expedited claims that were revealed in my blog post from March 11:

American Zombie: DHECC - Proof positive of claims being expedited by the PSC

The motion specifically names the blog and the emails made public in the post:

Lerner Motion for Discovery Regarding Expedited Claims

I actually made a similar request (not legal) of Claims Administrator Patrick Juneau last week:

"It has been eleven days since I made this request for the minute entry and I have received no response from your office. 

In the spirit of transparency of the claims process to the public it serves, I once again implore that you please provide me with a copy of (or the court record document number to) all orders, minute entries, and transcripts of each hearing, conference and telephone call (including conference calls) between and among you, the Administrator, and/or anyone on behalf of the DHECC or CAO, the PSC, BP representatives, and most importantly the Court, for each “discussion” you referenced in your response to my story. 

Thank you and I look forward to receiving the records and/or document numbers within a reasonable time frame of fifteen days from today, March 26, 2014.  If you are unable to provide me with the requested public documents or references to public documents,  please respond to me with an explanation as to why the request can not be fulfilled."

Obviously the request has so far gone unanswered.  I hope Lerner has more luck with the Court.

I also received some interesting information and an allegation from an anon. regarding a specific claim mentioned in one of the emails last Friday.  Tonight, I informed Special Master Louis Freeh and the Court of the information and asked Freeh to launch an investigation into the matter.  I faxed the info. and I would like to give them time to read it tomorrow.   I will post on it later on in the day.

DHECC: BP responds to my story on the PSC expedited claims

After publishing my story on the email chain I received detailing efforts within the Deepwater Horizon Economic Claims Center to expedite Plaintiff Steering Commitee's (PSC) personal claims ahead of other class claimants, I received a response from Claims Administrator, Patrick Juneau, implying that the PSC claims were expedited as part of "sampling program" in preparation for a fairness hearing that occurred in November of 2012, about six months after the office officially opened.

In that response, Mr. Juneau made the following statements:

"After discussion with the Court, BP and the PSC, it was determined that a larger number of claims should be examined before the fairness hearing so that the Court, the parties, objectors and claimants could see how the settlement program was working. "

and

"The Claims Administrator, with the knowledge and input of the PSC and BP, asked the PSC to provide a listing of such cases and a sampling was taken of those cases."

I then replied to the Claims Office asking them for a minutes entry from the Court of when this discussion took place but I have yet to receive a response.  I sent that request again today.

I also contacted BP's corporate office via email and asked them if they had participated in this discussion and if they were aware and approved the actions taken by the Claims Administrator as he stated.  I received and official response from BP's Head of Communications, Geoff Morrell:

"BP was aware of efforts by the Claims Administrator in the Fall of 2012 to get the CSSP up and running, including how to make the claims process more efficient and, correspondingly, increase the amount of claim payments in advance of the final approval hearing in November 2012.

However, there are other aspects of your blog postings -- including the e-mails from PSC members to the Claims Administrator you present -- that BP was not aware of, but we are concerned about them and are trying to look into them now."

While it appears the company was involved in "discussions" with the Claims Administrator it appears they may not have been aware that the PSC attorneys were expediting their own claims with the knowledge of Juneau.

I am still trying to find any court documentation of the discussions on the matter and I would like to find out if Judge Barbier was aware that the PSC claims were expedited as well.

Stay tuned.

DHECC: Up is down

Forgive my confusion, I was going back through the fairness hearing transcript over the weekend and I ran across Mr. Juneau's testimony to the court regarding the success rate of the claims process....here is that conversation between Judge Carl Barbier and Claims Administrator Patrick Juneau:

THE COURT: Have you ever before, either as a lawyer or

as a claims administrator, seen a program where, in advance of

even court approval, whether or not the court has approved this

settlement, there is a claims administration office set up, and

claims are being paid?

MR. PATRICK JUNEAU: No, sir. I can tell you, not one

case, and I think I've been maybe a special master 40 or

45 times, from California, to the East Coast, to Minnesota, I

have never, ever been in a case and never heard of a case --

there may be one, but not to my knowledge -- that ever

authorized the processing and payment of claims before a

fairness hearing. This is the first. This is the first case

I've ever been involved in.

Which means you're a year ahead of the learning

curve and a year ahead of the timeline in getting the money

out. That's number one.

The second part of your question was, in terms of

when allocations go out and the acceptance rate, I have never

had, in all of the cases I've been involved in, nor any of the

ones that I have knowledge of, have approached that acceptance

rate.

THE COURT: How would you compare this settlement

program, from your perspective being involved in this one and

being involved in other ones, in terms of the speed, I guess,

with which it has started, got up and running, and the speed

with which it's paying claims?

MR. PATRICK JUNEAU: Well, in the railroad world, I

would say this is the Panama Limited of processes. I've never

been involved in a project that has gotten up this quick, had

the involvement with the volume we had to deal with, and to

either have started it earlier or gotten it paid this quickly.

It's been a remarkable experience for me.

Now, this is the response Mr. Juneau sent me as to why the PSC members' claims were expedited:

In response to your recent inquiry, we thought that you should be made aware of the actual facts. In the fall of 2012 the DHECC Program was fast approaching the fairness hearing and the opt-out deadline.  To avoid confusion as to who should opt-out versus who should stay in the class, it was important for the class as a whole to have a representative sample of paid claims across all of the claim types in order for them to assess which was the better path forward for them.  This could not be accomplished in the time required using the first-in/first-out (FIFO) method outlined in the Settlement Agreement, which method had been used for the summer of 2012, because many of the claims were incomplete and therefore not ready for processing.

After discussion with the Court, BP and the PSC, it was determined that a larger number of claims should be examined before the fairness hearing so that the Court, the parties, objectors and claimants could see how the settlement program was working.  As noted above, since the program had encountered problems with a lot of the claims not having complete documentation it was difficult to come up with claims that could be analyzed and determined, so a sample of sufficiently documented claims was needed.

So I'm a little confused. No...I'm very confused.

In the fairness hearing, Mr. Juneau told the judge that everything was going just swimmingly.  In his response to me he states that there were so many problems with incomplete claims coming in that they had to expedite the PSC claims to use them as samples for the fairness hearing.

Nowhere, absolutely nowhere in the fairness hearing can I find any mention of the results of the purported "sampling" initiative.

So far I have not received a reply from the Claims Office in my request for the minutes entry of the conversation which they said took place between the Claims Office, the PSC, BP and the court.  It is my understanding that if any conversation took place with the court, there must be a minutes entry.

If I don't receive a reply from the CA, I'm going to make the request for the minutes to the court (Judge Barbier) and ask him if he was aware that the PSC claims were expedited.  Hopefully we can get some answers. 

DHECC: Tits and ass, corporate espionage, white-collar mercenaries...the truth is in there somewhere

Almost every day there seems to be a new development in the BP claims process and the going-ons at the DHECC.  Last week, the AP ran a story stating that DHECC executives Bob Odom and Kirk Fisher had resigned amidst nebulous charges of having gone to a local strip club that had also filed an economic loss claim with the claims office.

On a local level, The Advocate followed up the AP story with their own reporting (thank you Advocate):

BP changing stance on claims payments puzzles experts

And while the headline is a topic of conversation all to itself (read this article by Tom Young only after you finish mine, of course : ) ), in this post I want to focus on The Advocate's commentary about the strip club "allegations" and what all this hullabaloo with Odom and Fisher may actually be about:

Without naming them, the ad said that two key administrators at the program recently left amid reports they went to a strip club that had received $550,000 from the claims facility.  The facility's former chief operating officer, Kurt Fisher, has disputed those claims, saying he and former CEO David Odom left to pursue "other opportunities".

As I stated in my previous post, it's a pregnant paragraph because it doesn't really say what Odom or Fisher did wrong other than go to a strip club that received a claim.  There is no substantive allegation here.  I'm sure they probably went to a lot of businesses that received claims or had claims queued so I don't understand what the big deal is.

I guess BP is trying to make hay that they are guilty of being horndogs by visiting the strip club but that has nothing to do with their responsibility as employees of the claims office.  I believe this whole thing was drummed up by the BP PR machine because it's sexy...literally...and they knew the Mindless Stream Media cycle would run with it.

However, I believe there is a lot more going on just beneath the surface, under the sensationalist headlines, and I've spoken with a lot of confidential sources in the past week to get a better picture of what may have been going on with these two guys, Odom and Fisher.

The domino effect  

Let's start with the basis for any investigation....motive, means, and opportunity.

What is BP's motive?  I believe their overall goal is to bring down the DHECC completely.  I know that may seem obvious to you but I've been in the dark for a while as to whether or not they actually want to collapse the settlement or if they want to keep it in place and simply gain control of the claims office from within.  Well, I think they now do have control of the office from within but I also think they still want to collapse the settlement.  I am speculating here but this is a rather educated guess.

With that goal in mind, how could BP collapse the settlement?  I think they want to cut Pat Juneau's head off.  I think they see Juneau as the universal joint in the DHECC framework and if they can manage to pull that joint out, the whole machine will come unraveled.  This BP strategy was parroted obediently by James Varney a month ago in his editorial.  If Juneau, himself, were to be disgraced it would possibly taint the entire office...possibly.

What about the opportunity?  The opportunity lies in picking off the underlings...first Sutton and Reitano, now Odom and Fisher.  Louis Freeh is providing the opportunities and he kicked it off by offering up Sutton and Reitano on a silver platter in his first report.  BP immediately ran that through the MSM organ grinder across every newspaper from here to London with the Wall Street monkey boys dancing on cue....singing, "Good ol' boys!" and "Kitchen table accounting".

The monkeys howl

Now, in the wake of strippergate, Bloomberg's Paul Barrett is playing color commentator on the "scandal":

"Even for New Orleans, a town with an expansive conception of entertainment and a generous sense of humor, that's a scandal."     

Ummm...no.  Not so much....in fact....not at all.  There isn't even an allegation for there to be a scandal.  Perhaps someone should adjust Paul's Nawlins Scandal Barometer hanging in his office in Manhattan.  A scandal in this town would be more along the lines of a city official fucking strippers on a yacht bought with city funds....that's a New Orleans' scandal.

But, if he and Bloomberg want a scandal I've got one fo' true.  I would suggest they look into the sudden expansion in claims office contracting that Louis Freeh's companies, The Freeh Group and Pepper Hamilton, have been awarded over the past 8 months.  Then I would check their expense account.  With over 40 employees now staying in the Roosevelt, the Ritz Carlton, and the Marriott, dining at Galatoire's, Emeril's (oh the irony)...the finest restaurants in the city, and possibly even entertaining their own "guests" at houses of less-than-sterling repute (oh double the irony).  I'm betting that expense account is pretty nasty right about now...but I know more than one service industry employee who's enjoying the high times pouring out of the claims office.

Also, perhaps they should look into the allegations the Andry firm made about the connections and former business associations between Pepper Hamilton and BP's current law firm, Kirkland and Ellis.

I digress...that's a post for a later date.  Let's just say that the paragraphs immediately above are even more pregnant than the one in The Advocate story.

I do want to point out one more item, though.  In this article Barrett boasts:

"Back in July, I warned that Freeh’s investigation “could reveal major legal funny business in the Big Easy.” That prediction was based on earlier reporting I had done for a Bloomberg Businessweek cover story on the creative recovery theories that plaintiffs’ lawyers were using to get their mitts on BP cash. Expect more such revelations in the new year."

He's not the one who originally reported that, not even close.

Is this really about T&A?  

Back to the story at hand...strip clubs.  Here's what I've been able to piece together about the actual strip club event...Odom, Fisher, possibly David Duval and some of the claims office employees went to a strip club after an office Christmas party (probably 2012) that was being held at a Dickie Brennan restaurant...either the Bourbon House or the Palace Cafe. I used to bartend at Palace and I would highly recommend either venue...the food is incredible.

That's it....no shit.

No one was snorting coke off buttcheeks, no one expensed anything to the claims office, no one took the strippers to a private yacht and dirtied down (as far as I know).  They just went to a strip club...that's all.  I am pretty sure it was either Rick's or the Penthouse Club on Bourbon.

Scandalous huh?  WTF...that captures international headlines?  That's what Barrett is claiming is scandalous even by New Orleanian standards?  Barrett's obviously never been to New Orleans...dude needs to get out more.

This strip club did file a claim and receive payment but I'm pretty sure Dickie Brennan did as well for his restaurants.  I would bet the hotels the Freeh Group and Pepper Hamilton are currently patronizing filed claims as well.  I am almost certain the restaurants Freeh Group employees are currently frequenting have filed claims.  John Georges owns Galatiore's...maybe The Advocate could fill us in on whether or not that restaurant filed a BP claim.

So...here's the twist....I don't think Odom and Fisher's departure has much to do with the strip club visit.  I think that was simply thrown out as a tabloid-headline-grabbing attempt to defame these men. But that's not to say they're squeaky clean.

I know that Odom had a French Quarter apartment that was being expensed to the claims office to the tune of about $3000/month and I have been sent some allegations through email that suggest Odom and Fisher may have ancillary business connections to the owners of the strip club they visited but this is still unsubstantiated.

According to the allegations by the AZ reader, if the strip club is the one I think it is, the owners of this club have multiple sex industry businesses including an adult video franchise, a porno production company and an escort service.  Another source has suggested to me that the Quarter apartment was being used as a shag pad to patronize the ladies from the aforementioned business's escort service.

I don't buy that allegation right now but let's pretend it's true....there is still no proven quid pro quo in respect to Odom or Fisher's role in the claims office.  Once again, even if this is true, there is no crime committed unless the shagging was being expensed to the claims office or if Odom or Fisher participated in increasing the strip club owner's claim and/or expedited the claim for "favors".

So...let's put the strippers and escorts to bed...metaphorically.  Just get the sexy shit out of your head for a minute because there is an entirely separate issue with Odom and Fisher that needs to be addressed.

Self dealing and free wheeling  

As AZ commenter Kevin has noted, Odom came to the claims process from The Shaw Group.  There has been a lot of speculation as to how Odom landed his job with the claims office but there is even more speculation as to how he contracted employees and bought office equipment once he was in the office.

Enter a Baton Rouge businessman named Michael Olinde and a company called Alpha Consulting:

  
Olinde is reported to be a business associate of Odom and Fisher previous to their tenure at the claims office.  Odom gave Alpha the contract to staff the claims office when it opened.  The staffing company hired mostly accountants to review claims.  As AZ commenter Kevin has continually pointed out on the blog, most of these employees were hired directly from LSU where Fisher teaches...essentially these LSU students were hired right out of college. There is a question as to whether or not the employees were being hired under the assumption that they were actual CPA's but I haven't been able to mesh that issue out yet.

The real issue is whether or not Fisher and Odom have any financial interest in Alpha Consulting.  If so, they essentially used their position in the claims office to sub-contract their own company...they're self dealing.  BUT...BUT....keep in mind that the DHECC is not a public entity.  They are not required to issue RFP/RFQ's or even advertise the positions that Alpha filled as long as the claims administrator approved the sub-contracting and hiring scenario.

Does it stink?  Yes...it smells like ass.  But it isn't necessarily a legal or ethical breach as long as it doesn't conflict with the terms of the DHECC and as long as it was approved by the claims admin., Juneau.

To be clear, I don't know if Fisher and Odom had any financial interest in Alpha but I do know they had previous connections with Olinde.

Now there's also another issue with Odom.  He has a company, Plexos, that he may have been using to expense office needs and other items per a Plexos credit card:

What's more, there is also a "Plexos, International" Llc. that is listed in the LA Sec. of State database registered to Bob Levine, the CFO of the DHECC, but seems to be inactive:

 

I put a request in to the DHECC over a month ago to interview Odom regarding an allegation that he and Levine expensed a trip to NYC in 2012 where they accepted an offer by the Garden City Group (GCG), a DHECC court vendor, to hang out in the company's skybox at Giants stadium for the Saints/Giants game.  The reason this is an issue is that the invitation was extended to multiple people within the claims office but Juneau told all the employees that it was unethical and he prohibited anyone from taking GCG up on the offer.  Christine Reitano recently included this invitation as an exhibit in a court filing:



This issue is very important because it establishes that Juneau was exercising some level of protocol in the office as to what was ethical and what wasn't.  Remember that Reitano was accused of unethical behavior by Freeh such as trying to secure a job for her husband, Lionel Sutton, with the Garden City Group.  But Reitano maintains that everything she did was disclosed to Juneau and on this matter he told her it wasn't kosher so she dropped it.

It appears that Odom and Levine, on the other hand, did not drop the matter of the invitation to Giants Stadium by the Garden City Group even after they were told it was unethical.  One reason this issue is important to me is because there is another angle with Odom and Fisher that involves their cozy relationship with the Garden City Group and their hostility towards another court vendor for the DHECC, Brown and Greer.

At this point you may want to read this post and watch my video explaining the roles of the four main court vendors for the DHECC:  American Zombie: A DHECC road map

Pirates of the Silicon Swamp?

The entire time Odom and Fisher were working in the claims office they were in the process of forming another company with the Carrolton Technology Group's Managing Partner, Chris Reade.  AZ readers may recall Reade as the guy who the Louisiana Technology Council tapped to try and retrieve the emails Mayor Nagin "lost" after a public records request was submitted by the TP.

Let me stress that I'm not suggesting there was anything wrong with Odom and Fisher's business venture with Reade, The Crescent City Group.  I think their goal was to create a local technology company in the framework of Brown and Greer that handles MDL and class action cases.  I know Chris Reade and I've found him to be more than competent and a damn fine gentleman....I am not suggesting any impropriety on his part.

The real issue is to what length Odom and Fisher went to fleece Brown and Greer of proprietary technology to create their own Crescent City Group claims processing company.  I know from multiple sources that B & G had a hostile relationship with Odom whereas the Garden City Group seemed to have a rather chummy one.  I bring this up because I think the next Freeh report may focus on this matter and whether or not Odom acted unethically in his desire to build the Crescent City Group up as a national technology company that handles MDL and class action claims.

Goin' all NSA on 'em

Another issue I want to bring up with Odom is what role, if any, he played in exposing the Thonn claim to Louis Freeh.

Lionel Sutton recently stated in a legal filing that he had informed Patrick Juneau of the Thonn claim when he was originally hired.  Sutton even claims he told Juneau that he referred the claim to the Andry Law firm for a fee well before it became an issue around January of 2012.  This admission seems to matter not in the Freeh investigation.  The "smoking gun" Freeh used to accuse Sutton of impropriety was Sutton's own emails...but not from his office account....from his personal email account.

The question is how did Freeh get Sutton's private email database to begin with.  Did Odom play any role?  Obviously the emails coming into the office were privy to Special Master Freeh but Sutton's personal email database was not.

In fact, in his report, Freeh cited Sutton's personal emails from seven months before Sutton even started working at the claims office.

How did he get Sutton's personal email database?  Was it obtained legally?  Was Sutton's password hacked by someone in the claims office?  If the emails were obtained illegally, would that constitute an obstruction of justice?  All pertinent questions.

Is The Freeh Group a white collar Blackwater?  

One thing I want AZ readers to keep in mind when they read the next Freeh report, is that I believe the first one was incredibly irresponsible and in some aspects downright inaccurate.  Unfortunately, the people who were accused in the first report, namely Reitano, have not been afforded the due process of law in order to challenge Special Master Freeh's allegations.  It appears Judge Barbier is allowing this guy to run (forgive me) freely through this investigation without any system of checks and balances or any opportunity for recourse by those he accuses.  The whole investigation is essentially operating above the law and by the looks of it Freeh has parlayed his carte blanche status into one hell of an expanding, lucrative contract with the DHECC.

I believe Freeh is reckless, shoddy and self-serving.  He doesn't care who he leaves in his wake as long as he offers up the goods and I believe he will go to any extent to do that.  The court has created a situation where there is an enormous personal financial incentive for Freeh to prosecute people, this scenario should not exist in the U.S. justice system.

Keep in mind Louis Freeh is not a federal agent any longer, he has no authority to act as one yet I believe he and his employees are doing just that. It would actually be better for the accused if this was a federal investigation because they could at least have some level of recourse and due process.

I would go so far as to say Freeh, Greg Paw and their minions are now running the claims office.  I would love to see what the Freeh Group and Pepper Hamilton are now billing the DHECC monthly on top of their expense reports....I'm betting it's millions.

I think what we're seeing here with the Freeh Group is the birth of a new type of hybrid private/public enforcement agency much like what Blackwater created for mercenary warfare and public/private security only Freeh is tapping the corporate, white-collar world.  That scares the hell out of me.

W'yat Z?

I have no doubt that fraud has occurred in the claims office and the DHECC.  I've been the one beating that drum harder than anyone....but I think Freeh may be as bad or worse than those he's accusing.

I also want to know why the fucking page 60 law firm in Freeh's first report...a PSC firm....hasn't been named.  Riddle me that.  Is he selectively prosecuting people?

The other day someone asked me, "Whose side are you on?  BP? Freeh? The trial attorneys?  The claims office?  I can't tell whose side you're on, man."  The answer is...the truth.  They're all assholes in my book but my main concern is with truth....because apparently most of our MSM resources aren't so concerned about it.    

     

DHECC - Are Juneau's days numbered?

So much to talk about with the DHECC...where to begin?

Let's start with this James Varney editorial that came out weekend before last.

A trial lawyer web entangles the BP settlement:  James Varney

This whole editorial appears to be a plant that was given to Varney in order to set up an ensuing effort to remove Pat Juneau from the Claims Office.  I wouldn't mind it that much but Varney seems to have only a half-ass idea of what he's writing about.  Juneau is not a trail attorney, he's a defense attorney.

Also this pargraph:

In addition, the things Freeh did outline - Sutton's failure to disclose a financial interest he and his wife, Christine Reitano (herself a lawyer on Juneau's staff prior to being dismissed), had with a filing claimant and other shenanigans by trial lawyers - served to cast a dubious light on the proceedings thus far.

This has been refuted by both Sutton and Reitano...they both claim the Thonn claim was disclosed to Juneau.  Varney stated they didn't disclose the claim as fact, not an allegation.

 I'm also curious what Varney means by "other shenanigans by trial lawyers".  What the fuck does that mean?

The sentence implies that Reitano had something to do with "other shenanigans by trial lawyers".  I have read the Freeh report, the Andry filings and Reitano's breach of contract suit and I don't have any idea what he's talking about unless he's referring to the unnamed law firm on Page 60 of the report.

I want to pause make an observation about the TP before I continue.  Why is the first report of this story in the Time-Picayune coming from an editorialist?  This column is an obvious plant that wreaks of an agenda.

I have pretty good idea who Varney got the information from and why it was published ahead of the second Freeh report's release but why aren't these issues actually being "reported" by the TP?  They're letting Varney break (incorrectly I might add) one of the biggest stories in the region?  Why isn't an actual reporter being assigned to this story?

The Freeh report should be coming out any day and judging from Varney's proxy-mouthpiece-editorial it's rather apparent it will most likely target Juneau.

Aside from Varney's article, an even bigger indicator that Juneau is in hot water occurred on October 30th when Judge Barbier appointed Court-Designated Neutrals over the Business Economic Loss (BEL) Program.  It's clearly a smack-down by Barbier and I believe a sign of darker days to come for Juneau.  I wouldn't be surprised to see Juneau's resignation tendered any day now.

Speaking of resignations, I think it would also be prudent to look at the resignation of Appeals Coordinator and son of Federal Judge Stanwood Duval, Jr., David Duval, that occurred on October 7, 2013 and was first reported here on AZ.  Instead of running down all of the possibilities as to why Duval resigned, I'll refer you to the thread of questions posed by AZ commenter, Kevin, in this Comment Bump.  But mainly, I want to point out a comment in that comment bump:

Kevin said....
More questions Mr. Andry might have for Mr. Duval: 

Is an entity know as "Lake Eugenie Land & Development, Inc." named as a plaintiff in the class action case that produced the class action settlement 

Is Lake Eugenie Land & Development, Inc. a "Class Representative" for the class action settlement being administered by the DHECC and CAO? 

Is any member of your family's law practice a director of Lake Eugenie Land & Development, Inc.?

Big frikkin' deal here, folks...believe me when I tell you...this is a big deal.  I am hoping we will find out more when Freeh releases the next report.

Here's another big deal from a Kevin comment:

Kevin said... 

On the subject of CPA's in the CAO, can any AZ reader shed some light on Danny Clavier's activities at the CAO? 

He was the former head of the Class Action Consulting section of Bourgeois Bennet ( where David Duval's aunt is a principal) and came out of "retirement" for a position with the CAO.  

I think we're about to find out more on this issue by the end of the week as well.

I believe the heads of Juneau, Duval and Clavier will most likely roll as a consequence of the next Freeh report.  Well, Duval's already has if he was indeed forced to resign as a result of the Freeh investigation.

But what I'm most curious about is if Freeh will finally name the mysterious law firm on page 60 of his original report that "may have had claims overpaid by up to 114%.  As I pointed out in the post linked above, the most likely suspect as to who this law firm is would be one of the Plaintiff Steering Committee firms.  I draw this conclusion because a PSC firm would have the most intimate knowledge of the claims process, how the CAO works and it also goes a long way to explaining why Freeh (and possibly Barbier) protected the firm's identity in the first report.

It begs the question, "How could a PSC firm have manipulated the claims process to get such massive overpayments?"  I suspect they could accomplish this by manipulating their knowledge of how the parameters were set for individual classifications and payouts.  After all, they are the ones that set the parameters and classifications to begin with.

I'm going to draw out a hypothetical scenario in a subsequent post on how the process may have been manipulated with claims filed by shrimpers but for now I want to stay focused on Barbier and the validity and implications of the Freeh investigation.

On November 7, Both BP and Patrick Juneau filed motions in federal court to have Christine Reitano's breech of contract lawsuit against the DHECC and BP removed from the state court.  The case was automatically assigned to Barbier and filed under MDL (multi-district litigation) status.  I thought the protocol for both filings should have been randomly assigned to judges but I called the Clerk of Court's office and they told me that they are under a mandate from the national MDL judicial panel to assign anything having to do with BP to Barbier.

This is a big issue because it will most likely bury the lawsuit for years and put a lid on any discovery that may have occurred in the case.

Barbier has also denied discovery to the three parties Freeh accused in his first report, Reitano, Sutton and the Andry Lerner law firm.  This has created a scenario where the court appointed special investigator has levied allegations against these three parties, even suggesting that the state and/or federal bar as well as the Dept. of Justice investigate the matter, however, the accused have no access to the evidence Freeh based the allegations on.  They have no avenue of recourse at all.

Apparently this isn't the first time this scenario has occurred with a Freeh investigation but in the Penn State Sandusky matter the tables were turned on Freeh:

Louis Freeh Fires Back at Graham Spanier for Lawsuit

“Spanier has not articulated — and cannot articulate — a single reason why he will be prejudiced if he is compelled merely to file a complaint backing his accusation,” the filing continued. “If Spanier does not file a complaint, [Freeh] will remain stuck in the untenable position of having Spanier’s broad accusation clouding their reputations without being able to defend themselves.”

The comment section is worth a 5 to 10 minute glance on that story.

This next Freeh report is going to be revealing not only by what he discloses but more importantly by what he may omit...namely the identity of the page 60 law firm.  It's going to reveal if this investigation is fo' true or if it is simply a PR witch hunt that was designed to offer up a few souls to the BP altar as an attempt at pacification.

I would also note that I requested an interview with David Odom, the CEO of the DHECC but I received no response.  I have some questions I'd like to ask him about his relationship with one of the court appointed vendors.