IRVIN MAYFIELD, age 40, and RONALD MARKHAM, age 39, both residents of New Orleans, Louisiana, were charged by a federal grand jury in a 23 count superseding indictment for conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of justice, announced U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans.
Adding two counts of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering, the superseding indictment alleges that MAYFIELD and MARKHAM transferred and caused to be transferred $139,793.48 from the New Orleans Public Library Foundation (NOPLF) in addition to the unlawful transfers detailed in the Dec. 14, 2018 indictment and accompanying press release. The superseding indictment further alleges that the NOPLF funds were used for additional New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (NOJO) operating expenses, NOJO salary payments for the defendants, expenses related to NOJO’s Gala, $20,000 in payments to a booking agency for a performance in Chicago, Illinois, and $12,793.94 for another stay by MAYFIELD at the Ritz Carlton in New York.
If convicted, the defendants face five years of imprisonment as to Count 1, 20 years of imprisonment as to Counts 2 through 8, ten years of imprisonment as to Counts 9 through 22, and 20 years imprisonment as to Count 23. All counts also carry a possible $250,000 fine.
U.S. Attorney Duane Evans reiterated that the superseding indictment is merely a charge and that the guilt of the defendants must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New Orleans Inspector General’s Office and is being prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorneys G. Dall Kammer, Deputy Chief of the Fraud Unit, Brandon Long, and Hayden Brockett.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
