Edwards trial: Paying in cash, ripping up the invoice

Natalie Gott

Monday, Feb. 28, 2000 | 3:45 a.m.

BATON ROUGE, La. - Edwin Edwards' and his offspring used stacks of $100 bills the way most people use checks or credit cards, according to a half dozen contractors and laborers who testified in Edwards' federal racketeering trial Monday.

Prosecutors are trying to use the transactions as evidence of crimes. However, Edwards' daughter Anna testifed that Edwin Edwards came by his fondness for cash honestly. She said her father's father raised his sons to be wary of banks after seeing people lose their savings during the Great Depression in the 1930s.

Anna Edwards was called to testify about her father's cash expenditures after six previous witnesses talked about times they were paid with large amounts of cash for work they did for Edwards.

In most instances, the witnesses said, there was no attempt to hide the cash payments.

However a wallboard finisher testified that Edwards' son and co-defendant Stephen became noticeably agitated when told that a cash payment would be recorded in the man's business accounts.

And a worker who cleared land for Edwards' daughter Anna said he was told to step inside for a cash payment, despite his being covered with dirt and mud.

Edwin and Stephen Edwards and five other men have been on trial since Jan. 10. Prosecutors say they took part in a series of schemes to manipulate and profit from the awarding of riverboat casino licenses before and after Edwards left office in January 1996.

There was indication that the cash payments described in Monday's testimony were illegal. However, they show Edwards always kept plenty of cash on hand. Prosecutors are trying to show that large sums of cash changed hands at a time when bribery, extortion and money laundering schemes were allegedly being conducted by the defendants.

One former casino owner and a former casino consultant have testified about large cash payments they made to some of the defendants, allegedly for Edwards' help in getting licenses or fending off competition.

The wallboard finisher, Pete Broussard of Prairieville, said he did work at the homes of both Edwin and Stephen Edwards.

For one job, Stephen Edwards initially asked Broussard if he could pay cash, and Broussard told him that was fine but he would record it through his business account.

He said Stephen Edwards became agitated and eventually paid for the work through a check from his lawfirm.

Grady Stockstill talked about the day he cleared some land in Mississippi for Edwards' daughter Anna.

Stockstill said he was covered in mud and dirt when he went to Anna's door for payment, but was asked to step inside. In the house he found Anna, a woman with blond hair and Edwin Edwards, all counting out cash. Stockstill was paid $8,000, mostly in $100 bills.

Landscaper Eduardo Jenkins said he did $152,000 worth, including the installation of a swimming pool, for Edwin Edwards home in 1995 house.

About $80,000 of the money was paid in cash - banded bundles of $100 bills. The cash included a $50,000 down payment Jenkins said he picked up at the Governor's Mansion.

A Baton Rouge contractor Phillip Haddad, said he sold a house to Edwards' son David in 1997. He was paid with a $218,000 check and $60,000 in cash, Haddad testified.

Jarrod Clayborne, owner of an interior design store, said he received $131,000 in cash from Edwards between 1995 and 1997.

David Kleinpeter said he was working on Edwin Edwards' Baton Rouge house in 1995, the last full year of Edwards' last term in office. On his first payday, Edwards paid for a job of about $800 with cash - $100 bills.

Kleinpeter said Edwards looked at the invoice for the job, then ripped it up, saying he didn't need to keep it. "It kind of surprised me," Kleinpeter said.

Kleinpeter said he often witnessed Edwards pay other subcontractors in cash.

"I did witness money changing hands, whether it was $100 or $1,000 I don't remember."

Kleinpeter said he also did a job at Stephen Edwards' house where he was also paid in cash.

Under cross examination, Kleinpeter said it didn't appear that Edwards was trying to hide his method of payment.

Edwin Edwards' attorney, Dan Small, raised the possibility Edwards won the cash at casinos.

Small asked Kleinpeter whether $100 bills are a common form of payment from casinos. "I would imagine," Kleinpeter said, adding, "I have personal knowledge of $5 and $10, but not $100."

Earlier Monday, prosecutors appeared to begin laying the groundwork to claim Edwards spent more money than he legitimately made in the mid 1990s. They called two FBI witnesses who provided a general review of Edwards' records seized in 1997, including information on Edwards' 44-foot boat and his Mississippi ranch.

Also, Desiree Worsely, a former Edwards aide at the Governor's Mansion, testified about the duties - or lack of duties - of Edwards' friend and co-defendant, Andrew Martin.

Worsley said she could not think of any duties that Martin performed at the mansion, although he held the title executive assistant. Her testimony about Martin echoed that of another former aide at the mansion, Sid Moreland, who testified early in the trial.

Under cross examination from Martin's attorney, Sonny Garcia, Worsley said she did not attend any meetings with Andrew Martin. She also acknowledged that she and Moreland dated for several years and recently broke up.