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Lee Zurik Investigations

  • Outside the Office
  • Attention to the Details
  • Talking Trash
  • Strangled
  • Empty Field of Dreams
  • Cost of Choice
  • Cracking the Code

Lee Zurik Investigations

Ads related to the recall drive against New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell began airing on...

ZURIK: Fewer signatures needed to recall New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell

Updated: Feb. 3, 2023 at 5:01 PM CST
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Mayor Cantrell recall petition needs fewer signatures than originally thought.

Outside the Office

Security officers for Mayor Cantrell clock hundreds of hours but not working them or protecting...

ZURIK: Mayor Cantrell’s security officers clocked time while nowhere near her

Updated: Feb. 2, 2023 at 10:01 PM CST
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
FOX 8 combed through hundreds of pages of documents to find officers clocking long hours, even when they’re nowhere near Mayor Cantrell.

Outside the Office

Cantrell: Divorce filing ‘none of my business,’ ‘none of yours’

Cantrell: Divorce filing ‘none of my business,’ and ‘none of yours’

Updated: Jan. 25, 2023 at 4:50 PM CST
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By FOX 8 Staff
Mayor LaToya Cantrell doubled down on denying she had an affair with a former member of her security team.

Outside the Office

Mayor LaToya Cantrell and NOPD Officer Jeffrey Vappie

NOPD officer denies admitting to affair with Mayor LaToya Cantrell, attorney says

Updated: Jan. 19, 2023 at 3:54 PM CST
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By FOX 8 Staff
A lawyer for NOPD Officer Jeffrey Vappie would not deny that an affair occurred, only that his client did not admit to having an affair with anyone to his wife.

Talking Trash

ZURIK: Council member calls for level playing field for trash collectors

Updated: Jan. 19, 2023 at 6:11 AM CST
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
"It’s not fair. It’s an unlevel playing field. How can you expect Mr. Richard at $13.75 a can to compete with other contractors who are getting $23 to $28 a can? You just can’t, because those other companies can pay their people more money."

Top Story

New Orleans mayor denies having affair with member of security team

Updated: Jan. 18, 2023 at 9:49 PM CST
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By FOX 8 Staff
Mayor Latoya Cantrell denies having an affair with NOPD Officer Jeffrey Vappie. That denial comes after a divorce filing saying Vappie admitted to having an affair with the mayor to his wife.

Talking Trash

ZURIK: Ousted contractor says Cantrell administration orchestrated trash crisis

Updated: Jan. 17, 2023 at 10:04 PM CST
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
A former trash contractor for the city of New Orleans believes LaToya Cantrell's administration may have orchestrated the recent trash crisis in order to move the trash contract out of his company's hands.

Outside the Office

ZURIK: Divorce filing alleges Mayor Cantrell had extramarital affair with NOPD officer

Updated: Jan. 17, 2023 at 4:02 PM CST
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
New details of a divorce petition obtained by Fox 8 imply New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell was involved in an extramarital affair with Officer Jeffrey Vappie.

Crimetracker

Nursing home owner Bob Dean misspent millions on cars, guns, family, DOJ alleges

Updated: Jan. 12, 2023 at 4:24 PM CST
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By Mykal Vincent
A new complaint filed by the U.S. Department of Justice alleges nursing home owner Bob Dean swept millions of dollars from the homes into his personal banking accounts.

Outside the Office

ZURIK: FBI expands investigation into Mayor LaToya Cantrell

Updated: Jan. 4, 2023 at 10:04 PM CST
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Sources tell Fox 8 the FBI now is asking about Mayor LaToya Cantrell's schedule, use of a city-owned apartment and her time spent with a member of her security detail.
Radar
Radar

Outside the Office

ZURIK: Former mayor contradicts Mayor Cantrell’s claims about Pontalba apartment

Updated: Dec. 15, 2022 at 10:30 PM CST
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Mayor LaToya Cantrell claims her use of a city-owned apartment is in line with past mayors. But now former Mayor Marc Morial says he never used the apartment the way Cantrell is utilizing it.

Lee Zurik Investigations

ZURIK: City to comb through Mayor Cantrell’s hotel upgrades amid Fox 8 investigation

Updated: Dec. 13, 2022 at 10:27 PM CST
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Mayor Cantrell could be writing another check to taxpayers after the city reviews more of her 2022 travel accommodations.

Attention to the Details

ZURIK: Internal NOPD report released on former lieutenant now under federal investigation

Updated: Dec. 5, 2022 at 11:18 PM CST
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By Lee Zurik
Sabrina Richardson was the subject of a series of Fox 8 investigations into potential double-dipping and payroll discrepancies.

Lee Zurik Investigations

ZURIK: Council allocates $9 million to pay unpaid judgments following FOX 8 investigations

Updated: Dec. 1, 2022 at 7:44 PM CST
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By Lee Zurik
City of New Orleans allocates millions to pay down judgments following series of FOX 8 Drained investigations.

Outside the Office

ZURIK: Cantrell administration turns over NOPD timesheets after Fox 8 threatens lawsuit

Updated: Nov. 23, 2022 at 12:21 PM CST
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
After a Fox 8 attorney got involved, the City of New Orleans released public documents Wednesday (Nov. 23) it initially refused to hand over.

Outside the Office

ZURIK: Mayor Cantrell’s hotel room upgrades may violate city policy

Updated: Nov. 17, 2022 at 10:03 PM CST
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
A political analyst and a crime watchdog believe Mayor Cantrell may have violated city policy with room upgrades, paid for by taxpayers, during her travel.

Outside the Office

Federal authorities investigating clothing purchases linked to Mayor Cantrell

Updated: Nov. 16, 2022 at 10:11 PM CST
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By Lee Zurik, Ken Daley and Dannah Sauer
Clothing purchases on the mayor's behalf dating to 2017 are being scrutinized by the FBI, according to Fox 8 sources.

Outside the Office

ZURIK: Concerns about when Mayor Cantrell chooses to have security and when she doesn’t

Updated: Nov. 16, 2022 at 10:01 PM CST
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Mayor Cantrell has spent weeks traveling the country and globe this year, and has come under intense scrutiny as taxpayers foot the bill. Now, there are new questions about who is traveling with her, and when , and where Cantrell chooses to have security.

Outside the Office

ZURIK: Cantrell’s calendar raises more questions about time spent inside Upper Pontalba apartment

Updated: Nov. 15, 2022 at 10:47 PM CST
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
FOX 8 reviewed Mayor Cantrell’s calendar for the past three years. Our findings lead two political analysts to conclude the mayor might not be working as much as taxpayers may expect.

Outside the Office

ZURIK: Inspector General launches investigation into Cantrell’s use of city-owned apartment

Updated: Nov. 14, 2022 at 5:03 PM CST
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Sources say the Inspector General is looking into whether the mayor has been utilizing the apartment for personal use, which would be a violation of a city policy

Outside the Office

ZURIK: Calls for broader investigations into NOPD officer spending time with Mayor Cantrell outside the office

Updated: Nov. 10, 2022 at 10:02 PM CST
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Crime watchdog calls for broader NOPD investigation into the time Officer Jeffery Vappie logs on his timesheets.

Outside the Office

ZURIK: NOPD investigating officer frequently inside Cantrell’s city-owned apartment

Updated: Nov. 9, 2022 at 10:05 PM CST
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Surveillance video raises questions about how Mayor Cantrell is spending her time and taxpayer money outside the office.

Attention to the Details

ZURIK: Suspended NOPD lieutenant under federal investigation

Updated: Nov. 7, 2022 at 10:55 PM CST
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By Lee Zurik
The FBI is now investigating an NOPD Lieutenant accused of payroll fraud.

ZURIK

ZURIK: Report reveals no evidence found after Mayor accused deputy of following & photographing her

Updated: Nov. 4, 2022 at 6:52 PM CDT
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Report details the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office's investigation into the unfounded allegations that a member of the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office was following and photographing Mayor Cantrell.

ZURIK

ZURIK: Report details how Mayor Cantrell falsely accused deputy of following and photographing her

Updated: Nov. 4, 2022 at 12:56 PM CDT
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Allegations surfaced that Deputy Greg Malveaux, who serves as security for Council President Helena Moreno, was following her and taking pictures. Because of those allegations, Sheriff Susan Hutson temporarily reassigned Malveaux until the sheriff’s investigation declared the allegations “unfounded.”

ZURIK

ZURIK: Obscure provision in La. constitution allows government entities to avoid paying settlements indefinitely

Updated: Oct. 27, 2022 at 10:01 PM CDT
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
In Louisiana, a judge can rule that a municipality owes a plaintiff money, but despite that, the municipality never has to pay. New data shows it is mainly a New Orleans problem.

ZURIK

Zurik: Stalking allegations against Moreno’s security aide ‘unfounded,’ sheriff says

Updated: Oct. 18, 2022 at 4:24 PM CDT
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
An investigation launched by the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office into a longtime city council security aide found no evidence to back up claims Deputy Greg Malveaux stalked or surveilled Mayor LaToya Cantrell.

ZURIK

ZURIK: Mayor Cantrell unwilling to back up stalking allegations against Moreno’s security aide

Updated: Oct. 13, 2022 at 6:36 PM CDT
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Six days after an Orleans Parish deputy was reassigned over an allegation that he stalked Mayor LaToya Cantrell, the Mayor has been unwilling to back up the allegations.

ZURIK

Zurik: Councilmember calls for transparency after longtime deputy yanked from Moreno’s security detail

Updated: Oct. 13, 2022 at 6:54 AM CDT
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Sheriff Susan Hutson says she doesn’t address personnel matters, as questions mount over her decision to reassign a deputy.

ZURIK

ZURIK: Moreno alleges retaliation from Cantrell after longtime security aide yanked from team

Updated: Oct. 11, 2022 at 10:24 PM CDT
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Council President Helena Moreno believes Mayor LaToya Cantrell is trying to retaliate against her and says a member of her team has been wrongly dragged into the fight.

Outside the Office

ZURIK: Mayor Cantrell possibly violating policy using city-owned apartment for personal use

Updated: Sep. 29, 2022 at 4:37 PM CDT
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
A two-month-long FOX 8 investigation finds New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell is possibly breaking city policy and maybe even state law, spending much of her time at a city-owned apartment, possibly without paying rent.

ZURIK

Big Bucks, Big Buyouts: Public universities shell out millions of dollars firing coaches who didn’t win enough

Updated: Sep. 19, 2022 at 4:03 PM CDT
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By Jill Riepenhoff and Lee Zurik
For many college coaches, it pays to get fired. Over a 17-year period beginning in 2005, public universities have shelled out more than $1.1 billion in buying out the contracts of college coaches, according to an InvestigateTV analysis of NCAA financial data collected by Syracuse University. Most of that money was spent on football coaches who play at the highest level of Division I athletics. As football coaches' annual compensation now stretches into seven digits, massive severance payments also grow bigger and bigger.

ZURIK

ZURIK: New questions surrounding pay for former sheriff’s office employee

Updated: Sep. 7, 2022 at 11:12 PM CDT
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
A crime watchdog says invoices raise more questions about former Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office employee Timothy David Ray's pay before he was fired.

Empty Field of Dreams Investigation

$6.5 million secured for 9th Ward ‘Field of Dreams’ but more is needed

Updated: Sep. 7, 2022 at 5:04 PM CDT
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By Rob Krieger
The prior board in charge of building the field spent $1 million with nothing to show for it. Now a new group has stepped up to secure over $6.5 million.

ZURIK

ZURIK: Orleans Sheriff fires communications director after ethics board opinion, FOX 8 investigations

Updated: Sep. 1, 2022 at 10:27 PM CDT
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Sheriff Susan Hutson has fired her Chief Communications Officer Timothy David Ray, following FOX 8's investigations into his contract & invoices. The sheriff says the contract termination came after a draft opinion from the State Ethics Board that Ray's hiring violated state ethics laws.

ZURIK

ZURIK: Questions surround hiring, pay and invoices of Sheriff Hutson’s communications director

Updated: Aug. 31, 2022 at 11:03 PM CDT
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Invoices show the Director of Communications for the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office is on track to make $175,000 this year. But a political analyst and a crime watchdog question his experience, pay and invoices.

ZURIK

ZURIK: Questions over hiring at Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office

Updated: Aug. 30, 2022 at 10:20 PM CDT
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
New questions about the decision by the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office to hire the embattled former director of the Juvenile Justice and Intervention Center.

ZURIK

ZURIK: New Orleans council members push to rectify millions in unpaid judgments

Updated: Aug. 24, 2022 at 9:56 PM CDT
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
A new push to get payments to victims who sued the city but haven't gotten the money they're owed for years. Two council members now plan to take action after FOX 8's Drained investigations.

ZURIK

ZURIK: Questions surround Orleans Sheriff Susan Hutson’s lack of transparency

Updated: Aug. 18, 2022 at 10:10 PM CDT
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
When Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson took office, the change of command led to a change in communication. Her office has refused repeated requests from FOX 8 for information that the public has a right to know. Two experts believe the office is trying to punish FOX 8 for prior investigations into the man who now works as her Chief Communications Officer.

ZURIK

Defective: When government safety officials learned about 13 deaths tied to an infant rocker, a federal law prevented them from immediately alerting the public

Updated: Aug. 15, 2022 at 4:19 PM CDT
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By Jill Riepenhoff, Jamie Grey and Lee Zurik
After the deaths of 13 children over the last 12 years, this summer, Fisher-Price and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission warned parents not to let their children sleep in certain rockers the company has made since the 1990s. Now, InvestigateTV has discovered that during a 2021 Congressional hearing, the company dodged questions about whether it currently had products on the market linked to children’s deaths.

ZURIK

Sewerage & Water Board releases some records after FOX 8 lawsuit, refuses other requests

Updated: Aug. 2, 2022 at 5:59 PM CDT
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
The New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board started releasing some public records Tuesday (Aug. 2), one day after Fox 8 filed a lawsuit seeking the delayed documents.

ZURIK

Fox 8 sues New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board, executive director for public records

Updated: Aug. 1, 2022 at 5:34 PM CDT
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
FOX 8 filed a lawsuit against the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board and its Executive Director Ghassan Korban, after the board refused to provide public records and at times stopped responding to requests for updates.

ZURIK

ZURIK: New Orleans’ refusal to pay judgments leaves victims suffering

Updated: Jul. 27, 2022 at 11:01 PM CDT
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
The City of New Orleans has been ordered to pay tens of millions of dollars to people and businesses, but FOX 8 found in hundreds of cases, the city has refused to pay.

ZURIK

ZURIK: Former state trooper, subject of Fox 8 investigation, pleads guilty

Updated: Jul. 25, 2022 at 5:49 PM CDT
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Former Louisiana State trooper Daryl Thomas pleaded guilty to filing false public documents and theft accusations.

ZURIK

Zurik: Over 70,000 DNA samples sit untested in NOPD evidence collection

Updated: Jul. 20, 2022 at 10:03 PM CDT
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By Lee Zurik
If you’re a victim of a non-violent crime in New Orleans, numbers show DNA evidence collected from your crime scene will likely sit in storage forever.

ZURIK

Empty Field of Dreams: New group closer to making football stadium in Ninth Ward a reality

Updated: Jul. 6, 2022 at 10:02 PM CDT
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
The group who took over plans for a field of dreams in the Ninth Ward has raised federal and state money and is closer to making that dream a reality.

ZURIK

City of Kenner swore in former Police Chief Mike Glaser as the new mayor

Updated: Jul. 1, 2022 at 10:58 PM CDT
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By Lee Zurik
The city of Kenner swore in former Police Chief Mike Glaser today after beating incumbent Ben Zahn. He officially took office this morning.

ZURIK

Outgoing Kenner Mayor Ben Zahn cancels interview with FOX 8

Updated: Jun. 29, 2022 at 10:03 PM CDT
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
A representative for outgoing Kenner Mayor Ben Zahn reached out to FOX 8 saying Zahn wanted to do an interview, however, Zahn canceled just 24 hours before that interview was supposed to take place.

Investigations

La. nursing home owner charged with felony cruelty in deadly Ida evacuations

Updated: Jun. 22, 2022 at 1:13 PM CDT
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By Mykal Vincent
Seven people crammed into the warehouse died.

ZURIK

ZURIK: DNA backlog delaying justice for some families

Updated: May. 25, 2022 at 10:01 PM CDT
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By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
FOX 8 finds thousands of pieces of vital DNA evidence is sitting in storage at the State Crime Lab, waiting to be tested, preventing families from getting closure.
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