A high-ranking prosecutor in New Orleans鈥� U.S. Attorney鈥檚 Office who led the pending criminal case has been withdrawn from her prosecution team and placed on leave, as the office鈥檚 top prosecutor says the Justice Department has opened an investigation into 鈥渁llegations of employee misconduct.鈥�
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordan Ginsberg, the office鈥檚 longtime public corruption chief, has helmed the yearslong probe of Cantrell and secured the against her last August. The charges accused the mayor of spending taxpayer money on romantic sojourns with her police bodyguard, Jeffrey Vappie, then conspiring to hide the relationship while she was in office.
Ginsberg was promoted this spring to head the office鈥檚 criminal prosecutions after U.S. Attorney David Courcelle was appointed by President Donald Trump.
Ginsberg was stripped of that title last week, the people familiar with the matter told The Times-Picayune, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the issue.
鈥淲e take all allegations of employee misconduct seriously and in such cases, will take appropriate action after a thorough review of the facts,鈥� Courcelle said in a prepared statement Tuesday evening.聽鈥淲hile we cannot comment on specific personnel matters, we can confirm that as of Friday, June 12, 2026, the employee was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.鈥�
Further details about the circumstances of Ginsberg鈥檚 reassignment were not available Tuesday evening. He did not immediately respond to messages. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney鈥檚 Office, Shane Jones, did not immediately respond to a request for additional information.
In a filing in federal court late Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney鈥檚 Office moved to withdraw Ginsberg from the Cantrell prosecution.
The filing was signed by Michael Simpson, a veteran prosecutor who sources said has taken over from Ginsberg as criminal chief, and Nick Moses, the deputy chief of the office鈥檚 public corruption unit who had worked alongside Ginsberg on the Cantrell probe.