Last week U.S. Magistrate Judge Patrick J. Hanna found that 43-year-old Richard J. Buswell of Lafayette, a former owner of Bowman Investment Group, has violated the conditions of his pre-trial release and ordered that Buswell be held pending trial.
Buswell’s case was in front of Hanna for an evidentiary hearing following his August indictment by a federal grand jury. Unsealed Oct. 14, the 28-count indictment charges Buswell with one count of conspiracy, one count of securities fraud, one count of investment advisor fraud, eight counts of wire fraud and 15 counts of mail fraud. According to the indictment, beginning in 2007 and continuing through 2009, Buswell, along with his co-defendant, Herbert S. Fouke, earned commissions and wages by making false representations and promises to obtain investors’ funds. Prosecutors say Buswell and Fouke caused more than 100 clients in Lafayette and surrounding parishes to lose more than $8 million; the government is seeking forfeiture of more than $1.7 million in commissions Buswell made from the improper trades.
Buswell was originally arraigned Oct. 14 and conditionally released pending trial under a $100,000 unsecured bond. He was ordered not to violate any federal, state or local law while on release and told to avoid contact, directly or indirectly, with any person who may be a victim or potential witness in the case.
However, following an investigation by Lafayette Metro Narcotics, Buswell was arrested Dec. 8 and charged with distribution of a controlled dangerous substance, synthetic marijuana (aka Mr. Miyagi, Timeout, Potpourri), in violation of state law. Buswell and nine others were arrested after local law enforcement agencies raided smoking shops operating under the name Curious Goods. Officials seized nearly $1.7 million of goods containing synthetic marijuana, made illegal by recent Louisiana laws banning it and the substances used to make it. Buswell, one of the owners of the shops, located in Lafayette, Vermilion and Iberia parishes, also had $33,000 in cash seized from his home at 412 Old Settlement Road, The Advocate reported.
As a result of his arrest, U.S. Probation alleged Dec. 9 that Buswell had violated certain conditions of release. During last week’s hearings, the prosecution presented evidence related to the state drug charges and also revealed evidence concerning a criminal complaint and civil suit for damages recently filed by Buswell against potential prosecution witnesses in the pending federal fraud case.
Hanna found that Buswell violated two state laws — the distribution and manufacture of a controlled dangerous substance and filing a false public record — and said there is convincing evidence he violated conditions of his prior release because the civil lawsuit contains false allegations against two victims and material witnesses for the prosecution. The court found that Buswell may pose a danger to the safety of the community and isn’t likely to abide by any condition or combination of conditions of release. Buswell did not rebut that he violated the conditions of his release.
Hanna ordered that Buswell’s pre-trial release be revoked and that he be detained and remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshal until his Oct. 22 trial.
The conspiracy charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The securities fraud charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $5,000,000 fine. The investment advisor fraud charge carries a maximum penalty of five years and a fine of $10,000. Each count of wire fraud and mail fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years and a fine of $250,000.
The case is being investigated by Special Agent Greg Harbourt of the FBI and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly P. Uebinger.
MAY 24 Blogger Robert Mann posts this entry about the Baton Rouge Chamber's recent report on Louisiana's higher education system. It's critical to economic development, and yet our system is facing a "funding crisis" with no way to resolve it, the report says. The Chamber says control of tuition and fees must be returned to the higher ed governing boards.
MAY 24 Here's a NBC33 story about Tyrann Mathieu. He has signed with the Arizona Cardinals, inking a $3 million, four-year deal. He gets a signing bonus of $265K, but gets another, larger bonus if he doesn't get cut from the team for doing drugs. The deal reportedly includes mandatory tests and meetings for the player.
MAY 24 Jarvis DeBerry posts here about the redonkulus rhetoric that would have us believe NOLA is a safe city with a murder problem. Maybe the city's crime stats don't compare with its murder stats because you can't manipulate a murder, he says: a dead body's a dead body. It just doesn't make sense, he says, and his readers agree: a poll asks if they believe the city is safe, and more than 90 percent say no.
MAY 24 Jindal administration officials announced Thursday that the privatization of public health care is going to cost a lot more than they budgeted for, the Advocate reports here. "I'm so surprised," said no one. Anywhere. The cost they're projecting now is more than $1 billion - a lot more than the $626 million budgeted for it. And, it's more than it cost the state to operate those hospitals. So why are we doing this again?
MAY 24 Blogger CB Forgotston ridicules the recent PR campaign by the state GOP in the wake of a legislative auditor's request to both major parties. The GOP (apparently unaware that the Dems got the same request) started yammering about being targeted because it had "killed" a tax increase. CB finds that laughable, but it's also pretty funny that the GOP was comparing this episode to the IRS scandal (Because the President has so much to do with our state auditor. Right?).
MAY 24 Politico details some recent fund-raising efforts by Sen. David Vitter, which have raised the question of his future political plans. This time, it is a $5,000 per head "bayou weekend" that includes "Cajun cooking" and an all-caps "alligator hunt," the story reports. Funds raised go to a super PAC that can spend money to support Vitter in federal or state races, the story points out.
MAY 24 The pink building on Royal in the quarter was sold at a sheriff's sale Thursday, this Picayune story reports. An injunction that would have halted the sale wasn't enforced because the family failed to post a $150,000 bond, the story reports. So the owner of the mortgages on the building bought it, for nearly $7 million. Now the feuding family will have to negotiate with that company to get a lease on the building that has housed their business for close to 60 years.
MAY 23 This post in Louisiana Voice tells us about a bill by a Winnsboro lege that would require all public high school students to take at least one Course Choice online class in order to graduate. (What?) Blogger Tom Aswell says it's a monument to "waste and corruption," especially in light of the problems he's exposed with the program in recent weeks. Idaho had a similar program, but voters removed it by a 2-1 margin, Aswell says.
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