x
Breaking News
More () »

Businessman may have used his influence to get Mayor Cantrell to fire city employee

Sources tell us federal investigators are closing in on Mayor LaToya Cantrell, and they are specifically interested in why she fired a certain city employee in 2019.

David Hammer / WWL Louisiana Investigator

Play Video

Close Video

Published: 6:44 PM CST March 5, 2024
Updated: 8:08 PM CDT October 7, 2024

A former city permitting official who was investigating alleged misconduct was fired just days after the targets of her probe complained about her directly to Mayor LaToya Cantrell, according to city records and secret recordings of those meetings obtained by WWL Louisiana.

Sources say a grand jury subpoenaed those records late last year as a part of a sweeping federal investigation into the mayor.

The permitting official who investigated alleged self-dealing in the city’s Safety and Permits Department was Jennifer Cecil, who was deputy director of the department and head of the OneStop permitting and licensing program until she was fired in August 2019.

“As a federal prosecutor, you would want to get all the communication surrounding that decision, including Ms. Cecil's communications with anybody explaining why she believed she was fired,” said former Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Chester, part of the team that prosecuted former Mayor Ray Nagin.

Before You Leave, Check This Out