Federal charges filed Friday against New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell follow a years-long FBI probe which scrutinized a tangle of alleged corruption schemes involving the mayor and people in her orbit.

The charges against Cantrell follow indictments in September of electrical inspector Randy Farrell and in July against Jeffrey Vappie, the mayor's former New Orleans Police Department bodyguard and alleged paramour. They center on Cantrell's alleged relationship with Vappie and on trips the pair took out of town.

The documents allege that the two shared a "personal and intimate" relationship that they hid from public view, all while Vappie was being paid to protect the mayor and while she claimed to be away on city business.

Farrell faces 25 fraud and bribery counts related to alleged

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