BATON ROUGE — The husband of Metro Council member Laurie Adams is under criminal investigation for potential malfeasance in office connected to his work with the state Department of Energy and Natural Resources, according to a search warrant for the couple’s financial records.The investigation of Office of Conservation Assistant Commissioner Johnny Adams deals with a 2019 contract between the Office of Conservation, called OC in the court documents, and Louisiana Oilfield Restoration Association, called LORA in the documents, to provide financial backing to oil well operators.“The evidence suggests Mr. Adams used his position to influence the OC’s selection of LORA, which financially benefitted LORA’s owners. In return, it appears LORA’s owners hired his children as employees and, later, as contractors through two companies sharing ownership with LORA; and provided funds to Mr. Adams to purchase his personal residence,” East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Sgt. Jessica Pizzolato wrote in the application for the search warrant.That personal residence on Oakbrook Drive, which the couple bought in a cash sale in April 2023, cost $780,000.The sheriff’s office sought the warrant after the state Legislative Auditor’s office asked for help. The auditor’s office got a complaint about the potential malfeasance and started an investigative audit, the documents said.In 2019, Johnny Adams was an attorney supervisor with the Office of Conservation. Investigators learned that Adams was the contact person between LORA and the office. LORA incorporated on Sept. 30, 2019, and the Office of Conservation signed off on the contract 35 days later. When LORA President Van R. Mayhall III signed the contract, Laurie Adams signed as one of his witnesses.The contract, which was described as a pilot program that was part of an effort to reduce the number of oil wells in the state that had been abandoned, or orphaned, when oil prices cratered, allowed LORA to charge well operators a fee of 3.5 percent of the financial security it provided the operators.From those fees, LORA was required to build up a reserve of $5 million to back letters of credit it issued as financial security to those well operators – money it would pay the state if the operators abandoned the wells and LORA was unable to plug them. The company was permitted to use 20 percent of the incoming revenue for administrative expenses and had to devote the rest to the reserve and to plugging abandoned wells.However, the search warrant said LORA exceeded the cap on administrative costs, which reached 36 percent in 2022.The warrant also details a series of money moves investigators say ended with Johnny and Laurie Adams buying the Oakbrook house.LORA withdrew $780,000 from its reserve account on April 4, 2023, and moved it to the company’s operating account. Ten days later, LORA Treasurer Andrew Berthelot withdrew $780,000 from the operating account using a counter check, which is a check obtained at the bank that doesn’t have the company’s name and account information preprinted on it.Two weeks after Berthelot’s withdrawal, Johnny and Laurie Adams bought the house.The Adams family did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on the case.Permalink| Comments