Misconduct:The Movie

A Louisiana hearing committee has recommended the permanent disbarment of a lawyer as a result of his federal conviction for bribery and conspiracy in connection with a program that received federal funds.  The attorney was the director of the Louisiana Film Commission (a post that presumably did not involve directing the films) and had submitted inflated budgets that caused fraudulent and inflated tax credits to be issued. His payoff was $67,000 in bribes.

According to the memo filed by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel (quoted in the report), “[h]is corruption of [the] process for his own personal financial gain has threatened to set back the filming industry in Louisiana and has cemented once again into the minds of citizens of this state and around the country the unfortunate belief that corruption runs rampant in this state.”

A Washington Post article about the criminal case is linked here. (Mike Frisch)