A businessman who became a whistleblower over millions of dollars billed for debris cleanup in Livingston Parish in the aftermath Hurricane Gustav is suing the Louisiana Office of the Inspector General and its investigators, alleging malicious prosecution, invasion of privacy and defamation.
Corey delaHoussaye’s lawsuit, filed Monday afternoon in Baton Rouge state court, comes a little over a month after a criminal case against him fell apart when a Livingston Parish judge ruled the key evidence gathered by the Louisiana Inspector General’s Office was obtained illegally. Based on that evidence, Livingston Parish District Attorney Scott Perrilloux back in 2013 charged delaHoussaye with 81 counts related to alleged overbilling for his consulting work.
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 questionable activity in the debris removal program, he subsequently became a federal informant. Many of the concerns delaHoussaye raised were affirmed in the summer of 2014 when the U.S. Civilian Board of Contract Appeals denied the parish’s $59 million in claims for FEMA reimbursement.
delaHoussaye’s lawsuit names Inspector General Stephen Street; former Baton Rouge Police Chief and East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff Greg Phares, now an administrator in the Inspector General’s Office; and former investigator Jessica McCrary Webb. Reached this morning, Street says he had not yet been served with the lawsuit and could not comment.
The lawsuit, which has been assigned to Judge Michael Caldwell, notes the OIG—accompanied by armed deputies—raided delaHoussaye’s home in the early morning hours on July 25, 2013. That was eight days after the actual warrant was issued and coincided with a Livingston Parish Council vote that was to take place that evening to compensate delaHoussaye for his consulting work.
delaHoussaye also alleges the OIG subpoenaed his gym records beyond the dates encompassed by the investigation, as well as medical records. Some of those records subsequently turned up in Livingston Parish’s civil case against FEMA, which was not a part of the criminal matter. “In the course of its investigation,” New Orleans attorney Al Robert Jr. writes, “the Inspector General needlessly made public [delaHoussaye’s] medical records and the fact that he visited a tanning booth at his health club.”
Perrilloux, aided by the OIG, pursued the criminal case against delaHoussaye despite the fact that a grand jury declined to indict him in November 2013 and a district judge in February 2015 found there was no probable cause for the charges. Of the judge who ruled probable cause was lacking, the district attorney told media this: “Just because they wear a black robe doesn’t mean they know everything.”
The criminal charges were widely believed to be retribution for delaHoussaye’s work as a whistleblower, as well as his unsuccessful political campaign to unseat Livingston Parish Assessor Jeff Taylor. Taylor’s wife, Delia, supplied testimony against delaHoussaye that helped launch the criminal investigation, although the related charges were dropped before the rest of the case fell apart.
delaHoussaye’s lawsuit alleges the OIG lacks the authority to conduct criminal investigations or subpoena private records. The businessman claims that because of the OIG’s actions, he was forced to shutter his company, has been otherwise unemployable because of the lingering criminal charges, and suffered personal humiliation and embarrassment. He seeks unspecified monetary damages.
—Penny Font
