NEW ORLEANS — Already a larger-than-life figure from his days as a boxer called the Syrian Destroyer, a contractor called Fred the Painter, a political campaign donor, and more recently a convicted felon, Fouad Zeton is back in the spotlight.
The 63-year-old Zeton is listed as “Businessman One” in the federal indictment of Randy Farrell, the contractor accused of giving Cantrell bribes to get her to fire a city official who was investigating Farrell's company IECI.
Cantrell, who has not been charged, is listed in the indictment as “Public Official One,” but her relationship with Zeton goes back much further than her dealings with Farrell.
At Cantrell’s inauguration in 2017 after winning her first term as mayor, Zeton appeared by her side at the podium and draped her with a championship boxing belt while proclaiming, “Our new champion for the mayor of the city of New Orleans, ladies and gentlemen.”
The links between Zeton and Cantrell go back well before her inauguration, said Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, a non-profit watchdog group.
“Mayor Cantrell would have fundraisers at the Magnolia Mansion facility that is Zeton’s,” Goyeneche said, describing Zeton’s former Garden District property.
Cantrell herself described Zeton in an exclusive interview with Katie Moore in December 2023.
“I would say that he has been a friend to political officials throughout the City of New Orleans,” Cantrell said when asked to describe their relationship.
As for Zeton's connection to Farrell, that was laid out by federal prosecutors through alleged text messages between the two men in 2019.
Farrell's indictment quotes him texting Zeton: “Tell (Public Official 1) to can that b****” and Zeton responding “I promise you Randy I'm working hard on this issue.” and later, “She will be gone sooner than you think.”
The indictment then includes an alleged text from Zeton to Cantrell: “Thank you so much for handling safety and permit problem.”
Within months, Jennifer Cecil, then-deputy director of Safety and Permits, was gone. Cecil had been investigating Farrell and his company for what the feds later alleged in their indictment to be an illegal permit-and-inspection scheme.
“For all intents and purposes he's the middleman, go-between, in this,” said longtime criminal defense attorney Craig Mordock.
Two years later in 2021, Zeton became the target of a separate federal investigation into insurance fraud. Zeton claimed that several valuable paintings were stolen from his home and reported the theft to his insurance company to collect a settlement. He later confessed that the theft was completely fabricated, an elaborate scam.
“During the course of that investigation involving Zeton and the art fraud claims and so forth and so on, they discover evidence of additional crimes,” Goyeneche said. “That changes the dynamics of all this.”
According to Goyeneche and several sources familiar with the case, much of the art fraud evidence came from Zeton’s cell phone after it was seized by the FBI. In what has been described as a “eureka” moment the feds, they also found text exchanges with both Farrell and Cantrell regarding Cecil.
“The thing that, I think, is critically important with what Zeton is providing is the fact that they have his cell phone records. And his cell phone records are going to substantiate and confirm his testimonial,” Goyeneche said.
Last year, Zeton pled guilty in the art fraud case.
Now looming critical in the Cantrell investigation is the plea agreement letter signed by Zeton, part of which states that the defendant “agrees to submit to interviews whenever and wherever requested by law enforcement authorities.”
Multiple sources confirm that Zeton has in fact cooperated in that case, and could be tapped at any time to tell what he knows about Farrell and Cantrell.
Mordock said that the feds seizing Zeton's phone was undoubtedly a gold mine for them.
“They are able to link all that together and they have confirmation about what a lot of people thought happened through Zeton's phone,” Mordock said.
In Farrell's indictment, prosecutors accuse him of bribing the mayor with Saints tickets, a steak lunch, and an iPhone. Zeton is listed at the center of all of those exchanges. Rick Simmons, Farrell’s attorney, did not deny the offerings but characterized them very differently in proclaiming his client's innocence at his arraignment.
“We don't think they were a bribe,” Farrell said outside the courthouse with Farrell beside him. “What we're talking about is a luncheon for six people for $800 and the Saints tickets, what a dozen tickets to the mayor?
Who probably could go to any one of the suites in the stadium.”
Mordock said Zeton’s role as a go-between is a game-changer for the federal authorities, even if Zeton didn’t profit in the exchanges.
“That's really where Zeton is going to have some value because he's going to be able to link up the gifts, the tickets, and Jennifer Cecil's firing,” Mordock said.
Despite months of speculation, Cantrell has not been indicted. If she is, Zeton’s role could range from merely confirming the contents of his phone to becoming a star witness during a trial.
But the scenario of Zeton testifying could also be problematic for the feds.
“Anytime a witness has prior convictions and they take the stand, of course, the government has to contemplate that when they put that witness on, his credibility will be challenged,” Goyeneche said.
Added Mordock, “A criminal conviction is something that defense attorneys love beating up cooperating witnesses on.”
With Cantrell implicated in the Randy Farrell indictment, it is now a waiting game as to what happens next— and what role Fouad Zeton might play in this dramatic turn of events.
Yet based on the timeline of accusations against Farrell in his indictment, federal prosecutors could be many months away from hitting the statute of limitations in possibly taking action against the mayor.
Meanwhile, Farrell's attorney has vowed a flurry of pre-trial motions to try and get the charges against his client thrown out.
Zeton’s attorney declined to comment.
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