A Louisiana attorney has sued the district attorney of neighboring St. Bernard Parish, claiming the prosecutor used his office to smear him during a bitter divorce, going so far as to email his law firm colleagues demanding action against him. George Imbraguglio Jr. alleges that Perry Nicosia abused his position as district attorney to pursue Imbraguglio's then-wife, deployed an investigator to spy on him, and ultimately torpedoed his legal career.
Imbraguglio filed the federal lawsuit on Aug. 4, 2026, alleging defamation, conspiracy and false allegations of wrongdoing by a state actor. As reported by NOLA.com, the suit centers on an Oct. 30, 2025 email Nicosia sent from his district attorney's email address to three lawyers at McGlinchey Stafford, the now-shuttered firm where Imbraguglio worked at the time. Nicosia signed the email as district attorney for the 34th Judicial District Court and requested an immediate retraction and apology, according to the same report.
Imbraguglio says he received that email roughly an hour after he had sent his ex-wife, Jennifer Lemoine, a message through a co-parenting app about their minor daughter — a message that also referenced Nicosia, per the lawsuit as detailed by NOLA.com. Lemoine, who works as deputy clerk of the St. Bernard Parish Council, and Imbraguglio were already divorcing when she and Nicosia first connected, the two said in a joint statement cited in the report. Nicosia and Lemoine have said they began dating after Lemoine filed for divorce early in 2025, and Nicosia himself was divorced in 2020, according to that same joint statement.
A Firm Caught in the Middle
The email landed with three specific recipients: Francis Brown, who oversaw the Port NOLA litigation for the firm and received Nicosia's message; and Timothy Hurley and Zelma Frederick, who also received it. Brown declined to comment about the email, the report states, while Hurley and Frederick did not respond to messages seeking comment.
The Port NOLA connection is notable because Imbraguglio had represented St. Bernard Parish in litigation against the port over plans for a multibillion-dollar container facility. That underlying case traces back to a lawsuit in which Nicosia, in his official capacity, argued that Port NOLA lacked legal jurisdiction to operate a shipping facility within the parish's borders.
Imbraguglio claims he was told he was unwelcome at a new firm while his divorce and related proceedings were ongoing, and that he took a steep cut in pay as a result. He also says he went on medical leave after the email and later underwent a court-ordered evaluation costing thousands of dollars, according to his lawsuit as described by NOLA.com.
Firm's Collapse Adds Context
McGlinchey Stafford dissolved early in 2026, separate from the allegations in Imbraguglio's suit. The firm's equity members voted on Jan. 5, 2026, to begin an orderly wind-down of operations, according to the firm's own announcement on mcglinchey.com, which stated that its final day providing legal services was Jan. 31, 2026. The firm said the closure stemmed from a combination of factors rather than a single cause, noting there was no single triggering event or one definitive action that brought it to that point.
The wind-down led to a broader shuffle of legal talent in the region. Womble Bond Dickinson absorbed a 36-member team from McGlinchey, including 19 lawyers and 17 licensing professionals, according to Above the Law.
A Bar Encounter and a Deputy's Visit
Imbraguglio's lawsuit also describes an episode in April 2026 in which he says he met a client at a bar while investigator Philip Hebert surveilled him. That night, Lemoine called their son's school in Chalmette and the St. Bernard Sheriff's Office, which sent a deputy to the scene, per the lawsuit account relayed by NOLA.com. Imbraguglio was not arrested in connection with the incident and has denied being drunk.
Nicosia and Lemoine, in their joint statement, said Hebert was not paid by the district attorney's office to surveil Imbraguglio and that the office does not conduct surveillance, adding that no DA-office investigator was paid for the bar incident. Time records provided by the DA's office reportedly indicate Hebert was not working as a part-time investigator for the office in April 2026. A separate body-worn camera video from August 2025 recorded Imbraguglio speaking to a deputy, during which he said he would file legal pleadings until his wife's head exploded, according to the NOLA.com report.
Lemoine filed for domiciliary custody of their child in February 2026, per the same reporting.
Attorneys Spar Over the Lawsuit's Merits
Nicosia and Lemoine have denied the allegations in the federal complaint and said they intend to defend themselves. Nicosia's attorneys asked a judge in September 2026 to dismiss Imbraguglio's federal case, characterizing it as a private domestic dispute dressed up as a federal civil rights action. They have also argued that the email did not trigger Imbraguglio's career setback.
Imbraguglio's attorney, Kearney Loughlin, pushed back, saying the district attorney became involved only after two people were already divorcing and that Nicosia's email did significant damage to Imbraguglio. Loughlin also noted that Nicosia did not file a complaint with the Louisiana Office of Disciplinary Counsel over the conduct he was objecting to, and described the timing of the federal lawsuit's filing as incidental to the political calendar.
Nicosia has held the district attorney's post in St. Bernard Parish since first winning election, and the dossier record shows he was elected to the role and later won a subsequent term unopposed. He has also been named president of the Louisiana District Attorneys Association. Nicosia's history in the office includes other high-profile episodes: he was added as a defendant in an earlier federal civil suit alleging shakedowns tied to post-Hurricane Katrina debris-removal contracting, a case in which he called the allegations frivolous and absurd and denied wrongdoing, according to a separate nola.com report from that period. That earlier report noted the related FBI investigation had closed without any criminal charges filed.
