New Orleans Mayor Indicted: LaToya Cantrell Accused of Misusing Taxpayer Money for Alleged Affair with Bodyguard

Key Points:

Federal prosecutors indicted New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell on Friday, 15 August,2025. They accused her of running a yearslong scheme to hide a romantic relationship with her bodyguard, Jeffrey Vappie.

A grand jury charged Cantrell with conspiracy, fraud, and obstruction. She is the first mayor in the city’s 300-year history to face charges while in office. Cantrell, the city’s first female mayor, leaves office in less than five months because of term limits.

Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Simpson called the case “extremely significant.” He said public corruption has damaged Louisiana for decades.

Prosecutors said Cantrell and Vappie exchanged more than 15,000 encrypted WhatsApp messages. They used the app to hide their relationship, delete evidence, and even mislead FBI agents. The indictment said their relationship was “personal and intimate.”

Vappie has already pleaded not guilty to earlier charges of wire fraud and false statements. The new indictment added Cantrell to the case with 18 total counts.

Prosecutors said Cantrell and Vappie met in an apartment while he claimed to be on duty. She arranged for him to join her on 14 trips, many of them described as times when they were “truly alone.” Taxpayers paid over $70,000 for Vappie’s travel.

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In a WhatsApp message, Vappie recalled a trip to Scotland in 2021. He wrote that was “where it all started.”

In September 2022, Cantrell skipped a Miami conference and instead met Vappie on Martha’s Vineyard. The city paid for his travel to the island under the cover of a separate conference. Cantrell wrote to him, “The times when we are truly (traveling) is what spoils me the most.”

Simpson said Cantrell lied in a sworn affidavit. She claimed she enabled an auto-delete function on her phone in 2021. In reality, she didn’t activate it until December 2022—one month after media reports raised questions about her conduct.

When a private citizen photographed the pair dining and drinking wine, Cantrell filed a police report and sought a restraining order.

Cantrell has denied wrongdoing and said she is treated unfairly as a Black woman in power. She and her allies argue male officials would not face the same scrutiny.

Simpson rejected those claims. “It’s irrelevant that it’s romance or that it’s female,” he said. “The allegations are an incredible betrayal of people’s confidence in their own government.”

Cantrell, a Democrat, has feuded with the City Council throughout her second term. She survived a recall effort in 2022 but lost support among allies. City Council President JP Morrell’s spokesperson, Monet Brignac, called the indictment “a sad day for the people of New Orleans.”

Cantrell’s political power has faded. Voter-approved changes to the city charter cut her authority. Observers say her early successes disappeared under self-inflicted wounds, bitter fights, and controversy.

Cantrell’s husband, attorney Jason Cantrell, died in 2023. Vappie retired from the police department in 2024 and faces trial in January. Cantrell has not commented publicly since July 15, when she posted about historic drops in crime. [Rh/Eth/VP]

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