WBRZ - Baton Rouge

NEW ORLEANS - For the third time, a federal judge has postponed a sentencing hearing for a Louisiana businessman who pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.

U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan didn't give a reason for moving Frank Fradella's sentencing hearing from March 13 to July 17, but Fradella is expected to be a key witness in the case against Nagin.

Nagin is scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 20 on charges he accepted more than $200,000 in bribes from city contractors in exchange for steering them millions of dollars in work for the city.

Fradella pleaded guilty in June to making a $50,000 payoff to Nagin and giving him free loads of granite for a family business in exchange for favorable treatment of his business interests.