In what prosecutors described as a multi-year plot to conceal a personal relationship with her bodyguard, who allegedly received payment as though he was employed even when they met alone in homes and visited wineries for wine tastings, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell was indicted on Friday.
Less than five months before her tenure ends, Cantrell is facing accusations of conspiracy, fraud, and obstruction. After been elected twice, the first female mayor in New Orleans’ 300-year history is also the first to be prosecuted while in office.
“Public corruption has crippled us for years and years,” stated Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Simpson, alluding to the infamous past of Louisiana. “And this is extremely significant.”
Jeffrey Vappie, Cantrell’s bodyguard, was already charged with wire fraud and making false statements. He entered a not guilty plea. Cantrell was included in the case after a grand jury delivered an 18-count indictment on Friday.
In order to evade detection, they are alleged to have exchanged encrypted communications using WhatsApp before erasing the exchanges. Vappie and the mayor have maintained that their connection was solely professional, but the indictment described it as “personal and intimate.”
Dreamy conversations were recorded by the app.
According to a statement from the City of New Orleans, the indictment was known to them and is being examined by the mayor’s lawyer.
“Until his review is complete, the City will not comment further on this matter,” the statement continued.
Since July 15, when she claimed that crime in the city was at an all-time low, Cantrell has not posted anything on her official X social media account.
The indictment claims that during a WhatsApp conversation, Vappie recalled going to Scotland with Cantrell in October 2021, stating that this was “where it all started.”
In over 15,000 messages, Cantrell and Vappie attempted to harass a citizen, erase evidence, lie to FBI agents, “and ultimately to commit perjury before a federal grand jury,” according to Simpson.
Vappie claimed to be on duty when they first met at an apartment, and she set him up to go on 14 trips, according to Simpson. He noted that she characterized the vacations as moments “when they were truly alone.”
According to the prosecution, Vappie’s travel cost New Orleans taxpayers over $70,000.
On an island together
Authorities pointed to a meeting that occurred on Martha’s Vineyard in September 2022, which Cantrell took in lieu of going to a conference in Miami. The city paid for Vappie to travel to the island for a different meeting. That month, the mayor wrote to him, “What spoils me the most are the times when we are truly (traveling).”
According to Simpson, Cantrell lied in an affidavit claiming that she had turned on a feature on her phone that erased communications automatically in 2021 when, in fact, she hadn’t turned it on until December 2022, a month after the media started making assumptions about the couple’s behavior.
According to Simpson, Cantrell reported the incident to the police and requested a restraining order after a private citizen got pictures of them eating together and sipping wine.
In 2024, Vappie stepped down from the police force.
The mayor’s supporters
According to Cantrell and her surviving supporters, her administrative authority at City Hall has been undermined, and she has been unfairly singled out as a Black woman and held to a different standard than male officials. But Simpson denied that any of it had anything to do with the inquiry.
He told reporters that the accusations were “an incredible betrayal of people’s confidence in their own government” and that it didn’t matter if it was romantic or female.
During his tumultuous second term, Cantrell, a Democrat, has clashed with members of the City Council and has escaped a recall attempt in 2022.
Monet Brignac, a spokesman for City Council President JP Morrell, stated, “This is a sad day for the people of New Orleans,” as word of the indictment circulated.
Ray Nagin, the former mayor of New Orleans, was found guilty of bribery, money laundering, fraud, and tax offenses in 2014 and given a 10-year jail sentence. His two tenure as mayor from 2002 to 2010 were the source of the charges. During the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020, he was released from prison under supervision.
Her civic prominence has diminished as Cantrell enters her last months in office, alienating allies and erstwhile confidants. Political watchers claim that her self-inflicted injuries and acrimonious disputes with an antagonistic city council overshadowed her early accomplishments. After the city’s charter was amended by voters to limit the mayor’s power, her position has become less important.
Cantrell claimed to have received “very disrespectful, insulting, in some cases kind of unimaginable” treatment earlier this year. In 2023, her spouse, lawyer Jason Cantrell, passed away.
