WASHINGTON, D.C. – A New Orleans man previously convicted in a multi-state public corruption probe has pleaded guilty in Louisiana to a charge of tax evasion, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division announced today.
Gilbert Jackson, 51, of New Orleans, pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion at a hearing today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Jackson admitted that from 1998 through 2002, he earned consulting income totaling in excess of $504,000, in addition to his salary and bonus from his employer at the time, Camp Dresser & McKee. Jackson admitted that he knowingly and willfully failed to pay income taxes on any of this income. Jackson further admitted that Ohio businessman Nathaniel Gray and businesses owned by Gray paid Jackson approximately $145,150 of those unreported funds. The payments Gray and his businesses made to Jackson were in large part from the participation of Jackson in the activities for which both men were convicted along with others in United States v. Nathaniel Gray, et al, No. 01:04CR580 (NDOH), in August 2005 on charges of RICO conspiracy, Hobbs Act extortion and honest services mail and wire fraud.
Jackson was sentenced to 82 months in prison on Dec. 12, 2005, following his convictions in Cleveland. Jackson was also ordered to pay $100,000 restitution to the City of Cleveland.
The maximum penalty for his conviction of tax evasion in this case is an additional five years in prison and a fine of $100,000. The defendant’s sentencing is set for May 4, 2006.
This case is one of several stemming from a multi-district probe of public corruption by city officials relating to contracting services in Cleveland, East Cleveland, New Orleans, and Houston being conducted by the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice; the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Cleveland, Atlanta, and Houston; and agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division. Others convicted in the probe include:
Monique McGilbra, 41, of Houston, former Director of Building Services for the City of Houston, who was similarly charged and convicted of conspiracy to commit honest services mail and wire fraud last May in both Cleveland and Houston. A federal judge in Cleveland sentenced McGilbra to three years in prison and fined her $5,000. In September 2005, a federal judge in the Southern District of Texas sentenced McGilbra to 30 months in prison, to run concurrently with the three-year term imposed in Cleveland. McGilbra’s sentence also reflects her cooperation with the government’s prosecution of others;
Oliver Spellman, 51, former chief of staff to the former mayor of Houston, who was sentenced to two years probation and a $10,000 fine following his guilty plea to honest services mail and wire fraud conspiracy charges in Cleveland. Spellman’s sentence also reflects his cooperation with the government’s prosecution of others;
Cleveland businessman Nate Gray, 47, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Nov. 16, 2005, and ordered to pay $1.5 million in restitution to the IRS for corruption and tax charges following his conviction in August 2005 in Cleveland;
Brent Jividen, 43, a former employee of Honeywell Corporation, who was sentenced to 30 months in prison following his guilty plea in Cleveland to racketeering conspiracy charges relating to honest services wire and mail fraud. Jividen cooperated in the government’s prosecution of others;
Emmanuel Onunwor, 47, former mayor of East Cleveland, who was sentenced to 108 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution to the City of East Cleveland of over $5.1 million. Onunwor was convicted by a federal jury in Cleveland of racketeering conspiracy and a variety of other charges related to his corrupt activities with Nathaniel Gray. Onunwor cooperated in the government’s prosecution of others;
Former attorney Ricardo Teamor, 59, who was sentenced to four months in prison and fined $15,000 following his guilty plea in Cleveland to corruption charges. Teamor cooperated in the government’s prosecution of others; and Joseph T. Jones, 37, former Cleveland city councilman, who was sentenced to two years probation following his guilty plea in Cleveland to corruption charges. Jones cooperated in the government’s prosecution of others. On Dec. 12, 2005, Floyd Gary Thacker, 50, of Atlanta, Georgia, was charged with one count of conspiracy to engage in honest services mail and wire fraud between December 1998 and April 2003 involving public officials in both Houston and Atlanta. Thacker was charged with establishing personal relationships with public officials in Atlanta and McGilbra, the former Director of Building Services in Houston, by providing secret cash payments, gifts and meals in exchange for favorable treatment for the awarding of city contracts to Thacker’s business. The case in New Orleans is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Mary K. Butler and James A. Crowell IV of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section, headed by Section Chief Noel L. Hillman. The cases in Cleveland are being prosecuted by Mary Butler and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Benita Y. Pearson and Steven M. Dettelbach in Cleveland. The cases in Houston are being prosecuted by Mary Butler, James Crowell, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ed Gallagher in Houston. The investigation is being handled by the FBI in Cleveland, Atlanta and Houston.
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