Lawyer Sentenced for Mail Fraud

BATON ROUGE, LA—United States Attorney Donald J. Cazayoux, Jr., announced that RANDY P. ZINNA, 54, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge James J. Brady to serve 30 months’ imprisonment and pay over $1.5 million in restitution for mail fraud.

ZINNA pled guilty to mail fraud in October 2010. In pleading guilty, ZINNA agreed to the following facts. ZINNA, who was an attorney licensed to practice in Louisiana, represented the Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System of Louisiana (MPERS), which was a retirement system established by the Louisiana Legislature to provide retirement and other benefits for employees of municipal police departments. MPERS, through a wholly owned subsidiary named Olde Oaks Development, LLC, owned, for investment purposes, a real estate development known as Olde Oaks Subdivision in Bossier City, Louisiana. ZINNA served as manager of Olde Oaks Development. From 2002 through 2009, ZINNA deposited into his law office escrow account Olde Oaks Development checks made payable to contractors of Olde Oaks Development on invoices then due and owing to the contractors, more than $850,000 in proceeds from the sale of lots in Olde Oaks Subdivision, and over $2,000,000 in MPERS funds. Although some of the monies were eventually remitted to the intended recipients, ZINNA retained some of the funds and used them for his personal benefit. In 2009, defendant ZINNA obtained three checks totaling $570,000 from an 83-year-old widow with the understanding that the funds would be invested for her benefit. Instead, defendant ZINNA used the funds for his own personal benefit, primarily to re-pay Olde Oaks Development for lot sales proceeds which had been deposited into his escrow account and used for his personal benefit.

The investigation of ZINNA was conducted by the Louisiana Inspector General’s Office, the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office, the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney M. Patricia Jones.