U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of Louisiana Press Release

United States Attorney Kenneth Allen Polite, Jr. announced that STACEY JACKSON, age 47, a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon to conspiracy to steal federal funds and demand kickbacks from a program receiving federal funds.

According to court documents, JACKSON, the former Executive Director of New Orleans Affordable Homeownership (“NOAH”), a city agency and non-profit corporation, conspired with Earl Myers, Trellis Smith, and others to misuse and personally benefit from federal funds that NOAH had received, in violation of the law. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”), both before and after Hurricane Katrina, had provided grant money to the City of New Orleans to address blight within the city and to remediate homes damaged by the storm.

JACKSON, as the Executive Director of NOAH, was responsible for the day-to-day management of the agency and determined how much each contractor would be paid. JACKSON arranged to overpay certain contractors, such as Myers and Smith, instructing them to kickback portions of the overpayments to JACKSON’S benefit...