La. state senator indicted

NEW ORLEANS, April 10 (UPI) -- Louisiana state Sen. Derrick Shepherd was indicted Thursday on federal mail fraud charges for allegedly helping to launder $2 million.

The 41-count indictment also named Gwendolyn Joseph Moyo, a convicted construction bond broker; James Zoucha, allegedly her straw man; and two Nevada corporations that handled her business after she was barred from writing bonds, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported.

The charges involve Shepherd's law office, not his work as a state senator. He allegedly helped Moyo hide her business activities by depositing checks payable to one of the Nevada companies in his law firm account.

"I have never knowingly or maliciously violated any law -- parish, state or federal -- and I am absolutely not guilty of any criminal offenses," Shepherd said in a written statement. "It is clear now that my last hope for exoneration lies with our jury system."

Senate President Joel Chaisson II said Shepherd plans to resign as chairman of the Local and Municipal Affairs Committee. Shepherd, who is in his third term in the state senate representing Jefferson Parish, had been considered a rising star in Democratic politics in Louisiana.