New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell is under FBI investigation. It is not clear whether prosecutors intend to seek charges and, if so, what the charges would be.

The investigation is ramping up, with two local businessmen who contributed to Cantrell’s campaign being questioned. The FBI wants to know if the donations led to favors from City Hall. Pay for play in New Orleans? Say it ain’t so!

In one of the cases, the FBI agents had copies of text messages between the businessman and the mayor. In both cases, the businessmen said they did not receive special treatment from Cantrell. Cantrell is being represented by Eddie Castaing. He is a veteran white-collar defense lawyer.

The Cantrell probe is being led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordan Ginsberg, who specializes in public-corruption cases and who oversaw the government’s recent prosecution of state Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, a onetime Cantrell ally. Recently, another prosecutor, Nick Moses, who also focuses on corruption cases, was added to the team, according to sources familiar with the probe.

U.S. Attorney Duane Evans, in keeping with office policy, declined to comment for this story.

There is also the matter of Jeffrey Vappie, a police officer who serves on Cantrell’s security team. His relationship with the mayor has come under scrutiny. Vappie’s wife filed for divorce in January and claimed that her husband and the mayor have an “ongoing sexual relationship.” Both the mayor and Vappie deny that allegation. There is no question that the two of them spent many hours together. Vappie has lawyered up with former U.S. Attorney Harry Rosenberg. Vappie’s work is under investigation.

His timesheets show him getting paid for lengthy shifts, including hours when he was alone with the mayor at her city-owned apartment at the Upper Pontalba building.

After an internal police investigation that a federal judge rebuked this month, finding that Vappie received favorable treatment, Vappie was returned this year to the mayor’s security team.

Sources with knowledge into the federal investigation into Vappie say authorities are looking not just at Vappie, but at some of those who supervised him – perhaps in hopes of working their way up the chain of command.

Authorities may be looking at Vappie’s supervisors, too.

An image consultant hired by the mayor is also being questioned. Tanya Haynes has worked as Cantrell’s image consultant for years. The mayor paid Haynes and her company at least $291,059 between late 2017 and late 2022, as reported on campaign finance reports.

But wait. There is more.

Over the same span, Cantrell paid approximately $51,000 to two other image consultants, Nakia Cameron and Erica Warren, the records show. The bulk of that money went to Warren.

“My client has been cooperative with whatever investigation the government has engaged in, to the best of her ability,” said Haynes’ attorney, Clarence Roby. “We will continue to cooperate as best we can.”

Roby declined to detail the government’s continued interest in Haynes but said: “I have not been made aware my client is a target of any type of criminal investigation.”

I don’t have any experience with image consultants but that seems like a whole lot of money going out for it. And, after all the money, Cantrell’s public image has been tarnished for several years with the investigations for potential corruption going on. Maybe Cantrell should ask for a refund.

Federal prosecutors sent a grand jury subpoena to a Metairie business on purchases made by Haynes. One item of interest was a $2,000 charge to a JP Morgan account in November 2020. A high-end clothing store where Haynes shopped for the mayor also receive a subpoena.

A longtime former lawyer for the Louisiana Ethics Board said in 2019 that the expenditures are proper under state law only if they are spent on consulting – not clothing.

It looks like the investigation is leaving no stone unturned. Mayor Cantrell is no stranger to investigations. An effort to recall the mayor failed.

Charges of public corruption is nothing new in New Orleans. This mayor, though, just keeps going. She reimbursed the city for purchases of first-class air travel tickets after an investigation found she violated city policy. We’ll see what comes of the current investigations amount to anything.