The mayor of New Orleans, Latoya Cantrell, was charged on Friday by the federal justice of conspiracy, fraud and obstruction for having tried to hide a romantic relationship with her bodyguard.
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According to the indictment, the result of a long-term federal investigation, the mayor and her bodyguard, Jeffrey Vappie, had had personal appointments during their working hours, CNN reported.
The federal authorities accuse the duo in particular of having abused their public functions over a period of three years to organize meetings and stays together, while altering the presence registers to avoid suspicion.
Mr. Vappie would have been paid as if he worked even when he found himself alone with the mayor in apartments or that they went to vineyards for wine tastings.
The acting federal prosecutor Michael Simpson denounced that Ms. Cantrell would have organized 14 trips in which her bodyguard participated.
These trips were, in the words of the mayor, moments “when they were really alone,” said the prosecutor.
The supposed lovebirds would also have used a quantified application to exchange messages, and then erase any trace.
According to information collected by the authorities, their romance started in 2021.
The two accused denied these accusations and maintained that their relationship was strictly professional.
Jeffrey Vappie pleaded not guilty to the accusations of electronic fraud and false statements and will be tried next January.
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The bodyguard, which retired from the police last year, is notably accused of having concealed her relationship with Ms. Cantrell and of having falsified her presence sheets by claiming to be in service.
Latoya Cantrell, for his part, will leave her duties at the town hall of Louisiana in early 2026, after a second term marked by controversies and tensions with the municipal council.
The one who is the first woman to have been elected mayor in the history of 300 years of the city also survived an attempted dismissal in 2022.
According to information from CNN, Ms. Cantrell claims to be the victim of unfair treatment as a black woman, and denounces political relentlessness towards her.
It points out to have been subjected to standards different from those imposed on male officials and said it was treated in a “very disrespectful, insulting, even unimaginable in certain cases”.