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N.O. mayor indicted on federal charges Cantrell accused of conspiracy, fraud and obstruction
BY JAMES FINN Staff writer
A federal grand jury returned a criminal indictment Friday against New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, accusing the mayor of pursuing an illicit affair with her police bodyguard on taxpayers’ dime, then lying to federal officials and deleting evidence to hide the relationship. The indictment returned at New Orleans’ federal courthouse accuses Cantrell of 11 counts including wire fraud, conspiracy to obstruct justice and lying to a federal grand jury — all part of the alleged yearslong scheme to hide her relationship with Jeffrey Vappie,
the former New Orleans Police officer assigned to protect her. The two face 18 counts total. Prosecutors secured the charges against Cantrell through a superseding indictment in their ongoing prosecution of Vappie, who was initially charged last summer with wire fraud and false statement counts in the same alleged scheme. Vappie faces additional charges under the new indictment. Prosecutors in the new 44-page indictment describe Vappie and Cantrell deleting WhatsApp messages, lying to FBI agents and “intimidating” subordinates as they tried to erase signs of their amorous relationship — including trips to a Napa Valley, California,
winery and Martha’s Vineyard — during periods when both claimed to be on official duty. “This indictment does not allege that a relationship constitutes a crime,” said Michael Simpson, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, at a news conference Friday afternoon. “Rather, it reflects the prosecution of two public officials alleged to have engaged in a yearslong, continuing fraud scheme that used public money for personal ends, by exploiting their power and their authority.” Cantrell’s press staff issued a brief statement late Friday say-
STAFF FILE PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD
The indictment of New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, pictured here at a July 30 news conference, and her bodyguard alleges that the pair engaged in a yearslong conspiracy to spend public money on travel ä See MAYOR, page 4A during a romantic relationship and then tried to cover it all up.
‘A SACRED PLACE’
No deal made to end war in Ukraine Trump rolls out red carpet for Putin in Alaska
BY MICHELLE L. PRICE and WILL WEISSERT Associated Press
STAFF PHOTOS By JAVIER GALLEGOS
Students from Ascension Catholic High School file out of the church grounds after mass at Madonna Chapel in Iberville on Friday. Mass happens only once a year at this tiny chapel, one of the smallest churches in the world at 9-by-9 feet.
Worshippers gather for annual mass at tiny Madonna Chapel BY HALEY MILLER
Staff writer
Outside the 9-by-9-foot chapel across from the levee, congregants sweated and prayed, clad in the most formal churchgoing clothes that can be expected in a Louisiana August. Many worshippers drove in from different parishes, some even from out of state. What brought them together Friday morning is both a stop on Iberville’s Great River Road Driving Tour and a sacred occasion: the annual Mass held at the Madonna Chapel, one of the smallest churches in the
Naomi Mannino, who grew up down the road from the church, prays in
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska — President Donald Trump failed to secure an agreement from Vladimir Putin on Friday to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, falling short in his most significant move yet to stop the bloodshed, even after rolling out the red carpet for the man who started it. “There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” the U.S. president said, after Putin claimed they had hammered out an “understanding” on Ukraine and warned Europe not to “torpedo the nascent progress.” Trump said he would call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders to brief them on the talks. Trump, who for years has balked at American support for Ukraine and expressed admiration for Putin, had pledged confidently to bring about an end to the war on his first day back in the White House. Seven months later, after berating Zelenskyy in the Oval Office and stanching the flow of some U.S. military assistance to Kyiv, Trump could not bring Putin even to pause the fighting, as his forces make gains on the battlefield. Trump had offered Putin both a carrot and a stick, issuing threats of punishing economic sanctions on Russia while also extending a warm welcome at Joint Base
ä See SACRED, page 5A a brief moment of isolation before it became packed with visitors.
WEATHER HIGH 95 LOW 76 PAGE 8A
Business ......................5B Deaths .........................4B Nation-World ................2A Classified .....................7D Living............................1D Opinion ........................6B Comics-Puzzles .....4D-6D Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
ä See UKRAINE, page 5A
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