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NEWORLEANS-- A federal judge on Thursday morning rejected a request by River Birch landfill executive Dominick Fazzio to dismiss fraud charges against him.
Judge Ginger Berrigan said she had seen no examples of government misconduct on the part of prosecutors, as Fazzio's defense team had alleged.
During the two-day hearing, the government appeared to be on trial in a case involving the executive of the embattled River Birch Landfill charged in an embezzlement scheme.
Defense attorneys asked Judge Berrigan to dismiss charges against Fazzio based on allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. At the heart of the request were allegations that prosecutors violated Fazzio's attorney-client relationship and altered evidence.
Fazzio, the River Birch Landfill chief financial officer, has pleaded not guilty to 22 federal charges including fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. He's accused of embezzling $1.2 million from Garner Services, a New Orleans construction company owned by his brother-in-law, Mark Titus.
Titus has already pleaded guilty in the case.
'First of all, the name of the case should be changed from River Birch to Rivergate,' said Fazzio's attorney, Buddy Lemann, on Wednesday.
Lemann said prosecutors improperly used Titus to pressure Fazzio to cooperate in a separate investigation into possible wrongdoing involving River Birch, a waste disposal contract and certain former Jefferson Parish officials.
He also contends that prosecutors tried to get Fazzio to sever ties with his attorney Steve London.
The defense says the feds believed London had a conflict because River Birth agreed to pay his fees to represent Razzio. Prosecutors deny the claim.
'Here we have shredded documents, altered documents, missing documents,' Lemann said. 'I think it's outlandish, and we just have to wait for the judge to decide.'
During Wednesday's hearing before Judge Ginger Barrigan, Lemann called the FBI's lead investigator, Jerry Bezet, to the stand. He asked Bezet about phone records and other documents that the defense claims prove investigators may have met with Fazzio outside the presence of his attorney to discuss River Birch.
Bezet testified that Fazzio freely agreed to meet with them to discuss the garner services embezzlement case, not River Birch.
Lemann also asked Bezet if Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Mann seized a sign-in sheet from the office building next door to the federal courthouse where the meeting took place, whited out the names of the people at that meeting, and then returned an altered sign in sheet to the guard.
Bezet later testified that both federal prosecutors and attorneys representing River Birch have office space in the building, and that the names were redacted to protect the investigation.
'Fazzio was brought in on a case that was supposedly unrelated and now his lawyer is saying, no, this is all about River Birch,' said Clancy DuBos, Eyewitness News Political Analyst.
