A former director of the Louisiana Division of Wildlife and Fisheries has been indicted by a federal grand jury for his alleged position in a corrupt kickback scheme that concerned a former wildlife commissioner and a contractor who ran the company’s on-line hunter ed programs. Jack Montoucet, who served as Secretary of the LDWF from 2017 to 2023, was indicted May 21 on one depend of conspiracy to commit bribery and wire fraud, three counts of wire fraud, and one depend of conspiracy to commit cash laundering. Montoucet pleaded not responsible to all 5 expenses Thursday, in response to The Advocate.
Montoucet, who was appointed Secretary by Gov. John Bel Edwards in 2017, is simply one of many high-ranking officers implicated within the corruption scandal. The costs had been anticipated since Montoucet resigned abruptly from his publish in April 2023, simply in the future after the Times-Picayune recognized him in a federal bribery scheme that had already ensnared Dusty Guidry, a former state wildlife commissioner. Guidry pleaded responsible in March of that yr to bribery and conspiracy expenses, admitting that he and a high-ranking LDWF official had accepted bribes from a contractor that supplied the net programs for the state’s obligatory looking and boating licenses.
The Department of Justice alleges within the federal indictment that between 2020 and 2022, Secretary Montoucet, Commissioner Guidry, “and others identified and unknown to the grand jury” would settle for kickbacks from Leonard C. Franques in trade for awarding state contracts to Franques’ enterprise, DGL1. The DOJ says the LLC was shaped in 2020 to supply on-line programs for use by LDWF.
“Montoucet and Guidry used their official positions at LDWF to award a state contract to DGL1 and underneath the contract, DGL1 would offer on-line hunters’ training and boaters’ training programs and the training to resolve LDWF citations,” the indictment alleges. “DGL1 would maintain a portion of the income generated from offering these companies, and in trade, Franques agreed to supply, and Montoucet and Guidry agreed to simply accept, kickbacks and different issues of worth.”
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The DOJ additional alleges that the state company held again $122,507.96 from this contractual settlement, and that the co-conspirators had agreed to pay Montoucet this kickback as a “signing bonus” upon his retirement.
Montoucet was launched on $15,000 bond Thursday and ordered to give up his passport, together with any weapons he owns. If convicted, he may withstand 5 years in jail for the conspiracy depend, and as much as 20 years in jail for the wire fraud and cash laundering counts, in response to the DOJ.
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