The public first learned that Jason Williams was under federal investigation for tax fraud in June 2020, just three months after announcing his candidacy for New Orleans’ top criminal prosecutor.
Williams claimed it was all a political ploy to keep him out of the race against three-term incumbent DA Leon Cannizzaro.
“It was time to try to kneecap me or scare me away from running to change this criminal legal system,” Williams told WWL-TV in September 2020.
But it was more than a pre-election scare tactic. On June 26, 2020, Williams’ tax preparer, Henry Timothy, testified before a federal grand jury, alleging that Williams and his private law partner, Nicole Burdett, directed him to falsify business expenses to lower their taxes by more than $200,000 over four years.
On the same day, the grand jury returned an 11-count felony indictment charging Williams and Burdett with conspiracy, falsifying $720,000 in expenses, and failing to report another $66,000 in cash payments to the law firm.
Williams was unafraid. Cannizzaro has decided not to run for a fourth term. Williams rode a wave of criminal justice reform and portrayed himself as a target of the political establishment.
His campaign posters depicted him as St. Sebastian, assailed by arrows, reminiscent of a famous 1968 Esquire magazine cover depicting Muhammad Ali as the martyred saint after he had been stripped of his heavyweight championship for refusing to serve in Vietnam.
“I know we’re going to clear this up,” Williams said in a November 2020 interview. “I know I’m going to be vindicated.”
Now he has his chance in a criminal trial that begins Monday in front of U.S. District Judge Lance Africk, the city’s top prosecutor who is being prosecuted by federal prosecutors from the Western District of Louisiana U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Timothy will be their main witness. But, according to Williams and Burdett, Timothy is a dishonest tax preparer who made up expenses for other clients, lied to them about being a Certified Public Accountant, and even cheated on his own taxes.
There will be some serious grist for that defence: Timothy pled guilty in January 2021 to falsifying his own personal tax returns.
This Day in History
A recap of significant historical events that occurred on that day.
Other government witnesses have been lined up as well. Bobby Hjorstberg and Gregory Sauzer, both lawyers at Williams’ firm, pled guilty to failing to file their own tax returns.
Bridget Barthelemy, daughter of former New Orleans Mayor Sidney Barthelemy, divorced Williams just ten days ago.
They are among more than 30 government trial witnesses, including Williams’ predecessor as DA and political rival, Leon Cannizzaro, who is now the head of the state Attorney General’s criminal division.
Read more:-
- The Trial of Former Trump Adviser Steve Bannon is Expected to Begin Soon.
- The Trial for Steve Bannon’s Contempt of Congress is Expected to Be Expedited.
- The Interior Department’s Offshore Drilling Plan Has Been Slammed by Both Sides of an Us Senate Committee.
Williams did have one major advantage leading up to the trial. The feds were forced to drop one of the 11 counts against him and Burdett last month, based on evidence that one of the cash payments was properly reported as income.
The trial will now determine whether the defence can cast similar doubt on any of the other ten charges and win an acquittal, or whether federal prosecutors can win a conviction that would force Williams out of the DA’s office and into a possible prison sentence.
