Inside Jack Montoucet’s close relationship with key figure in sprawling bribery scandal

Leonard Franques, a Lafayette businessman best known for owning a string of Pizza Hut franchises, did not have an official job at the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. 

But emails and other records show he had an unusually close working relationship with his longtime friend, LDWF Secretary Jack Montoucet, who pushed hard to hire Franques as a department contractor, brought him into weekly meetings and had him act as his emissary on multiple projects. 

Franques and Montoucet are now at the center of a sweeping bribery scandal involving some of that work. Montoucet worked with Dusty Guidry – who recently pleaded guilty to three felony counts in the bribery case – to set up a pre-trial diversion program for hunters and boaters who violate Louisiana law. Many were sent to Franques’ company to take online courses, for a fee, to clear their names. In a parallel scheme, Guidry admitted taking bribes from the owners of pre-trial diversion companies offering services in the 15th Judicial District in Lafayette – one of which was Franques. 

After landing the Wildlife and Fisheries contract, Franques allegedly agreed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks to Guidry and Montoucet, who was also to receive a $14,000 ATV after he retired. Montoucet resigned a day after The Advocate | The Times-Picayune identified him as the unnamed public official soliciting bribes.

Neither Montoucet nor Franques has been charged. Montoucet, through a lawyer, declined to comment. Franques didn’t return messages seeking comment. 

Boosting revenue

The scheme outlined by federal prosecutors took shape in 2021. Montoucet was looking for ways to bring in more money to LDWF, which had been struggling as the oil revenues that long paid the department bills fell. He pushed legislation to decriminalize wildlife violations — which allowed the agency to collect more fines and set up a diversion program for paid online courses — and a new law that hiked hunting and fishing license fees, both of which resulted in millions of dollars in new revenue. 

Federal investigators say Montoucet and Guidry dipped into that windfall. Along with fees from the online courses he offered, authorities allege Franques got a portion of fees collected by another company that processed license payments and agreed to send some of that money to Montoucet and Guidry. 

Documents and a source with knowledge of the investigation show that company – described as “Vendor #5” in court papers – is Envoc, the Louisiana-based tech firm behind the popular LA Wallet app, which has partnered with several state agencies. Envoc has denied paying bribes or having knowledge of the scheme. Envoc’s lawyer, Mark Barbre, said Envoc is cooperating with LDWF officials probing the deals and that Envoc never made any payments to DGL1, Franques’ company.  

Sovereign Sportsman Solutions, a previous agency contractor, has alleged that Montoucet sent Franques to Nashville to ask the firm to hike fees on sportsmen and send a cut to Franques’ company, a request S3 said it declined. Franques also represented Montoucet in proposed advertising deals, the emails show, and was slated to be in charge of certain advertising revenue for the agency,  though no deals ever materialized.

Franques and his brother Andre, a business partner, were among a handful of people not employed at Wildlife and Fisheries to be invited to a Christmas dinner Montoucet hosted at the Houmas House, a plantation in Ascension Parish. 

In January 2021, a few months before they pushed the law decriminalizing certain violations, Montoucet and Guidry asked an LDWF staffer to provide a breakdown of outdoors violations most likely to result in arrests, emails show. 

A day later, Montoucet started a weekly meeting with Guidry, Leonard Franques and his wife, Michelle Franques, among others, to discuss the online courses Franques was going to provide to violators. 

A month later, a representative of Envoc emailed Franques and spelled out the details of an arrangement between the two parties. Envoc was to charge sportsmen a $5 convenience fee on licenses and send $1 of each transaction to Franques. The two firms would also split a 50-cent surcharge for in-state licenses and a $1 fee for out-of-state licenses. It’s unclear if that proposal came to pass; Envoc’s lawyer didn’t respond to questions about the email, but said the company never had a financial arrangement with Franques’ firm. 

“The only thing I forgot to add was that Leonard (Franques) will get 100% of the advertising revenue to split with the department as I understand it,” Chad Lacour, an Envoc partner, wrote in the message.

Other business proposals 

On Montoucet’s behalf, Franques sought to erect billboards on state-owned Elmer’s Island – a bird sanctuary – but the deal never panned out. Montoucet had previously proposed building an airport on the island, shocking conservationists. 

When Montoucet tried to give Franques a no-bid contract to provide education courses, the Office of State Procurement started raising concerns. A staffer for that office asked how the agency picked Franques’ company, and noted it had been incorporated recently. 

Agency officials sought to allay concerns by describing Franques’ other companies, including Midway Capital, which had been providing online courses to a host of universities, including LSU. The letter also said one of the subcontractors was Burton Services, another of the vendors implicated in the 15th JDC scandal. 

Franques approached the department and “proposed a Louisiana-centric education course system,” then developed courses “in consultation” with the department, officials said. 

After the Office of State Procurement recommended that LDWF seek bids, Montoucet eventually issued a solicitation, picked Franques, and told the agency he would move forward with the contract without their oversight. 

By June 2021, Montoucet had pushed through the legislation to decriminalize wildlife violations and hike license fees. But he held another meeting to come up with “revenue-generating” ideas for the agency, centered on advertising on department assets. Franques was the only non-agency employee at the meeting, emails show. 

And last fall, the auditor for Montoucet’s agency emailed him saying she was preparing to request information from Franques’ firm to audit the civil fines system, making sure LDWF received all the money owed from the courses. 

“I know you have an excellent working relationship with them, so wanted to give you the opportunity to let them know this request will be forthcoming,” the staffer wrote. 

A ‘one-off’?

Franques wasn’t the only one with close access to LDWF’s leadership: Guidry sat on the volunteer board that oversees the agency.

Current and previous board members said it would be unusual for them to be involved in back-office contracts; they spend most of their time dealing with policy issues, like redfish limits and regulations on bycatch. 

Guidry was different. He received regular email updates from Montoucet and Franques about the deal to provide online courses. He also went to the state Capitol with Montoucet to lobby for the legislation that would decriminalize wildlife violations, which was key to setting up the pretrial diversion program at the center of the bribery scheme. At the Capitol, the two sought the support of Loren Lampert, head of the Louisiana District Attorneys Association. Lampert said he didn’t know Guidry, adding that he worked out the details of the bill with a department attorney. 

In a legislative hearing on the bill, Montoucet said the bill gave the department the opportunity to “put in an educational component we didn’t have before,” referring to the deal with Franques. 

Lampert, in an interview, said the scandal is disturbing, and that the DA’s association has guidelines for how to handle pre-trial diversion programs. But that can’t stop every bad actor, he acknowledged.

“I pray it’s a one-off,” he said. “It’s terrible.”