Volunteer with key role in New Orleans church bankruptcy admits to stunning lack of qualifications

Meanwhile, the nearly $40m in expenses resulting from the bankruptcy so far is already more than five times greater than initially projected.

Trahant made clear how little he thought of Eagan using his mind for calculations. That is because, after suffering a neck injury in a three-car crash in October 2022, Eagan endured substantial cognitive impairment, according to three depositions he gave between February and March in a lawsuit centering on the accident.

Eagan later tried to persuade Trahant that he was getting better with time, and his cognitive problems only surfaced when he took certain medications meant to help him cope with the effects of the crash.

Trahant countered that Eagan had never before attributed his self-described cognitive decline to his medication while highlighting a number of discrepancies between his testimony that day and what he had said in the previous depositions.

In a bizarre moment during their face-off, Trahant asked Eagan if he lived by the honor code of Robert E Lee, the Confederate general who owned enslaved people and commanded the white supremacist, losing side of the US civil war.

Eagan noted that the military figure had also been president of Washington and Lee University, whose student-led honor code forbids lying, cheating or stealing.

Eagan ultimately confirmed to Trahant that he had agreed to an out-of-court settlement of a lawsuit he had filed after the car wreck. In exchange, Eagan was awaiting a check for $1.15m, though he intended to demand more money from the company holding an insurance policy shielding him from underinsured motorists, according to his testimony.