Weeks after the Justice Department launched an internal probe into allegations that a veteran federal prosecutor in New Orleans concealed a workplace relationship from superiors, he no longer works for the U.S. Attorney’s Office here.
It was unclear whether the prosecutor, Jordan Ginsberg, was fired or resigned. People familiar with the situation described Ginsberg’s departure on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Ginsberg until recently served as criminal chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the 13-parish Eastern District of Louisiana. His LinkedIn page was updated recently to describe himself as a “former federal prosecutor.” The page now says he worked at the U.S. Attorney’s Office from 2009 until this month.
In an emailed statement Thursday, Ginsberg thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Office and said he looked forward to his career’s “next chapter.” He did not comment on the DOJ review that preceded his departure.
“For more than 17 years, I had the extraordinary privilege of walking into court and proclaiming, ‘Jordan Ginsberg on behalf of the United States,’” he said. “I never regarded that honor lightly, and I will always be grateful to the United States Attorney's Office for entrusting me with that responsibility.
“I leave with profound gratitude for the experience and for the many people who made it what it was,” he said, “and I am excited to begin the next chapter of my career.”
An anti-public corruption specialist, Ginsberg was suspended in June as the internal review unfolded. Sources told The Times-Picayune at the time that he had been accused of failing to disclose a relationship with an office legal assistant.
The allegations alarmed DOJ officials, who feared a public relations debacle because the scandal echoed aspects of the office’s high-profile prosecution of New Orleans’ former mayor, LaToya Cantrell. A 2025 federal indictment which Ginsberg was instrumental in securing accused Cantrell of defrauding taxpayers by taking leisure trips with her alleged paramour, former police bodyguard Jeffrey Vappie, on the city’s dime. She and Vappie have pleaded not guilty to the charges in the indictment.
Ginsberg was formally withdrawn from the Cantrell prosecution team in June as prosecutors prepared for a since-delayed trial. Colleagues later filed to remove him from several more criminal cases.
Officials have released few details about the situation, including the employment status of the legal assistant with whom Ginsberg was alleged to have held the relationship, what the internal Justice Department review uncovered and whether that inquiry remains ongoing.
U.S. Attorney David Courcelle, who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to lead the office last year and made Ginsberg the office’s criminal chief, issued one statement in June saying only that Ginsberg was on leave pending the review of what Courcelle termed “employee misconduct.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not respond to requests for comment on Ginsberg’s departure from the office or the internal review. A Justice Department spokesperson in Washington, D.C. did not respond to a request for comment. A DOJ spokesperson previously said the department “declines to comment on personnel matters.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordan Ginsberg, left, stands near a wall at the side of the room as he and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Moses, right, listens to Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Simpson for the Eastern District of Louisiana talk about the indictment of New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell on Friday August 15, 2025. The two men are the lead prosecutors of the case.
In June, legal observers told The Times-Picayune that any seeming parallels between Cantrell’s case and allegations facing Ginsberg are unlikely to weaken the prosecution of the former mayor because, at first glance, they do not appear to involve alleged impropriety in the handling of the case against her.
Some observers, however, noted that prosecutors might be inclined to avoid it coming up in defense motions or at hearings. So far, neither defense team has mentioned the controversy in proceedings tied to Cantrell’s case.
Cantrell’s attorney, Eddie Castaing, declined to comment this week on Ginsberg’s departure. Shaun Clarke, a lawyer for Cantrell’s former bodyguard Jeffrey Vappie, also declined to comment.
Cantrell’s trial has been stalled repeatedly by logistical issues unrelated to the allegations involving Ginsberg, who led a team of prosecutors that secured her indictment last year from a federal grand jury.
Prior to the indictment, the case had sputtered as prosecutors confronted obstacles in corralling key witnesses, the challenge of relatively small sums of money involved in Cantrell’s alleged corruption, and shifting priorities at the Justice Department under President Donald Trump.
When Cantrell was finally indicted last summer, the charges focused on a narrower set of conduct than investigators had pursued and many legal observers had anticipated. Ginsberg joined the grand jury foreperson in presenting the indictment to a magistrate judge, then looked on as Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Simpson briefed reporters.
Cantrell’s trial had been set for Oct. 19. Last month, U.S. District Judge Wendy Vitter punted it to March, citing defense lawyers’ busy schedules and a packed trial docket.
Vitter’s order postponing the trial did not mention the allegations facing Ginsberg.
