New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell faces two more corruption scandals, this time regarding an unusually close relationship with her bodyguard and huge payouts to her stylist.
Cantrell, 50, was previously embroiled in a scandal involving tens of thousands of dollars worth of excessive first-class flights, which she recently agreed to repay, and accusations that she was using her position to live in a luxury apartment without paying rent, Fox News reported. Now, the New Orleans mayor faces new accusations that she improperly paid her stylist huge sums of money and spent a suspiciously long amount of time with one of her bodyguards.
Suspicion over her bodyguard usage revolves around Officer Jeffrey Vappie, who joined Cantrell’s security detail in 2021. He has since traveled with her around the world, including an occasion in which he traveled first class with her on a trip to Los Angeles in September, during which she spent an evening at a dinner with actor Brad Pitt, local news outlet Fox 8 News reported. Though she insists now that she needs security during her travels, she had previously gone to New York, Washington, Cuba, and Copenhagen, Denmark, without any security detail. She had also been seen walking around the French Quarter of New Orleans alone.
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“The timeline doesn’t really make any sense,” political analyst Robert Collins said. “So, the taxpayers are going to ask, OK, well, if you really need protection, why didn’t you have protection on the earlier trips? Why don’t you have protection when you’re walking by yourself in the French Quarter? Why are you selectively choosing when to have a protective detail and when not to have a protective detail?”
Her other major scandal involves Tanya Haynes, her “image consultant,” whom she has paid approximately $231,000, Nola.com reported. The matter was deemed severe enough for two New Orleans stores to get subpoenaed by a federal grand jury, which is investigating the matter.
Gray Sexton, a former lawyer for the Louisiana Ethics Board who is backing an effort to recall Cantrell, noted that government funds may be used on a stylist for consulting, but not for clothing purchases. Sources familiar with the investigation claim that federal investigators have the receipts of thousands of dollars in clothing purchases for Cantrell.
Cantrell denies any wrongdoing and has accused journalists who have questioned her about the matter of being “inappropriate.”
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“It kind of freaks me out to see you because you have been very inappropriate in my opinion. But relative to your accusations, none of them add up at all,” she told a Fox 8 News reporter, according to a Daily Mail report.
Cantrell is the first woman to become mayor of New Orleans, and she has held the position since 2018.
