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Rep. Charles Boustany, Accused of Patronizing Murdered Sex-Workers in Louisiana, Files Defamation Lawsuit Against Reporter

The congressman is suing the author of Murder in the Bayou over claims the congressman patronized sex workers who were later killed.

Simon & SchusterSimon & SchusterU.S. Rep. Charles Boustany (R-Louisiana) is suing author Ethan Brown and his publisher, Simon & Schuster, over a new book that claims Boustany was a client of murdered sex workers in Louisiana's Jefferson Davis Parish. The book, Murder in the Bayou, was released in September and explores the unsolved murders of eight women in western Louisiana who came to be known as "the Jeff Davis 8."

After years of digging into the case, Brown, a New Orleans-based investigative reporter, asserts that the serial-killer narrative pushed by police and media was wrong and "it should have been obvious all along that the Jeff Davis 8 killings were not the handiwork of a serial killer…[since they] all knew one another intimately." Without answering any questions about the case definitively, Murder in the Bayou explores how police incompetence, indifference, and possibly corruption sabotaged the murder investigations.

The book also includes three anonymous sources who say Rep. Boustany patronized one or more of the murdered sex workers. And it notes that a Boustany field staffer, Martin "Big G" Guillory, ran a hotel, the Boudreaux Inn, where the victims had seen clients. "Several of the slain workers were constantly involved in incidents resulting in police presence at the Boudreaux Inn" while Guillory owned it, the book states.

But Brown was also careful to note that "there is no evidence that either Congressman Boustany or Big G had any involvement with the murders of the Jeff Davis 8."

It wasn't enough to keep Boustany—one of 24 people up for David Vitter's open Senate seat in November—from filing a defamation lawsuit Monday against Brown and Simon & Schuster. The suit claims Brown's book includes statements that "were known to be false when made or were made with malicious intent and reckless disregard for the truth." Boustany and his wife have also vigorously denied the book's claims.

Brown told the Associated Press that he stands by what he reported in the book.

Photo Credit: Frilet Patrick/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom

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  • ||

    Wait a minute. I have seen this one already. True Detective: Season 1.

  • Ayn Random Variation||

    Nice I was gonna post the same thing.

  • Chipper Morning Wood||

    One of the best seasons of TV ever. Second season, not so much. What an utter disappointment. I am still angry.

  • Steve G||

    Whoa, whoa, WHOA!. AM/PM Lynx bylaws require a minimum of 30 minutes before subsequent posts so as to not divert Lynx commenting prematurely.

  • Je suis Woodchipper||

    were any other johns outed?

  • Inigo Montoya||

    A client of murdered sex-workers... So, we're talking necrophilia?

    And how does one render payment to a corpse?

  • Lee Genes||

    Coin on the tongue. So they can cross over the Styx.

  • 広森永王||

    I came here to make this joke, but I see you've beat me to it.

  • Tommy_Grand||

    wikipedia sez :"Boustany purchased a bogus European title from fraudsters Achilleas Kallakis and Alex Williams. The fraud was uncovered, however, and Kallakis and Williams were convicted in 1995 of selling bogus titles to wealthy Americans."

    uh, say what?!?

  • Lee Genes||

    That is actually a thing for those who want to be a Duke. It gets all the ladies I hear.

  • Broken Window Factory||

    Wouldn't that violate the Emolumnet Clause of the constitution? If it wasn't fake he should be thrown out of office. As far is the defamation case either it is true or not, if it is true-filing the suit was a very dumb idea.

  • ||

    It is a really good idea to elect someone to higher office who wants to have a royal title so badly that they would purchase one and try to pull a con on everyone around them, isnt it? I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

    * I vaguely remember that. I had forgotten it. That alone disqualifies him from being so much as a dog-catcher.

  • Enough About Palin||

    U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany (R-Louisiana) is suing author Ethan Brown and his publisher, Simon & Schuster, over a new book that claims Boustany was a client of murdered sex workers in Louisiana's Jefferson Davis Parish

    .

    I find the nameJefferson Davis to be offensive. And Parish as well.

  • Crusty Juggler||

    Is there a congressman from Louisiana who has not frequented prostitutes, and does the the fact that Louisianan congressman love themselves some prostitutin the best thing about Louisiana congressmen?

  • True Scottsman||

    Unless any of them brought a bill forward to decriminalize prostitution, no.

  • kevrob||

    Former Sen. Mary Landrieu?

  • crufus||

    The governor of Louisiana gave me this. Madame Tinkertoy's House of Blue Lights, corner of Bourbon and Toulouse, New Orleans, Louisiana. Now, this is supposed to be the finest whorehouse in the south. These ain't no pork chops! These are U.S. PRIME!

  • josh||

    this is why when chris rock ran for office, he had his own team of professional super-whores.

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