New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell held a news conference yesterday to discuss her administration’s priorities for the city and to address recent allegations she has misused a city-owned apartment in the French Quarter.
The mayor said the use of the Pontalba is provided to every mayor of the city and her use is consistent with mayors of the past. However, the New Orleans Police Department has opened an investigation into a member of the mayor’s security team, NOPD Officer Jeffrey Vappie. When asked if the NOPD was the appropriate agency to investigate Vappie since she appoints the police chief and oversees the department, the mayor said she has complete confidence in their Public Integrity Bureau.
Meanwhile, multiple NOLA media outlets say federal investigators are looking into a series of clothing purchases made in the past five years by a New Orleans salon owner who also works as a personal shopper and stylist for Mayor LaToya Cantrell. A source says FBI agents have requested documents and interviewed employees of Ballin’s Ltd., a high-end New Orleans fashion retailer with two locations in the city. Agents have interviewed employees of the company’s boutiques twice in the last month.
