Four years ago, as New Orleanians battled surging crime, rising home insurance costs and a collapsed sanitation system in the wake of Hurricane Ida, Mayor LaToya Cantrell traveled to Scotland, ostensibly to speak at a climate change conference.

But that trip was also “where it all started” with her former New Orleans Police Department bodyguard and alleged paramour Jeffrey Vappie, according to an 18-count indictment brought against the pair on Aug. 15.

Cantrell will appear in federal court Wednesday where she’s expected to enter a plea of not guilty to charges of conspiracy, wire fraud and obstruction of justice, culminating a multiyear federal investigation centered on trips to Scotland and other locales she and Vappie took between 2021 and 2024. The case will go before U.S. Magistr

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