2nd exec from firm that landed millions in restoration work is indicted on fraud charge

A second former executive for a disaster-recovery firm that landed numerous public contracts in and around New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina has been indicted on securities-fraud charges. Brian Marshall, 48, of Tampa, Fla., a former vice president of Home Solutions of America, on Tuesday morning pleaded not guilty to the charges in a Dallas courtroom, according to the office of Sarah Saldana, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas.

Saldana's office has already charged Frank Fradella, 56, of Covington, Home Solutions' former chief executive, with similar crimes. Fradella has been linked to the grand jury investigation of former Mayor Ray Nagin that is being overseen by U.S. Attorney Jim Letten's office, although the Fradella and Marshall indictments do not appear to be directly connected to the Nagin probe.

Fradella is due to stand trial in Dallas in September.

Both Fradella and Marshall are accused of artificially inflating Home Solutions' stock by trumpeting new contracts and revenue that they knew to be phony.

Marshall was president of Fireline Restoration, a Tampa-based subsidiary of Home Solutions. On several occasions, according to the indictment, Fireline issued press releases announcing new contracts it had landed, when the contracts were actually with other entities he controlled. The bogus releases were intended to goose Home Solutions' stock price, according to prosecutors.

Marshall is also accused of ordering employees to create and backdate phony contracts and invoices as part of the scheme.

Fradella is charged with making millions in profits from selling shares of Home Solutions stock after it jumped in the wake of similar bogus announcements. Home Solutions was eventually delisted from the NASDAQ exchange.

Businessman Aaron Bennett, who recently pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges, sold one of his companies to Home Solutions in 2006, and he has said he introduced Nagin to Fradella in January 2007. The introduction came during a trip the three made to Chicago to see the NFC championship game between the Saints and the Bears.

At the time, Home Solutions had deals with Home Depot stores to install granite countertops at customers' homes, and Bennett has said he introduced Nagin to Fradella specifically to help the Nagin family firm get a similar deal with the retailing giant. The Nagins' company, Stone Age, inked a contract with Home Depot a few months later. Among other items, the federal probe into Nagin is examining whether Fradella helped the Nagin family land that deal.

The feds are also investigating the claims of a Florida businessman who says Fradella raided his granite yard and sent some of the assets to Stone Age.

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2nd exec from firm that landed millions in restoration work is indicted on fraud charge