A state district judge this afternoon threw out all of the evidence against Corey delaHoussaye, a Livingston Parish businessman who blew the whistle on questionable practices in the cleanup that followed Hurricane Gustav, forcing prosecutors to dismiss the case.
State District Judge Brenda Ricks this afternoon ruled that all of the evidence gathered by the Louisiana Inspector General’s Office in an effort to make a criminal case against the former contractor for alleged billing fraud was obtained illegally, according to John McLindon, delaHoussaye’s attorney. McLindon says prosecutors subsequently announced they would dismiss the case.
“I’m just glad it’s over; I’m glad this chapter is behind me,” delaHoussaye tells Daily Report. “It’s a shame that the guy who stood up and exposed fraud has been prosecuted as much as I have. I just feel vindicated. I have said all along this was nothing more than malicious prosecution and I was right. I was right about FEMA and I was about this.”
delaHoussaye’s firm, C-del, was hired to act as an advocate for Livingston Parish government in its negotiations with FEMA to secure repayment for cleanup efforts following Hurricane Gustav in 2009. After becoming concerned about mismanagement in the debris removal program, he subsequently became a federal informant.
Shortly after taking office in 2012, Livingston Parish President Layton Ricks—who had been employed by Alvin Fairburn & Associates while the firm was working as a Gustav debris cleanup monitor for the parish—stopped payment on a final $379,000 check for C-del’s consulting work issued by former Parish President Mike Grimmer, alleging concerns about billing fraud.
The subsequent criminal case against delaHoussaye was widely viewed as political retaliation. Many concerns delaHoussaye raised were affirmed last summer when the U.S. Civilian Board of Contract Appeals denied the parish’s $59 million in claims for reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“Even though she [Judge Brenda Ricks] threw out the evidence, had case gone to trial, Corey would have been acquitted anyway,” McLindon says. “The evidence was overwhelming he never submitted false billings.”
Prosecutors could not be reached prior to this afternoon’s deadline. Read more about delaHoussaye’s role as a whistleblower in a Business Report feature from last year.
—Penny Font
