Ex-New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin Indicted

Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, who led the city during Hurricane Katrina, has been indicted on 21 corruption charges.

The counts against the 56-year-old include bribery, wire fraud, money laundering, filing false tax returns and conspiracy.

The charges stem from a corruption investigation that has already led to guilty pleas from two former city officials and two businessmen.

Nagin is accused of accepting more than $160,000 (£100,781) in bribes in exchange for helping a local businessman who was awarded millions of dollars in work by the city.

He is also alleged to have accepted $60,000 (£37,792) from another businessman in exchange for city contracts.

The indictment says he took free flights and limousine rides, and gave illegal tax waivers to a complicit businessman. 

Nagin, a former cable television executive, grabbed the national spotlight when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005.

He famously denounced the federal government's preparation for and response to the disaster, using sharp language to urge action.

Nagin had been a political novice before being elected to his first term as mayor in 2002. His second term ended in 2010.