Federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal decides against Handshoe to expand the record: Another defeat for the fabled Slabbed legal team

Perusing the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system turned up that on May 31, 2013, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal, now considering a case of first impression under the federal SPEECH Act in enforcing a $427,000 Canadian defamation judgment against Douglas Handshoe, has granted the Plaintiffs' motion to expand the record on appeal, a remarkable move.

 

The significance of this Order lies in the fact that the new materials now allowed into the evidentiary record on appeal include a total retraction of false allegations appearing in the Concrete Busters lawsuit against River Birch Landfill (now dismissed in its entirety, with prejudice) that Trout Point Lodge was a shell company used in criminal racketeering. Those allegations were dismissed voluntarily, and the Smith & Fawer law firm representing Concrete Busters plaintiffs identified Douglas Handshoe's Slabbed blog as their sole source. The lower court referenced that Concrete Busters lawsuit in its decision, but the dismissal came well after it made its SPEECH Act decision in favor of Handshoe.

Also now in the record is a document filed in the district court by Chief Judge Louis Guirola that makes allegations of possible fraud against Handshoe and his lawyer Bobby Truitt. The lawyer for Trout Point Lodge, Vaughn Perret, and Charles Leary told the 5th Circuit that he can't vouch for or deny those allegations made by attorney Daniel Abel, but the May 31 Order makes it clear that the Court of Appeal will now take up evidence that could be very damaging to Handshoe's case.  

That information about IP addresses is relevant because it would mean that Handshoe knew the district court was looking at Slabbed while deliberating on his $427,000 fate. If intentional acts were done to influence the court, including inserting allegations into the Concrete Busters suit, there could be consequences well beyond loosing the appeal in the Fifth Circuit. If the case is returned to Judge Guirola, it's an open question as to what he would do about the fraud allegation.

Finally, as the Order states, Jack "Bobby" Truitt, Handshoe's lawyer, never filed a response to the motion, even though the Court of Appeal set a deadline for doing so. That's one famed legal team, for sure. Bon sang!

It makes one wonder if Mr. Doug has any legal team left after his disastrous showing in Judge Susie Morgan's courtroom, his loss on attorney's fees & an appeal bond, and now this decision . . . 

BREAKING NEWS on the "famed" Slabbed legal team: Blogger Handshoe's Baldwin Haspel legal team loses on motions to sanction the attorney who is suing Handshoe for defamation, more

On May 9, 2013, Doug Handshoe, CPA, was openly gleeful that federal judge Susie Morgan had issued an Order telling attorney Daniel Abel to show cause why he had issued a subpoena to Jefferson Parish regarding former Assistant Parish Attorney Anne-Marie Vandenweghe's blogging activities. Handshoe even put up a countdown clock on Slabbed, leading to the minute the hearing was scheduled to begin.

Abel was suing Handshoe and Vandenweghe for defamation in federal court. "We’re going for his license to practice in federal courts as Danny Abel has a history, habit and pattern of disobeying the Louisiana and Federal Courts," stated Handshoe. Handshoe was defended in the lawsuit by New Orleans' own Baldwin Haspel, a firm that may now be wondering what they've gotten themselves into with Handshoe, an adjudicated defamer and inveterate blogger, who will even openly and notoriously break federal court rules to continue blogging and tweeting.

A conspiracy theorist, Handshoe has for years accused Abel and his two business associates of involvement in federal crimes related to the criminal investigation, indictment, and guilty plea of former Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard. All three men are gay. Broussard, in fact, was never indicted or sentenced for any crimes relating to Abel, his partners, or their businesses, including Trout Point Lodge in Nova Scotia. Abel is self-represented. Handshoe has repeatedly accused the trio of being members of organized crime, racketeering, and money laundering, among many other unfounded allegations. No one except Handshoe and Vandenweghe have made such claims, and various publications on Slabbed are fervently anti-gay and homophobic.

Judge Morgan had for months not acted on Abel's motion to remand the case to Louisiana state court after Vandenweghe revealed in her first court filing that she now resided in Harahan, Louisiana not Pass Christian, Mississippi. In the mean time, both Vandenweghe and Handshoe tried their best to have the case against them dismissed, revealing their legal strategies in extensive court filings. Last week, Judge Morgan suddenly indefinitely cancelled oral argument scheduled for Handshoe's attorneys, and denied his attempt at getting sanctions against sole practitioner Abel. That was defeat number one for well-reputed firm Baldwin Haspel, followed by a reprimand from the judge after she found out that Handshoe was tweeting and emailing from inside the courtroom during oral argument, which is against the law. He was seated at counsel's table next to his Baldwin Haspel attorneys while breaking the law. Morgan actually reconvened the hearing to advise Handshoe and his attorneys about Handshoe's rule-breaking conduct, apparently after her staff discovered the online publications.

Judge Morgan had allowed Abel to voluntarily dismiss the federal lawsuit (which had been necessitated by Vandenweghe and Handshoe both living in Mississippi) without prejudice, which meant he is free to file against them anew in Louisiana state court. Abel in fact has told the federal court he plans to sue in state court soon. 

Balwin Haspel associates Scott Sternberg and Brodie Glenn then tried to get attorney's fees from Abel by court order, even going to the extent of questioning the judge's prior ruling regarding §1927 sanctions and her decision that Abel could dismiss voluntarily without prejudice. Sternberg is an avid defender of blogger rights and access to public records, however defamation--like publicly accusing people of major crimes and corruption without any proof--is not free speech under Louisiana or United States law. The Baldwin Haspel attorneys claim that Handshoe's allegations were simply opinion or hyperbole, however anyone vaguely familiar with Slabbed would find such a suggestion laughable. Handshoe also claims to be a journalist, and points to coverage of his blog by the Times-Piacyune web site nola.com as proof.

Morgan's decision is legally significant because it means that a special motion to strike under Louisiana's anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) rules does not amount to a motion for summary judgment, at least under federal court rules. To win on such an anti-SLAPP motion, Handshoe would have had to show how Abel's private business was somehow a matter of public interest, and it cannot be so just because Handshoe said it was on Slabbed. 

It is notably ironic that both Handshoe as represented by Baldwin Haspel attorney Sternberg and a self-represented Vandenweghe were opposing Abel's attempts to get at Jefferson Parish public records, as both are prior users of public records laws and Vandenweghe was the Assistant Parish Attorney in charge of public record requests while the Broussard criminal investigation was underway by both journalists and prosecutors. Sternberg has represented two student newspaper editors in cases involving Louisiana public records laws, at Tulane and Louisiana State University.

Judge Morgan today denied Handhshoe and Vandenwege's motions for attorney's fees, blow number three for the New Orleans law firm. It's an open question as to whether Handshoe has paid the firm a cent, as the Baldwin Haspel attorneys seemed desperate to get a fee award, filing multiple briefs to Judge Morgan. The firms advertises on Slabbed's front page.

This setback echoes Handshoe's defeat in Mississippi federal court in February, where Judge Guirola denied he and his attorney Bobby Truitt's attempt to get attorney's fees in another court case where Charles Leary and Vaughn Perret were seeking to enforce a $425,000 Canadian defamation judgment against Handshoe. The federal judge unequivocally denied the motion, and said there was no suggestion that Leary & Perret's appeal to the Federal 5th Circuit Court of Appeal was frivolous.  That appeal is pending.

Final page of Judge Morgan's Order stating that Handshoe's legal argument was "inapposite"

In today's opinion, Judge Morgan noted that Handshoe filed a special motion to strike Abel's lawsuit only after Baldwin Haspel opposed the motion to move the lawsuit to state court, and refused to countenance their complaints that Abel had acted in some vexatious manner. Abel had simply amended his lawsuit once to add new allegedly defamatory statements Vandenweghe and Handshoe had allegedly published on Slabbed. He also filed a brief in Morgan's court making a strong argument unmasking Vandenweghe's multiple blogging personalities, a technique known as "sock puppetry." Interim Jefferson Parish President Steve Theriot had publicly accused Vandenweghe of blogging while a Parish employee and on Parish time. Theriot and Jefferson Parish then sued in defamation trying to get information on anonymous online identities publishing on nola.com and Slabbed. Abel has submitted Public Record Requests to Jefferson Parish relating to Vandenweghe's online activities and that prior lawsuit, which was later withdrawn. Abel stated in court filings that Jefferson Parish had indicated to him that it has documents and records responsive to his inquiries about Vandenweghe.

Abel's analysis of writings on Slabbed is similar to what was done to unmask federal prosecutors Salvadore Perricone and Jan Maselli-Mann as anonymous bloggers, a scandal still reverberating through the New Orleans U.S. Attorney's Office. The unmasking was done by Frederick Heebe, co-owner of the River Birch Landfill, and his legal team. Vandenweghe attended law school with Maselli-Mann and her former boss U.S. Attorney Jim Letten, who resigned amidst the uproar. More recently, attorneys for Waste Remediation of Plaquemines and Concrete Busters of Louisiana retracted and then dismissed allegations they had picked up from Slabbed that implicated Abel, Leary, and Perret's companies in a criminal racketeering conspiracy with Aaron Broussard and Frederick Heebe. The law firm Smith & Fawer laid blame for such false allegations squarely on Handshoe's shoulders.

The U.S. Attorney's Office called off all criminal investigation involving the River Birch Landfill contract in an unprecedented move after Perricone, Maselli-Mann, and Letten's resignations citing "evidentiary concerns." Smith & Fawer has now just dismissed with prejudice the entirety of their lawsuit on behalf of the two competing waste companies, citing the Letten's U.S. Attorney's Office as having "mislead" them with regards to its investigation. 

Today, Judge Morgan termed Baldwin Haspel's legal argument in Abel's case as "inapposite," meaning out of place or inappropriate.

Notably, Handshoe has been completely silent about his losses in Judge Morgan's courtroom, despite his glee in publishing prognostications about Abel's fate earlier in the month. 

Coming soon, more on Handshoe's questionable assertions made to courts in both the United States and Nova Scotia, where he is again being sued in Nova Scotia Supreme Court for copyright violations. 

Federal court says "no" to International Cyber Bully: Appeal not frivolous

Homophobic Blogger Douglas Handshoe

Today Mr. Doug Handshoe is spouting lies again, this time referring to "the frivolous appeal . . . . pending before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals." Yet for some reason, when a Mississippi federal district court filed its decision February 25, 2013, flatly denying the Slabbed blog publisher's motion for a whopping $60,000.00 "appeal bond," it did not end up published on Slabbed.  

Mr. Handshoe's usual dispatch in publishing court documents had vanished. In fact, some web site in Nova Scotia had to break the news. Wonder why? Slabbed blog publisher Handshoe and his attorney had been unequivocal about their money victory:

"This has been a hard fought and significant victory; but, it is not over, as they will now owe you for your attorney’s fees under the SPEECH Act, and they have submitted to the Court’s jurisdiction." Handshoe attorney Jack "Bobby" Truitt, December 19, 2012 

---

". . . .  a litigation instigating loser pays the fees. . . .  Perret and Leary landed themselves in the position of paying for my excellent lawyer, Bobby Truitt. (Thanks guys)  The bottom line is the federal court system has very efficient ways of dealing with frivolous litigation designed to “sue” a journalist “into bankruptcy”."

. . . . .

"As I understand it the court will require the bond before the appeal can move forward. As I understand it my lawyer intends to enroll the award in every foreign jurisdiction these nuts job have property located plus here in the US.
Jr if not for other people’s money Perret would be in a white coat working for Pip Brennan."

As I understand it the court will require the bond before the appeal can move forward. As I understand it my lawyer intends to enroll the award in every foreign jurisdiction these nuts job have property located plus here in the US.
Jr if not for other people’s money Perret would be in a white coat working for Pip Brennan.
- See more at: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:KrrLI9s5oIIJ:www.slabbed.org/2012/12/28/reality-check-time-for-trout-point-lodge-a-eco-libel-tourism-update/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=de&client=firefox-a#sthash.NnxuhKKC.dpuf

As I understand it the court will require the bond before the appeal can move forward. As I understand it my lawyer intends to enroll the award in every foreign jurisdiction these nuts job have property located plus here in the US.
Jr if not for other people’s money Perret would be in a white coat working for Pip Brennan.
- See more at: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:KrrLI9s5oIIJ:www.slabbed.org/2012/12/28/reality-check-time-for-trout-point-lodge-a-eco-libel-tourism-update/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=de&client=firefox-a#sthash.NnxuhKKC.dpuf

As I understand it the court will require the bond before the appeal can move forward. As I understand it my lawyer intends to enroll the award in every foreign jurisdiction these nuts job have property located plus here in the US.
Jr if not for other people’s money Perret would be in a white coat working for Pip Brennan.
- See more at: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:KrrLI9s5oIIJ:www.slabbed.org/2012/12/28/reality-check-time-for-trout-point-lodge-a-eco-libel-tourism-update/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=de&client=firefox-a#sthash.NnxuhKKC.dpuf

Doug Handshoe, December 28, 2012. 

As I understand it the court will require the bond before the appeal can move forward. As I understand it my lawyer intends to enroll the award in every foreign jurisdiction these nuts job have property located plus here in the US.
Jr if not for other people’s money Perret would be in a white coat working for Pip Brennan.
- See more at: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:KrrLI9s5oIIJ:www.slabbed.org/2012/12/28/reality-check-time-for-trout-point-lodge-a-eco-libel-tourism-update/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=de&client=firefox-a#sthash.NnxuhKKC.dpuf

Not only did the judge not award any attorney's fees whatsoever, he also awarded no costs--either for the proceeding before him or for the appeal perfected by the Plaintiffs. In fact, Mr. Handshoe had apparently counted his hens before they hatched, promising to pay lawyers for his defense against defamation claims against him in federal district court in Louisiana with monies from his assumed appeal bond victory:

Slabbed New Media is accepting auditions for the fabled legal team

Folks I am spreading the wealth on my travails with the Aaron Broussard’s henchmen as recently laid out on these pages.

Hasn't anyone told Mr. Doug that he should never assume? Mr. Truitt also had more things to say on Twitter, before the decision:

The Handshoe/Truitt motion did not stop the appeal from moving forward. In addition, the decision  made clear that the Chief District Judge for the Southern District of Mississippi did not find the appeal by Charles Leary, Vaughn Perret, and their business Trout Point Lodge to be "frivolous litigation." So much for enrolling "the award in every foreign jurisdiction these nuts job have property." So much for what Mr. Doug "understood." Should Mr. Truitt really be publicly calling Leary & Perret, his client's legal opponents, "cowards"???


Here's key parts of the decision it seems Handshoe would rather that no one see:

ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO REQUIRE COST BOND FOR APPEAL

BEFORE THE COURT is the Defendant Douglas K. Handshoe’s [38] Motion to Require Cost Bond for Appeal Filed by Plaintiffs. Plaintiffs Trout Point Lodge Limited, Vaughn Perret, and Charles  Leary have filed a response, and Defendant Handshoe has filed a reply. The Court finds that the Motion is not well-taken and should be denied.

. . . . .
Handshoe has not provided any documentation or other evidence of his costs in support of his request for a bond in the amount of $60,000.00.

. . . Handshoe argues that attorney’s fees incurred on appeal are not prohibited from inclusion in a Rule 7 bond, but as noted above, the Fifth Circuit has not determined that attorney’s fees should be included in such an order. In any event, Handshoe has not convinced the Court that it should exercise its discretion to order a bond in this case. The Court’s Order on summary judgment involved a matter of first impression for this Court, and there is no suggestion that the appeal was frivolous. . . . Because Handshoe has neither provided support for the amount of security he requests, nor convinced the Court that attorney’s fees are included in Rule 7 “costs,” the Motion will be denied.

In fact, the federal judge never gave Mr. Doug attorney's fees in his original decision. Nor did he ever say that the Nova Scotia judgment against Handshoe was "repugnant." He never called Leary & Perret "libel terrorists" or even libel "tourists." He never criticized the Nova Scotia judge, either. You might think differently reading the homophobic blog "Slabbed."

Mr. Handshoe had crowed: 

Judge Guirola found both the money judgment and Hood’s injunction repugnant to the constitution of the United States  under the SPEECH Act but Perret and Leary are in full tilt damage control mode after Guirola’s decision.  I’d submit Perret, a self proclaimed Park Avenue lawyer is fooling only himself, beclowning himself in the process.

And:

. . . sophomoric antics work up in Nova Scotia, in fact I was counting on it when I termed NS Justice Hood a twit back in the day. The accompanying loss of professionalism on her part was duly noticed and noted by Judge Guirola in his decision.

The appeal to the 5th Circuit Appeal Court is proceeding, according to PACER.The decision was even published, curiously unlike the one denying the Plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment.

Douglas K. Handshoe: Liquidating assets

Douglas K. Handshoe had a few comments to make recently on his involvement in the Bankston/Goodson bribery, racketeering, and money laundering scandal:

So, according to Mr. Handshoe, he was simply always a "liquidating agent" working with U.S. Attorneys from Baton Rouge. He was in charge of selling assets; that's interesting. From his comment you'd think he was just a disinterested "good guy," court-appointed accountant. But what's a Mississippi CPA doing in a bankruptcy proceeding in the Western District of Louisiana, with the Department of Justice as an interested party?

This started in 1997, and as already reviewed, he appears alongside Maria and Alex Goodson on the bankruptcy court docket as the accountant for Truck Stop Gaming, Ltd., a company forfeit as part of a criminal RICO enterprise. What's more he was a fellow corporate officer with the man convicted in that trial, Fred H. Goodson, in a company at the center of the scandal involving misleading the Louisiana State Police and the questionable transfer of assets from a soon-to-be bankrupt company (F.H.G.) to the one Handshoe was Treasurer for in the early 90s, Slidell Motel, Inc., part of Slidell's "O'Aces Casino" a dba name. The Times-Picayune had clarified: "Before filing Chapter 11, however, F.H.G. sold the truck stop franchise to a new company called Slidell 76 Auto Truck Plaza, and the hotel to a new company called Slidell Motel, Inc. Both companies are also owned by Goodson , his wife and in-laws."

The Las Vegas Sun took an interest in the trial testimony in May, 1997:

Goodson's lawyer, Carl Cleveland, and his accountant, Joe Morgan, also are on trial, accused of devising a fraudulent business scheme to form O'Aces and conceal $1.3 million in profits.

Prosecutors allege that Goodson's adult children were made paper owners of O'Aces to hide the real owners, Cleveland and Fred Goodson. Defense attorneys say it was done only so the younger Goodsons would not have to pay estate taxes if their father died.

Two former employees of the Goodsons were questioned briefly and let off without any cross examination by the defense.

L.C. Duff said he worked at the O'Aces video poker lounge in Slidell, and described his jobs. He said Maria Goodson managed the parlor while her brother, co-owner Alex Goodson, showed up about twice in two years.

Katherine Lindsley, a bartender and machine technician for the O'Aces lounge, said that on her shift alone - the 4 p.m. to midnight shift - the machines probably brought in $4,000 to $13,000 a day.

The whole Goodson/Bankston trial was, of course, part of a massive Department of Justice effort against the mafia infiltration of video gaming in Louisiana. On June 4, 1994, the New York Times reported:

Since video poker was legalized in Louisiana in 1991, the blinking electronic machines have swept the state, showing up in barrooms, hotels, crayfish restaurants in the swamps and even at huge truck stops, where the main business is not refueling but playing video poker.

That week 17 persons in both New York and Louisiana were indicted. The Times continued:

The indictment accuses the Genovese and Gambino families in New York and the Marcello family in New Orleans of engaging in a pattern of racketeering by forming an enterprise to profit from video poker operations while hiding their connections to organized crime.

. . . .

Among those arrested in New Orleans were Anthony S. Carollo of Slidell, La., who was named in the indictment as the boss of the Marcello crime family, and Joseph Paul Marcello Jr., brother of the late Carlos Marcello, who was long regarded as the head of the Mafia in Louisiana.

How did the mafia infiltrate the video gaming industry? By using 2 Louisiana companies to place "about 15,000 machines" they got from Bally Gaming on a line of credit "in more than 2,000 bars and truck stops across the state." Wonder where Handshoe and Goodson's Slidell Motel, Inc. got its video poker machines? The sales started to occur in 1992, the same year Handshoe joined Slidell Motel, according to corporate records. It's interesting, too, that Mr. Handshoe has bragged about how his grandfather was a bag man for Carlos Marcello and was indicted but kept silent; also how his partner in blogging Anne-Marie Vandenweghe was in business with Victor J. Trapani, Jr., son of Carlos Marcello's business partner in a Jefferson Parish casino. 

Now, it is clear that Handshoe knows about liquidating things and use of corporations, as public records in Mississippi and court recrods in Louisiana show he has just recently sold his home in Bay St. Louis; he was served with the federal defamation lawsuit against him in a rental; and he has transferred his vehicle titles into a corporate name. Interesting move for a man purportedly not legitimately liable for a $425,000 defamation judgment.

It is indeed true, as Mr. Handshoe says above, that he was approved "liquidating agent" by the bankruptcy court in 1999, but that was done at the request of Truck Stop Gaming, Ltd., not the Baton Rouge U.S. Attorney's Office.

In addition, the rest of his chronology is a bit off. The trouble is that for nearly 2 years before that, he acted as the paid accountant for Truck Stop Gaming, alongside its attorneys, in an attempted Chapter 11 reorganization of the company, paying out hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now why did Mr. Handshoe leave that detail out?

 
As Mr. Handshoe was working to sell off the assets of Maria and Alex Goodson's Truck Stop Gaming, Ltd. in western Louisiana, the Mississippi Secretary of State shows he was also forming a new corporation with Alex Goodson--Fred Gooson's son--in Mississippi. "Interstate Management Services, Inc." The papers bearing Handshoe's signature alongside that of Goodson were filed on September 23, 1997, a time at which Fred Goodson had not yet started to serve his prison sentence.

It was in September, 1997, that Truck Stop Gaming appears to have tried to ramp up efforts to liquidate assets, paying out monies to creditors. Indeed, Alex's father Fred Goodson somehow had the means to keep fighting his conviction through the 1990s, as did his former attorney Cleveland, whose law firm was also a creditor in the bankruptcy proceeding, but Goodson couldn't shake the multiple counts. On May 25, 2000 the Baton Rouge Advocate reported:

Goodson's attorney, Paul Enzinna of Washington, D.C., likewise tried to convince Vance on Wednesday that, if the Supreme Court throws out Goodson's mail-fraud conviction, some of his most serious felony charges also could be reversed. Like Cleveland, Goodson began serving his 121-month sentence in December 1997. 

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Bob Boitmann argued that Goodson played a leading role in the video-poker-related racketeering and bribery scheme. 

Vance agreed with the prosecutor and rejected Enzinna's arguments, noting that Goodson was convicted of bribing state lawmakers. 

"I think it's pretty serious to bribe some legislators," the judge said at the end of a brief hearing. "I'm going to deny your motion."Goodson was convicted in June 1997 on 12 total counts of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, money laundering, interstate communications in aid of racketeering, and mail fraud. Cleveland, who was Goodson's longtime attorney, was found guilty on 10 counts of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, money laundering, tax conspiracy, aiding and abetting the filing of a false tax return, and mail fraud. Both were sentenced to 10 years and one month. 

Bankston was convicted on two counts of interstate communications in aid of racketeering and sentenced to 41 months. He started serving that term in November 1997. The racketeering-related charges involved what prosecutors called Bankston's "sham" rental of his Alabama beachfront condominium to Goodson. Goodson paid a $1,555 rental fee for the condo but did not stay there. Prosecutors called the payment a bribe. 

Goodson's daughter Maria, who ran her father's O'Aces video poker parlor in Slidell, was found guilty on one count of mail fraud and sentenced to six months in a halfway house and six months of home detention. Maria Goodson has completed that sentence. 

Last July, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals let all convictions in the case stand. 

In addition to sending them to prison, Vance ordered Fred Goodson and Cleveland to forfeit a combined $2.5 million in video poker profits to the federal government. Prosecutors claimed that Goodson and Cleveland, because of tax and other problems, disguised their actual ownership of Truck Stop Gaming Inc., which did business as O'Aces, by putting the business in Maria and Alex Goodson 's names. Alex is Fred Goodson's son.

Now does all this look like the actions of a disinterested accountant simply working "to settle a complex forfeiture case" for the government?

Then there's the fact that Handshoe spent time with indicted Louisiana State Senator B. B. "Sixty" Rayburn, a Goodson co-defendant, around the time of the trial. Here's what Mr. Handshoe says on Slabbed:

Would that mean Handshoe was at the criminal trial, too? Why?

Again, there's nothing yet suggesting Handshoe was a federal criminal target. But, too, Mr. Handshoe doesn't seem to be very forthcoming with a clear picture of his place within this huge corruption scandal, and his role as cross-border incorporator for the Goodsons between Louisiana and Mississippi. A reasonable observer looking at this fact pattern from the outside might say there was a mystery and a coverup underway, just like Handshoe has contrived a false coverup and conspiracy with regards to Leary, Perret, Abel, and Trout Point Lodge. Indeed, he's now accusing them of "a coordinated campaign to unmask and otherwise harass internet commenters sharing information on the political scandal in Jefferson Parish" alongside Frederick Heebe and Steve Theriot!

Why does he feel the need to pro-actively deny involvement with the New Orleans U. S. Attorney's Office? 

Handshoe published a "Rocheblave" comment quoting from the Baton Rouge Advocate:

Federal prosecutors say the scheme to infiltrate Louisiana’s video poker industry was the brainchild of New York’s powerful Gambino organized-crime family and the Genovese family. The reputed Marcello organized-crime family of New Orleans was a partner-in-crime of the Gambino and Genovese families, according to prosecutors.

“This was a New York-driven operation,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Salvador Perricone, one of three Worldwide/LRO prosecutors and a member of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s organized-crime strike force unit in New Orleans.

“This was truly a classic partnership between the upper echelon of the New Orleans mob and an active captain of the Gambino family, as well as an associate of the Genovese family,” added First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Letten, the lead Worldwide/LRO prosecutor and the strike force’s former chief.

Likewise, he said, the Worldwide/LRO probe was a partnership between the FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Orleans and the Louisiana State Police.

Letten said the upper echelon of the Marcello family included alleged “boss” Anthony Carollo of Slidell; alleged “underboss” Frank Gagliano Sr. of Metairie; Sebastian “Buster” Salvatore of Metairie; Joseph Marcello Jr. of New Orleans, brother of the late reputed crime lord Carlos Marcello; and Joseph Gagliano of Kenner, son of Frank Gagliano Sr.

All five men were convicted in the case and sent to prison.

The alleged Gambino captain to whom Letten referred is Joseph Corozzo of New York City, and the alleged Genovese associate is Eugene Gilpin of New York City. They, too, were convicted and given prison terms.

This was the crime families’ financial arrangement: The New York families would split 40 percent of the profits, another 40 percent would go to the Marcello family, and the remaining 20 percent was reserved for Bolson and Tanfield, prosecutors said.

Perricone said the New York families recruited Bolson – a Tulane University alumnus – because his credentials would “lend legitimacy” to the operation. Tanfield reported directly to Gilpin, he said.

Together, Bolson, Tanfield and former New Orleans furniture store executive Aaron Mintz fooled state regulators into giving Worldwide a license to distribute video poker machines and LRO a license to own and operate video poker machines. Worldwide and LRO received those licenses in May 1992.

Federal prosecutors say Bolson and Tanfield hand-picked Mintz – a long-time friend of then-Gov. Edwin Edwards – to front as the companies’ majority stockholder because neither Bolson nor Tanfield, who was living in Florida at the time, met Louisiana residency requirements to hold video poker licenses.

Bolson, Tanfield and Mintz viewed the state gambling licenses as licenses to steal, prosecutors said, and they did just that.

In July 1992, the trio duped Bally Gaming Inc. of Las Vegas into naming Worldwide as the exclusive Louisiana distributor of Bally video poker machines. Louisiana law prohibited Bally from distributing its own machines.

The first video poker machines did not go on-line in Louisiana until July 1992.

Bally ultimately loaned Worldwide $3.5 million in cash and roughly $16 million worth of video poker machines.

Worldwide had hoped to sell 8,000 Bally machines in Louisiana, but only 2,100 Bally machines were in operation in the state when Worldwide collapsed.

Still, those machines took in more than $67 million between July 1, 1992, and May 31, 1993, when Worldwide filed for federal bankruptcy protection.

Prosecutors said they believe the organized-crime scheme netted some $16 million in illegal profits.

Letten said he believes the financial gain would have been “astronomical,” and the damage much worse – not only to the video poker industry but to the state’s entire gambling industry and related businesses – had federal authorities not stopped the scheme when they did.

“Had this venture been successful, it’s only a matter of our wildest speculation how bad the mob influence would have been in this town,” Letten said. “This would have thoroughly become, within five years, a mobbed-up town.”

Rafael Goyeneche, head of the private watchdog Metropolitan Crime Commission of New Orleans, agrees.

“The FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office are owed a debt of gratitude by not only the city of New Orleans but also the entire state,” he said, adding that organized crime’s “tentacles” would have wrapped themselves around Louisiana’s entire gambling industry if the video poker scheme had gone undetected.

 
Was there a deal between Handshoe and the U.S. Attorney's Office? Was he a whistleblower, with knowledge of the mob involvement, bribery, and  fraud? What was his role as incorporator, officer, and accountant of Goodson companies?  Why the silence on these salient issues?

According to Handshoe's own standards, if knowing Aaron Broussard makes one guilty of money laundering, what does being the officer and/or accountant of a corporation involved in a RICO enterprise mean?

Documents are coming.

Handshoe, Goodson, Bankston, Vandenweghe, Lauricella: maybe Handshoe has been projecting his own life experiences onto others: Updated

In January, 2012, Slabbed blog publisher Douglas K. Handshoe demonstrated a remarkable memory:

Remember back in the late 90s several state legislators were indicted along with certain people in the video poker business? One of the allegations centered on then State Senator Larry Bankston making people in need of legislative help rent his Florida Condo at an inflated price.

Now, why would Mr. Handshoe have such a peculiar memory for a 90s scandal involving a Louisiana state senator? Handshoe lives and works as a CPA in Mississippi.

Turns out, Louisiana Secretary of State records show that Mr. Handshoe was in business since the early 1990s with some people named Goodson in the Slidell Motel, Inc. at 916 Morgan Bluff Rd, Pearl River, Louisiana, the home of Fred H. Goodson. Specifically, Fred H. Goodson was President and Mr. Handshoe was Treasurer of that corporation. That is not an arms-length relationship.

Slidell Motel, Inc. became part of Louisiana State Police investigations into Goodson's lucrative truck stop gambling operations, which quickly turned into a federal Grand Jury investigation and multiple indictments. The Baton Rouge Advocate stated that "Fred H. Goodson , 55, of 916 Morgan Bluff, Pearl River" was arrested by State Police "on 10 counts of submitting false documents to the state police Video Gaming Division." In July, 1995: Goodson and his attorney were still trying to make it look like everything was legitimate. The Times-Picayune reported:

On a video poker application, the form asks whether the applicant or any partner has ever been involved in a bankruptcy. Goodson answered, "No." 

However, records show that F.H.G. Corp., owned solely by Goodson and his wife, Martha, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1990. The company, which at one time owned both the truck stop franchise and the hotel, filed for bankruptcy after an unsuccessful attempt to build a new hotel and restaurant on Old Spanish Trail in the late 1980s. Under Chapter 11, a company is shielded from its creditors while it tries to reorganize its debts. 

When F.H.G. filed bankruptcy, the company had more than $2.4 million in debts, including $189,183 that Goodson claimed was due to himself. 

Before filing Chapter 11, however, F.H.G. sold the truck stop franchise to a new company called Slidell 76 Auto Truck Plaza, and the hotel to a new company called Slidell Motel Inc. Both companies are also owned by Goodson , his wife and in-laws. 

Bankruptcy trustee David Adler said in 1993 court proceedings that Goodson purposely sold off those profit-making assets to insiders at less than market value, essentially stripping the company. Adler also said that Goodson inappropriately gave himself and other insiders cash bonuses and alleged debt payments totaling more than $800,000; sold family members' insurance policies valued at $301,804 for less than market value; and tried to personally collect on a $282,437 loan from F.H.G. to the truck stop. 

Slidell Motel was intimately involved in Goodson's truck stop gambling operations. Again, the Times-Picayune:

At the glitzy O'Aces gambling parlor in Slidell , patrons can come and go amid 50 video poker machines without having to encounter truck scales, diesel fuel or any of that notoriously strong truckers' coffee. In fact, the Budget Host Hotel that houses O'Aces doesn't even allow 18-wheelers to park on the property. 

Yet, according to State Police, it's a truck stop, or at least part of one. That's the only way it could legally have 50 video poker machines. Next door, at the Slidell 76 truck stop, there are no video poker machines. 

State Police viewed the businesses as one operation under owner Fred Goodson , and accordingly issued the lounge a lucrative truck stop video poker permit in 1992.

Some sources indicate Handshoe joined Slidell Motel as an officer in '92, but Secretary of State files show Handshoe's name first appeared in February, 1999. Who knows?

Then there's H.O.M. of Mississippi, Inc. where Doug Handshoe was Registered Agent for the Goodsons, again. Fred Goodson liked forming companies with initials, "BAJ," "FHG," "HOM."


Who are these Goodsons and what happened?

Let's let the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals summarize:

Larry Bankston ("Bankston"), Fred Goodson, Maria Goodson, and Carl Cleveland ("Cleveland") appeal from their June 27, 1997, convictions and October 15, 1997, sentences for various offenses related to criminal activity in the Louisiana video poker industry. Fred Goodson and Cleveland, along with Alex Goodson, Maria Goodson, and Truck Stop Gaming, Inc. ("TSG, Inc."), additionally appeal the district court's judgment of forfeiture of Truck Stop Gaming, Ltd. ("TSG, Ltd.") and TSG, Inc. as part of the RICO enterprise. The Government cross-appeals, challenging the district court's calculation of both Bankston's and Maria Goodson's sentences. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the Appellants' convictions and sentences and the forfeiture of TSG, Ltd. and TSG, Inc.

...

On October 4, 1996, the Government charged now former Louisiana State Senators Benjamin "Sixty" Rayburn and Larry Bankston; video poker entrepreneur Fred Goodson; his daughter, Maria Goodson; family attorney, Carl Cleveland; and the family's accountant, Joe Morgan, with a combination of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, mail fraud, conducting an illegal gambling business, money laundering, tax conspiracy, false declaration under penalty of perjury, aiding and abetting a false declaration under penalty of perjury, and interstate communications in aid of racketeering. Most of the charges against the Goodsons, Cleveland, and Joe Morgan related to the establishment, licensing, and operation of TSG, Ltd. The Government alleged that the defendants had schemed to defraud state regulators in obtaining video poker licenses for TSG, Ltd., and to obtain favorable legislation affecting Louisiana's video poker industry. Specifically, the Government alleged that the defendants obtained a gaming license for TSG, Ltd. in 1992 and renewed in 1993, 1994, and 1995, by fraudulently concealing the identity of the true owners of the company, Fred Goodson and Carl Cleveland. According to the Government, Goodson and Cleveland concealed their ownership in order to avoid the probing inquiry of the State's suitability assessment.

According to court records, a team of prosecutors conducted the criminal trial and sentencing, including a familiar name:

  

The criminal convictions were upheld by the 5th Circuit. Turns out TSG, Inc.'s officers had that same Pearl River address--Fred Goodson's spacious home--used to register "Slidell Motel, Inc." TSG, Ltd. was indeed liquidated "as part of the RICO enterprise" in a 1997 bankruptcy proceeding. Searching the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system turns up Mr. Handshoe as the  accountant for Truck Stop Gaming, Ltd., too. Imagine that.

 
At the same time, in 1997, after the criminal convictions, Handshoe and the Goodsons incorporated yet another company, but not in Louisiana, this time in Mississippi: "Interstate Management Services, Inc." Why was that?

Interestate Management purportedly engaged in "management consulting."

Now, according to the federal Court of Appeal, former Senator Rayburn was represented by counsel during the criminal investigation:

Michael Fawer represented Goodson's co-defendant, former Louisiana State Senator Rayburn, through the investigative stage of this case. Fawer assisted Rayburn in responding to three grand jury subpoenas, had discussions with the Government regarding the nature of the charges being considered against Rayburn, and appeared in court on behalf of Rayburn at the initial appearance, as well as later to argue motions.

On November 5, 1996, Fawer withdrew as counsel for Rayburn, and Arthur A. Lemann, III replaced Fawer as counsel for Rayburn. On February 24, 1997, Goodson moved the district court to associate Fawer as additional counsel for him.

No wonder Mr. Handshoe says he "had the chance to spend a couple of days" with B. B. "Sixty" Rayburn a decade or so ago, exchanging stories on things like governor's pardons. Covington-based attorney Fawer thus represented Goodson in the criminal trial. Fawer also just happens to now be longstanding law partners with Randall A. Smith, who represents Waste Remediation of Plaquemines, the company owned by former state senator "Hank" and his son Louis Lauricella, in a lawsuit along with Concrete Busters of Louisiana against River Birch Landfill. 

The Times-Picayune reported in September, 1995:

Six legislative seats were opened up to new blood when lawmakers mentioned in the [gambling investigation] FBI affidavits decided against seeking re-election. 

Sen. Larry Bankston, D-Port Hudson, accused of playing a central role in a conspiracy to manipulate legislative votes on video poker issues, conceded that the FBI investigation prompted his withdrawal. After first declaring he would press on with a re-election bid, Bankston said this past week that "unfair and unsubstantiated allegations" would require a relentless campaign effort that would be unfair to his family. 

Sen. Gerry Hinton, R-Slidell, also said the investigation influenced his decision to withdraw. Hinton figured prominently in the inquiry as a close ally of video poker developer Fred Goodson . 

Two other lawmakers who withdrew in recent days denied that the federal investigation forced them out. They are Sens. Hank Lauricella , R-Harahan, and Marty Chabert, D-Chauvin, who owns a video poker truck stop in his hometown.

So, former Senator Larry Bankston and former Senator "Hank" Lauricella served in the Senate together at the same time, even on at least one of the same committees:

The charges against Senator Rayburn were specifically related to Truck Stop Gaming, Ltd., and everything related to accounting for monies allegedly or actually paid to bribe state senators like Rayburn and Bankston by Goodson. 

Now, there's nothing to suggest that the state police or federal investigators targeted young Doug Handshoe, CPA, but Handshoe himself has repeatedly drawn attention to Bankston on Slabbed without so much as  mentioning his close association with those involved in the political corruption scandal and crimes. Handshoe was Treasurer of a corporation linked to the bribery scandal and State Police investigation, fellow corporate officer with a convicted felon, and accountant for another corporation at the center of the federal criminal investigation into bribery, money laundering, and RICO. These themes might sound familiar to anyone who reads Slabbed today.

In one Slabbed comment published by Handshoe, "rocheblave" helpfully quotes from a Times-Picayune story:

The indictment charges Bankston with accepting from Goodson a $1,555 bribe disguised as rent on Bankston’s condominium in Orange Beach, Ala. The FBI alleges that Goodson never stayed at the condo and that the payment was for help killing legislation that sought to subject video poker to a referendum.

Bankston also allegedly was promised a hidden interest in Truck Stop Gaming and $100,000 of stock in Tempico Corp., another Goodson company, to help persuade State Police to allow Goodson to resume operations at his Slidell video poker lounge.

In addition to racketeering and conspiracy charges, Morgan also is accused of money laundering, conducting an illegal gambling business and falsifying tax returns.

Morgan allegedly was involved with BAJ Corp., which Cleveland is accused of setting up to funnel thousands of dollars of video poker proceeds to Rayburn’s children.

Prosecutors claim the payments were bribes for the senator’s votes to shield the industry.
As a result of a separate gambling investigation, William Broadhurst, the former law partner of former Gov. Edwin Edwards, faces arraignment today on charges that he skimmed money from construction contracts for two floating casinos that operated in New Orleans for only six weeks in 1995.

The indictment did not specify how much money Broadhurst allegedly gained, but accused him of four counts of mail fraud involving checks totaling $255,555.

The failed New Orleans project, known as River City, was a partnership of Grand Palais Riverboats, headed by resort developer Christopher Hemmeter, and a New Jersey-based company, Capital Gaming International. Broadhurst was a consultant to Grand Palais, the indictment said.”

Mr. Handshoe felt the need to augment the Times-Picayune article, seemingly being an apologist for some of the actors:

Funny thing "rocheblave" mentioning Christopher Hemmeter and Grand Palais Riverboats, for that's precisely who "unslabbed" Anne-Marie Vandenweghe did $12,000 in legal work for in 1994, while her law license was suspended and she was Jefferson Parish councilwoman, thus violating state law, according to contemporary reports by the Times-Picayune. 

It was revealed that Vandenweghe, a lawyer, had done about $12,000 in law work for the Grand Palais riverboat casino in New Orleans.

A Vandenweghe campaign spokesman said she did not violate the law because at the time of her work, the Grand Palais had not yet received the State Police document designating it as a license holder. State Police, however, said they consider a boat licensed when they vote to issue a license, not when they hand over the document, which typically occurs months later. 
Vandenweghe has also acknowledged advising Crown Casino Corp. during a zoning battle in St. Charles Parish. She did not return telephone calls Monday. 

. . . .

Vandenweghe 's work for Grand Palais came during a period when the Louisiana Bar Association and the state Supreme Court considered her ineligible to practice law in Louisiana. The bar and the court placed her on an ineligible list from Jan. 1 to Dec 12, 1994, because they hadn't received her professional fees for the year. 

Now, another Handshoe shows up with the Louisiana Secretary of State corporations database: Daniel K. Handshoe, a person 3 years Doug's elder. Where does Mr. Daniel work? Harahan, Louisiana, long time home of "Hank" Lauricella, Anne-Marie Vandenweghe, and Salvador Perricone. Some web sites actually suggest that one of Doug's aliases is "Daniel K. Handshoe." Maybe. More likely, they are just close relatives.

Why wouldn't "new media journalist" Doug Handshoe clearly declare his personal links with the Bankston/Goodson criminal investigation and convictions? What's the association that keeps popping up between Doug Handshoe & Anne-Marie Vandenweghe with the Lauricellas & Harahan? How about Vandenweghe, Handshoe, and gambling interests? Strange . . .  Lots to discover. I wonder if Daniel Abel is reading this?

It all makes one view Handshoe's self-professed family links to the mafia in a new light:

Before I tackle the subject of post Katrina police shootings in New Orleans I’ll publically disclose the man whom I knew as my grandfather (actually step granddad) growing up in Waveland was retired NOPD. He was admired widely for years after he left the force by the other officers but not for any particular acts of bravery or heroism. Rather the adulation derived from keeping his mouth shut after he was indicted by the feds who were investigating mafia corruption in New Orleans circa 1950′s and 60′s. The story goes Carlos paid off the jury and the rest is history when he was acquitted. In all the stories granddad told me of his life as a police officer/mafia bagman never once did the term justice ever enter into the conversation. It simply was not in the culture of the NOPD.

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Then there's the total hypocrisy and hubris of Handshoe casting aspersions on others for associating with now-admitted felons like Aaron Broussard, while failing to mention that he himself--a self-purported "citizen for good government"-- was once in business with persons convicted as felons involved in a wide-ranging public corruption scandal. One can start to understand that maybe Handshoe has been projecting his own life experiences onto others.