In their Sept. 27 indictment of city contractor Randy Farrell, federal prosecutors portray New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell as a venal politician abusing her office for petty graft — while placing the public at great risk. It seems clear they intend to indict her.
Based on allegations contained in the Farrell indictment, the mayor could face federal charges by mid-January, if not sooner. The statute of limitations for most federal crimes is five years.
However, the feds may have additional facts — still under wraps — that could extend the deadline for bringing charges against Cantrell.
Farrell faces 25 counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and honest services fraud. The indictment accuses him and his building-inspection firm, IECI, of submitting hundreds of fake permit applications on behalf of unlicensed electricians who paid Farrell bribes in exchange for getting work that should have gone to licensed electricians.
Clancy DuBos
The indictment also accuses Farrell of gifting Cantrell — identified as “Public Official 1” — thousands of dollars’ worth of tickets to New Orleans Saints games, an iPhone and lunch at a downtown steakhouse as part of a scheme to convince her to fire Jen Cecil, then a top official at the city's Department of Safety and Permits. Cecil reportedly had complained to higher-ups at City Hall about IECI's business practices.
This is the first time the feds have directly implicated Cantrell in alleged criminality. The July wire fraud indictment of former Cantrell bodyguard Jeffrey Vappie likewise referred to the mayor as “Public Official 1,” but it didn't say she participated in Vappie's alleged payroll fraud. The Farrell indictment alleges a quid pro quo between her and Farrell.
Farrell's indictment also refers to extensive documentation of his attempts to convince Cantrell to fire Cecil — including texts, emails, photos and conversations between Farrell, the mayor and “Businessman 1,” who delivered Farrell’s gifts and insistence that Cecil be fired.
Sources say Businessman 1 is Fouad “Fred” Zeton, a self-proclaimed political insider who pleaded guilty in April 2023 to an unrelated wire fraud charge. Zeton is set to be sentenced next year in that case.
“The fact that Zeton was not indicted along with Farrell suggests he is already on Team USA as a cooperating witness,” said Joe Raspanti, legal analyst for WVUE Fox 8.
Farrell likewise has a previous, unrelated federal conviction — for tax fraud — which puts him at risk of enhanced jail time if he is convicted of even one of the 25 new federal counts.
Farrell's attorney Rick Simmons said in a statement that his client has cooperated with federal investigators — providing them with information about the steak lunch he attended with Zeton and Cantrell — but now the feds are wrongly using that information against him.
The feds may be ratcheting up pressure on Farrell because they think he has more that he could reveal.
And Farrell may not be the only one who's feeling the heat.
The indictment alleges for the first time that Cantrell’s top aide, Chief Administrative Officer Gilbert Montaño — identified as “Public Official 2” — also received Saints tickets bought by Farrell and delivered by Zeton. Montaño told The Times-Picayune that he was “blindsided” by that allegation, that he had never met Farrell, had not been contacted by federal authorities and would not risk his reputation over tickets to a sporting event.
But what does that say about the Cantrell administration's culture of accepting gifts from city contractors?
Which brings us back to the question of timing.
The last overt act in furtherance of Farrell’s alleged scheme appears to be Cantrell receiving Saints playoff tickets for the NFC championship in January 2020, which suggests January 2025 as a potential deadline for adding her as a defendant.
And, a month later, on Feb. 9, New Orleans will host the NFL Super Bowl, putting the city — and Cantrell — in a worldwide media spotlight.
The prospect of New Orleans hosting one of the world’s premier sporting events while the mayor faces federal corruption charges should play no part in the feds' decision of whether — and when — to indict her, but it has cast a pall over pre-Super Bowl excitement.
Worse yet, the fact that Farrell stands accused of fraudulently approving hundreds of homes and buildings in New Orleans for safety compliance means that the level of suspected criminality far exceeds the value of Saints tickets, steaks and cell phones. According to the feds, thousands of citizens have been put in grave danger.
And the real vice of it all is that their safety would have been sold for what amounts to petty graft.