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Hey everyone, and welcome back to Exposed Scandalous Files of
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the Elite. I am your host, Jim Chapman, and I
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don't have a series titled Bad Mayors, but if I did,
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the subject I am covering today would for sure be
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an episode. Now today, I'm going to cover the indictment
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of New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell. This came out on
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August fifteenth, and she was indicted by the federal government, which,
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as I've told you so many times in the past,
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especially with the Ditty trial, the FEDS have a ninety
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five percent conviction rate. If you're indicted by the Feds,
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you are likely to get convicted of something. Now, Diddy
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escaped the most major of charges in his indictment, but
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he did get convicted of a couple things. And speaking
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of that, his sentencing coming up in early October. I
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think he's going to get the max. That's my thoughts
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on that. But we're going to bring you back to
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the subject of today. That's LaToya Cantrell. And for those
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of you that are unfamiliar, she is the mayor of
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New Orleans, longtime mayor of New Orleans, and it ain't
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looking good for her. I have a pretty interesting connection
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to that case, which when we get to that point,
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I'll tell you a little bit about that as well.
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But for now, let's get into what is alleged by
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the United States Government against New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell.
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And it's important to note that the co defendant in
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this case is a guy by the name of Jeffery Vappi.
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Now he was Cantrell's bodyguard. And keep in mind this
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is a criminal indictment, not a civil case, and it
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reads as follows. As Mayor LaToya Cantrell received physical protection
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from the n OPD, the New Orleans Police Department's executive
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protection the co defendant, Jeffrey Paul Vappi the second served
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as a member of that executive protection unit and was
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assigned to provide protection for Cantrell from honor about May
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twenty third of twenty twenty one to November ninth of
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twenty twenty two, then again from June twenty second of
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twenty twenty three to April twenty second and twenty twenty four.
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In or around October of twenty twenty one, Cantrell and
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Vapi developed a personal and intimate relationship to hide their
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relationship from detection and to maximize their time together, Cantroll
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and Vappy exploited their public positions to develop and implement
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a scheme to defraud the City of New Orleans and
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the NOPD by engaging in personal activities while Vappy claimed
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to be on duty and was paid for providing protection
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for Cantrell. As part of their scheme, Cantroll and Vappy
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arranged for Vapy to a company can trail when she
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traveled outside of the state of Louisiana on official business.
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Cantrell falsely claimed she needed protection from members of the
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Executive Protection Unit while traveling due to safety concerns. Cantrell
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and Vappy orchestrated out of state trips to maximize their
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opportunities and engage in personal activities. In total, Vappi's trips
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with Cantraill costs the City of New Orleans over seventy
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thousand dollars, separate from Cantrell's own travel costs. Aware of
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their conduct and knowing that it violated rules, policies, and procedures,
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Cantrell and Vappy attempted to distract and impede inquiries and investigations,
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including a federal Grand jury investigation about the true nature
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and circumstances of their relationship and their scheme to defraud.
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They did this by using an encrypted messaging platform, intimidating
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and punishing subordinates, lying to colleagues, anders, making false public statements,
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harassing a private individual. And that's the connection that I
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have to all of this that I'll get into later.
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Who took pictures of them in public together, deleting electronic evidence,
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making false statements to federal law enforcement agents, authoring an
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affidavit signed under oath and penalty of perjury that contained
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false information, and testifying falsely while under oath before grand jury.
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Then it goes into what the Executive Protection Unit is.
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The NPD was an agency of the City of New Orleans,
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a local government municipality within the state of Louisiana. Located
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in the Eastern District of Louisiana. NPD was the primary
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local law enforcement agency for the City of New Orleans
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and divided its operations geographically into eight districts. NPD fell
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under the authority of the Superintendent. The superintendent served at
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the pleasure of the Mayor of the City of New Orleans,
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LaToya Cantrell. The Old Leans Pair of Sheriff's Office was
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a law enforcement entity in the City of New Orleans
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as well in the City of New Orleans employed in
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the Executive Protection Unit for the purpose of providing security
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and risk mitigation for select high ranking City of New
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Orleans personnel. Approximately four members of the Executive Protection Unit,
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each of whom was a law enforcement officer employed by
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NPD or Orleans Pair of Sheriff's Office provided protection for
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the mayor, and they were split into two teams, Team
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A and Team B, and each of those teams had
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two members each. The two Executive Protection Unit teams were
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organized to provide protection for the mayor on a preset
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rotating schedule, So it tells you a little bit about
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what they did, and it goes on to say Executive
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Protection Unit did not typically provide protection to the residents
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of the mayor when the mayor was elsewhere in the
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course of their duties. Executive Protection Unit members rarely entered
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the mayor's residence on such occasion. The EPU members only
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spent a brief period inside of the mayor's residence. Even
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when extenuating circumstances arose, EPU remained outside the mayor's residence
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when providing protection. Now, why they hammering down on that.
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I'll bet you as we go along, that PI was
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in a residence a lot. EPU members were paid bi
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weekly by the City of New Orleans at regular and
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overtime hourly rates. EPU employed by npds submitted their individual
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time work to a sergeant on a regular basis. NPD
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relied on the contents of certified time cards to determine
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the amount it paid EPU members. When an EPU member
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traveled on official business, he was eligible to receive a
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daily allowance for meals and incidentals. After returning from a trip,
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the EPU member completed a trivel expense form and submitted
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it to the mayor for review and approval. After the
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mayor approved a trivial expense form, the City of New
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Orleans issued the payment to the EPU member. So in
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this case, you've already figured out she's accused of doing
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some pretty illicit things with her bodyguard who was an
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employee of the NPD, and she was the one that
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approved basically his timesheet and his expense sheet. So think
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about that. To tell you a little bit about the bodyguard. Defendant,
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Jeffrey Paul Vappi the second was an adult resident of
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New Orleans. He was employed as an officer with NOPD
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from April of nineteen ninety seven to June of twenty
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twenty four, So a good long run there a miss
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thirty years. In and around August of twenty twenty three,
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Vappy was promoted to the rank of senior police officer.
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Vappy maintained financial accounts at JP Morgan In it lists
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the account numbers. Vappi received payments from his work with
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n FPD via direct deposit. He was assigned to serve
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as a member of EPU from May twenty third, twenty
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twenty one to November of twenty twenty two. He then
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was injured, unable to work and placed on sickly. Then
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he was reassigned from June of twenty twenty three to
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April of twenty twenty four to that unit once again,
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and he attended trainings concerning best practices, techniques and ethics
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for providing protection, security and risk mitigation. Now let's talk
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about those of you that may not be familiar with
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LaToya Cantrell, the mayor of New Orleans. She was elected
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to serve a four year term for mayor on November
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of twenty seventeen. On November of twenty twenty one, she
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was re elected to a second and final four year
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term as mayor of the City of New Orleans, and
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during her tenuere as mayor, Cantrell received city paid protection
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from EPU. Typically, on the preceding afternoon or evening, a
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member of Cantrell's staff would circulate a document via email
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that contained can Traill's schedule and the members of the
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EPU that would be on duty for Cantrail the next day.
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The email recipients included Cantrell, the members of the EPU,
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and various members of Cantreill's staff. Honor about March twenty
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second of twenty twenty two, Cantrell appointed Vappy to serve
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as a member of the Housing Authority of New Orleans
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Board of Commissioners. Some people are looking at that as
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a favor that she made for Vappy because of their
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relationship personal correspondence between Cantrell and Vappy. WhatsApp was a free,
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end to end encrypted selling or phone service that allowed
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users to send text, voice message, and video messages, make
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voice and video calls, share images, documents, userl locations, and
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other content. WhatsApp was known for its security features. It
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is it's an app that supposedly you can't get into.
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You're gonna find out that there's no app, no encryption
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app out there that people can't get into. You're gonna
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discover that, but we'll move on. In or around February
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of twenty twenty two, Vapian Contrail began using WhatsApp as
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their primary means of exchanging messages. Well, okay, I mean
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she is a mayor, he is her bodyguard. Maybe they're
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communicating and they don't want someone outside of you know,
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people with good intentions to be able to get into
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their messaging system. Eh, not quite between In or around
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February twenty twenty two. In October of twenty twenty two,
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Vapian Contrail exchanged over fifteen thousand messages via WhatsApp. That's
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a lot more than are you working tomorrow? Right? Then
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it gets into the travel of Mayor LaToya Cantrell. Approximately
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five months after Vappy joined EPU and started providing security
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protection for Cantrell, Cantrell began arranging for a member of
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the EPU to accompany her on out of state trips
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that required domestic or international air travel. Enter Around twenty
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twenty one, Vappy accompanied Cantraill to Scotland. Fappy would later
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reminisce in a WhatsApp message to Cantrell about that Scotland
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trip and that was quote where it all started. How
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about that. In an interview with a local television station
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recording on or about September thirteenth, twenty twenty two, Cantrell
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justified having an EPU team member accompany her on trips
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outside of the state of Louisiana as being quote due
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to COVID and absolutely tied to my health and well being,
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she said. In separate statements, Cantrell explained that her travel
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accommodations were a matter of safety, not log and that
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as all women know, our health and safety are often
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disregarded and we are left to navigate alone. And right
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there is about the best example you could ever come
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up with for gas lighting. Notwithstanding her justification for needing
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EPU members to accompany her, Cantrell continued to travel outside
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of the state of Louisiana without EPU. For example, enter
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around June of twenty twenty two, Cantrell traveled to an
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event in New York without EPU because Vappy was supposed
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to go but could not due to an injury on
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her About September thirteenth of twenty twenty two, Cantrell canceled
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a work trip to Miami, Florida, where she was scheduled
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to attend a fall leadership meeting of the United States
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Conference of Mayors. Instead, At approximately the same time that
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she canceled the Miami trip, Cantrell booked a personal trip
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in which she traveled alone from New Orleans to Martha's
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Vineyard via commercial airplane, commercial bus, and public ferry to
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spend time with Thatapy while he attended a conference paid
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for by the City of New Orleans related to his
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position on that border Commissioners that I told you she
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appointed him to enter. Around September of twenty twenty one
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and March of twenty twenty four, while perpetrating to serve
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on duty as a member of EPU, Vappia Company, Cantrell
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on at least fourteen trips outside of the state of Louisiana,
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including two domestic destinations such as La Orlando, San Francisco
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in Washington, d C. As well as international destinations such
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as Scotland and the United Arab Emirates. Unbelievable. You know
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how expensive the United Arab Emirates is. Wow. The City
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of New Orleans incurred more than seventy thousand dollars in
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cost related to Vappi's purported work related trips outside of
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the state of Louisiana with Cantrell, including meals, lodging, incidental
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salary in travel. For example, in April of twenty twenty two,
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Vappian Cantrail traveled from New Orleans to San Francisco for
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the stated purpose of Cantrell attending an environmental law conference
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that began on April sixth of twenty twenty two and
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ended on April eighth. As a result of that April
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twenty twenty two trip to San Francisco, the City of
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New Orleans and curt expenses for Vappy and Cantrail of
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over nine thousand dollars, including paying Vappy approximately sixteen hundred
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dollars in salary in overtime. Onor about August twenty first
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of twenty twenty two, Vappian Cantreil traveled from New Orleans
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to Washington, d C. For the stated purpose of can Treill,
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meaning for one hour with a representative of the US
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Department of Justice. As a result of that trip, the
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City of New Orleans and curt expenses for vappying Cantrail
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of every three thousand dollars, including paying Vay approximately one thousand,
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one hundred and eighteen dollars in salary in over time honor.
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About September twenty eighth of twenty twenty two, Vapian Cantrail
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traveled from New Orleans to Atlanta, Georgia, for the stated
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purpose of Cantreil attending a one day conference Honor. About
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September of twenty twenty two, Vappian Cantreill traveled from Atlanta
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to LA for the stated purpose of Cantrail attending a
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Global Green Community Lower ninth Ward sponsor launch event. Cantrell
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paid approximately seven hundred and sixty two dollars to upgrade
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Vappy seat the first class on the return flight to
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New Orleans Honor about September thirtieth, twenty twenty two, using
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her personal American Express card. As a result of that trip,
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the City of New Orleans incurred expenses for Vappian Contrail
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of over five thousand dollars, including paying Vappy approximately fourteen
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hundred dollars in salary. Then they get into an apartment
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situation called the Pontalbo Apartments. The City of New Orleans
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owned the apartment unit five point thirty B in the
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Pontalba building in the French Quarter of New Orleans until