Ray Nagin received a sentence of 10 years in federal prison for public corruption Wednesday, but the former New Orleans mayor continues to deny that he is guilty of any wrongdoing.
“Well, you know, all of this was pretty surreal to me,” Nagin told the WDSU TV news station. “I still maintain my innocence. We’re going to appeal this thing.”
Nagin was convicted of 20 of 21 counts of bribery, wire fraud, tax evasion and other charges.
“In my opinion, I’ve been targeted, smeared and tarnished,” Nagin explained to WDSU. “For some reason, some of the stances I took after Katrina did not sit well with some very powerful people, and I paid the price.”
Nagin is scheduled to report to prison Sept. 8.