BATON ROUGE, La. — Former Louisiana state Sen. Wesley Bishop has been disbarred.
The Supreme Court of Louisiana disbarred Bishop after he pleaded guilty last year to making false statements to a federal housing agency about a rental property he owned in New Orleans.
Bishop admitted to knowingly making a false statement to the U.S. Department of Urban Development. FBI New Orleans special agent Bryan Vorndran said those false statements on HUD paperwork resulted in Bishop receiving a forgivable $188,000 loan under the “road home” program following Hurricane Katrina.
Bishop admitted to lying to HUD by staying he was renting to tenants who, in fact, did not exist.
In the plea agreement, Bishop was ordered to pay $188,000 in restitution to the Louisiana office that manages the program on behalf of HUD.
WWL-TV Legal analyst Keva Landrum says the wording of the State Supreme Court order gives Bishop the opportunity to re-apply for his law license in 5 years. Landrum points out the fact that he was “disbarred” and not “permanently disbarred” means the action is not necessarily permanent.
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.
