Man gets 7 years for duping Egyptian government in $7M frozen chicken scam
By APWednesday, October 7, 2009
Man sentenced to 7 years in frozen chicken scam
NEW ORLEANS — A man who duped the Egyptian government into paying more than $7 million for a shipment of frozen chicken he never delivered has been sentenced to seven years in prison and fined $15,000.
Fifty-nine-year-old Alexander Legault pleaded guilty in July and was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt.
Legault had moved from Louisiana to Canada before a grand jury in New Orleans indicted him in 1986. He was ordered deported by Canada in 2002 and was a fugitive until his arrest last year.
Prosecutors say that the Egyptian government agreed to buy 5,000 metric tons of frozen chicken from Legault and wired more than $7 million to his corporate account, but he created fake documents to make it appear the chicken was aboard a Swedish vessel bound for Egypt.
