(Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS -- A federal probe of former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin about his involvement in a new store for The Home Depot is intensifying, according to reports.
The probe is looking into Nagin's involvement in the opening of a new Home Depot store in New Orleans in 2008.
The Atlanta-based home improvement giant needed the city to sell it several streets that occupied the site where it wanted to build the store. But a city councilwoman wanted Home Depot to sign a "community benefits agreement," which the company did not want to do.
Nagin, who served as New Orleans' mayor from 2002 to 2010, was an ally of Home Depot. Within a short time, the community benefits agreement was dead and a granite countertop company formed by Nagin and his son "had a contract to be the executive granite installer for four Home Depot locations around New Orleans," and ground was broken, according to a report.
The federal probe into Nagin is expected to result in charges in the coming weeks.
(Atlanta Business Chronicle)