Two men pleaded guilty Sunday to charges that resulted from a federal investigation of city government corruption during former Mayor Marc Morial's administration.
Former city property management director Kerry DeCay and restaurant owner Stan "Pampy" Barre, a Morial confidant, entered their pleas before U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier to single counts of conspiracy, mail fraud and obstruction of justice.
Each man faces up to 20 years in prison. Barbier did not immediately sent a sentencing date.
Barre, DeCay and subcontractor Reginald Walker, who pleaded guilty on Friday to two counts of mail fraud, had been scheduled to stand trial Tuesday.
The charges stemmed from a $65 million energy management contract awarded to Johnson Controls Inc. toward the end of Morial's second and final term as mayor, which ended in 2002. Prosecutors said more than $1 million was skimmed from the deal by Barre, DeCay, Walker and Johnson Controls project manager Terry Songy.
Songy, who has been cooperating with the government for more than two years, pleaded guilty earlier to conspiracy and income tax violations. Barre has been portrayed by prosecutors as the mastermind of the scheme.
Morial, now head of the National Urban League, has not been accused of wrongdoing. Messages left at the National Urban League were not immediately returned on Sunday.