A federal grand jury in New Orleans on Friday returned an 18-count indictment against Mayor LaToya Cantrell, capping a years-long corruption probe. The superseding indictment, unsealed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, also names former city police officer Jeffrey Vappie, Cantrell’s on-again bodyguard, as a co-defendant. Prosecutors charged the pair with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, multiple counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice and making false statements. Prosecutors allege that Cantrell, 53, and Vappie began an intimate relationship in October 2021 and used their positions to defraud the city by misreporting Vappie’s work hours and billing taxpayers for travel arranged to "maximize their time together." According to the indictment, Vappie accompanied the mayor on at least 14 trips—among them visits to Washington, London and Scotland—costing New Orleans more than $70,000. The two exchanged roughly 15,000 encrypted WhatsApp messages, then deleted records and lied to FBI agents and a federal grand jury to conceal the scheme, the filing says. Cantrell, a Democrat and the city’s first female mayor, is barred by term limits from seeking re-election and is due to leave office in January 2026. She is the first sitting New Orleans mayor ever charged with a federal crime. Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Simpson called the case a significant step in combating Louisiana’s long-running public-corruption problems. If convicted, Cantrell and Vappie each face potential prison terms of up to 20 years on the most serious counts, plus substantial fines. An initial court appearance is expected in the coming days.