Former New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell is cashing out her pension.
According to our partners at NOLA.com, Cantrell, 53, is taking a one-time payment of $69,500, rather than waiting until retirement age, when she could draw a monthly benefit.
This move locks in her retirement benefit, even if she is convicted on federal charges of fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
State law allows judges to order people convicted of public corruption to forfeit their public retirement benefits.
Cantrell and her former NOPD bodyguard, Jeffrey Vappie, are scheduled to go on trial in October.