According to reports from WWL-TV, Grammy-winning trumpeter Irvin Mayfield and his music and business partner Ronald
Conceived by New Orleans Cultural Ambassador Irvin Mayfield, Jr., the Elysian Trumpet is perhaps one of the most guarded and elaborate musical instruments ever made.
Markham will not be be sentenced tomorrow, February 9, as previously scheduled, regarding their November conviction on felony corruption charges. The report states that a federal judge is considering whether to hear testimony in court before deciding on possible prison time for the duo.
The two plead guilty on November 10 to conspiracy to defraud the city’s public library support charity to the tune of $1.3 million, a conviction that carries a maximum prison sentence of five years.
In December 2017, Mayfield and his longtime friend and New Orleans Jazz Orchestra cohort, Markham, were indicted with an initial 19 felony counts of taking funds from the New Orleans Public Library’s public charity organization.
According to David Hammer, the long-time Mayfield investigative reporter at New Orleans CBS affiliate WWL-TV, “U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey set the change of plea hearing for November 10 after five delays in Mayfield’s criminal trial and several more delays over the summer because the federal court was closed by the coronavirus pandemic. A grand jury charged Mayfield and Markham with conspiracy, money laundering, wire fraud, mail fraud, obstruction of justice and false statements. Prosecutors alleged they used the donations meant for public libraries and lined their own pockets, paying themselves six-figure salaries, and then lied about it to nonprofit board members and to federal investigators. The federal government added two superseding indictments in 2018, bringing the total charges against Mayfield and Markham to 24. Mayfield faces one of those counts alone and Markham faces another charge by himself.”
Recently, the trumpeter was tagged in and appeared in a video by influencer Kevin Liles of 300 Entertainment. The entertainment streaming platform traveled from New York City to New Orleans to showcase a performance at Blackhouse New Orleans with local singer Gabi Cavassa. Mayfield was tagged in the opening video which also incorrectly showed New Orleans on the map in the state of Mississippi.
According to Liles’ website: “Kevin Liles’ rise from intern at Def Jam Records to Executive Vice President of Warner Music Group — is legendary in the music industry. From an unpaid internship in 1991, Liles soared though the ranks to become President of Def Jam Music Group in 1998 at the tender age of 30. By the end of his tenure at the label, the Def Jam brand name had been embraced by all media for delivering all things hip hop. Today, at WMG, Liles is part of an executive team poised to reshape the music industry- presiding over a collection of the world’s best-known record labels, including Atlantic and Warner Bros. as well as the group’s distribution, marketing and music publishing companies.”
OffBeat will continue to monitor this story and update future developments.
