Mayor LaToya Cantrell appeared in federal court in New Orleans on Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to a host of corruption charges , setting up a potentially long and winding court battle that is poised to overshadow her final months in office.

Cantrell stood silently before federal Magistrate Judge Karen Wells Roby as prosecutors listed 11 criminal counts she faces, including wire fraud, conspiracy to obstruct justice and lying to a federal grand jury.

She entered court an hour earlier surrounded by several security guards, her attorney and communications director, Terry Davis. Neither she nor Davis took questions from reporters before the proceedings.

In court, Cantrell made eye contact with Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordan Ginsberg as Ginsberg read the maximum penalties she fa

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