NEW ORLEANS — A sweeping federal probe into New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell reveals prosecutors have evidence that suggests the mayor may have received gifts or gratuities in exchange for firing a top-tier city official in 2019.
This latest revelation comes out of a story first reported by WWL Louisiana Investigative Reporter David Hammer in March.
According to a new report by our partners at The Times-Picayune, federal prosecutors are examining New Orleans Saints tickets the mayor allegedly received from Randy Farrell, whose firm IECI performed private building and electrical inspections for construction contractors in the city.
As WWL Louisiana reported in March, Jennifer Cecil, the city's Deputy Director of Safety and Permits, had sent emails and evidence to the Inspector General’s Office suggesting that Farrell was using the name of an electrician to buy thousands of electrical work permits under that electrician’s license, performing the work, then signing off that his own company's work was safe.
Hammer uncovered documents and secret recordings showing Farrell and a city inspector putting pressure on Cantrell in August 2019 to fire Cecil while she was investigating them. Sources say Cantrell received gifts from Farrell, then met with Farrell on Aug. 15, 2019, then fired Cecil the following week, as Cecil and the Inspector General closing in on Farrell and the permits.
Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Chester told Hammer back in March that the key to any federal prosecution would be to establish that Cantrell received something of value in exchange for firing Cecil.
"You're talking about the 'quo' in the 'quid pro quo,'" said Chester, part of the team that prosecuted and convicted former Mayor Ray Nagin of taking a series of bribes during and after his time in office. "You'd want to see, is there anything of value given by Mr. Farrell or anybody associated with Mr. Farrell to the mayor or anybody at City Hall that helped undertake these efforts" to fire Cecil.
By law, Farrell and IECI’s other inspectors cannot get contractor jobs in the city as a way of ensuring they aren’t inspecting their own handiwork.
Cantrell has denied all wrongdoing in the investigation. She told WWL Louisiana in December she "never had any conversations with anyone, Randy Farrell or anyone else, relative to who I need to put in place in leadership to make it easy for anybody."
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.