A Covington businessman has been charged in a federal Bill of Information with bank fraud.
Prosecutors say Richard Blossman Jr., known as Dickie, was funneling money through Central Progressive Bank to make contributions to a political campaign. FOX 8 uncovered that it was the campaign of Bobby Jindal, as he ran for governor.
Earlier this month, the Louisiana Board of Ethics alleged Governor Bobby Jindal received $40,000 in campaign contributions from River Birch Inc. The ethics board said the company formed six "straw man entities" to launder illegal donations from River Birch to Jindal.
Now, FOX 8 has learned Jindal also received even more potentially illegal donations during his 2007 campaign for governor.
According to the federal Bill of Information, on March 29th, 2007, Blossman Jr., then CEO of Central Progressive Bank, in Lacombe, gave each of his 11 board members a $5,000 bonus.
President of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, Raphael Goyeneche says, "In reality, that $5,000 payment to each board member, never really went to a board member."
That's because shortly after the bonuses were announced by Blossman, federal prosecutors say 11 checks were sent to a political campaign each made out for $5,000. And each one in the name of one of the 11 directors. FOX 8 has learned that was the campaign of Bobby Jindal.
The Bill of Information, which outlines Blossman's charges, reads, "The defendant well knew, the ‘bonus' was to funnel illegal political contributions and was not a bonus, as he caused it to be inscribed in the board minutes."
Goyeneche commented, "That is a federal felony."
The maximum amount any company or individual can donate to a campaign is $5,000. But with all of the board members donating their $5,000 of Central Progressive Bank money, that adds up to a $55,000 donation.
And Raphael Goyeneche says the fact that Blossman has been charged in a bill of information rather than indicted, is telling. "It usually is an indication that the defendant has not only agreed to a deal, but is cooperating with authorities," Goyeneche commented.
Governor Jindal's political advisor, who ran the 2007 gubernatorial campaign, says neither he nor the governor knew that the donations from the 11 board members could've been illegal.
"We take every contribution, accept every contribution in good faith and in accordance with the law," Timmy Teepell said.
We asked Teepell if Richard Blossman was getting something in return for all of the donations he made to Jindal.
Teepell replied, "No. Absolutely not. Everybody who donates to our campaign gets the same thing and that is good government."
Goyeneche says it's something that should be investigated.
"Did the public official know that those weren't their personal funds? But were the bank's funds? Those are some of the questions a prosecutor would want to have the answers to," Goyeneche told us.
And while Jindal doesn't have a legal obligation to return the money, Goyeneche believes he does have an ethical one.
"I would say that ethically, if any public official realizes that they received inappropriate campaign contributions, the ethical thing would be to return that money," Goyeneche said.
But Teepell tells us, that's not going to happen.
It remains to be seen if the board members knew campaign donations were being made in their names. We reached out to every board member, but haven't heard back from any that wanted to comment on this case.
Governor Bobby Jindal
