In one of New Orleans’ priciest stretches of real estate, a lakefront East Lakeshore home owned by Jason Giles, the attorney convicted in a staged-wrecks fraud case, is sitting on the tax rolls at a deep discount. Public records list the property at roughly $484,000, even as similar Lakefront homes routinely sell for well over $1 million and online estimates peg the house above $1.3 million. The gap has stirred fresh questions about how fairly high-end properties are valued while Giles remains in custody awaiting federal sentencing.
According to public records on the Orleans Parish Assessor's site, the house carries a total assessed value of about $484,000 and shows permits for a major renovation completed before Giles bought it in 2020. A capital-investment firm reportedly paid $515,000 for the place in 2019, before those upgrades. That history, coupled with a Zillow estimate topping $1.3 million and the fact that East Lakeshore homes commonly trade in the seven-figure range, was detailed in reporting by WDSU.
Assessor's office says it will correct the roll
In a statement to WDSU, a spokesperson for the Orleans Parish Assessor's Office acknowledged the mismatch and said, "we missed the renovation and will have a revised assessment on the property for the upcoming tax year." Assessor Errol Williams, who has led the office for decades, oversees both an annual assessment cycle and a state-mandated quadrennial reappraisal, procedures described by the Orleans Parish Assessor's Office. Officials say that when staff verify permitted work, they update the public roll so those changes show up in future tax bills.
Neighbors see favoritism
Some East Lakeshore neighbors interviewed by WDSU see the low number on Giles’s property as something more than an innocent oversight. They described it as a form of favoritism that chips away at public trust in the system and can speed up displacement for residents who do not get similar treatment. One neighbor said the discrepancy helps explain why people feel they are being priced out, while another questioned how a renovated, lakefront house could carry an assessment that modest. Their frustration has fueled calls for clearer explanations of how the assessor’s office logs renovations and tracks sales on wealthier blocks.
Legal background
Giles was convicted by a federal jury in March on charges tied to what prosecutors say was a scheme to stage crashes and file fraudulent insurance claims. Local reporting shows he remains detained and is scheduled for sentencing next month. Any fines, restitution orders or other judgments that come out of that case could affect who ultimately ends up on the hook for the lakefront property. For details on the criminal case and the sentencing schedule, see coverage by WAFB.
City rules give property owners a brief window in the summer to appeal their assessments, and the assessor’s office says it actively encourages owners to submit documentation of renovations or improvements when they think values look off. That process, paired with the office’s promise to revise Giles’s assessment, appears to be the quickest way to fix the mismatch on paper. Still, the episode is likely to deepen long-running debates in New Orleans over tax equity, transparency and who benefits when high-end properties show up on the rolls at bargain prices.
