The first defendant charged in the Hurricane Ida insurance fraud case built around McClenny Moseley and Associates (MMA) is headed toward a guilty plea, the Guardian reported, citing federal court records in New Orleans.
Richard William Huye III, 34, is scheduled to appear at a rearraignment hearing on September 28 in New Orleans's federal courthouse. Rearraignments are typically held when a defendant agrees to abandon a not-guilty plea as part of a deal with prosecutors rather than proceed to trial. A separate arraignment hearing is scheduled 90 minutes earlier the same day.
Huye was charged on August 28 with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. It was the first criminal filing from a years-long investigation into MMA, according to the Guardian. He faces up to five years in prison and a fine of about $250,000 if convicted, though defendants who plead guilty typically receive lighter sentences.
The bill of information charging Huye names an MMA associate only as "co-conspirator 1." That person's description closely matches MMA managing partner Zach Moseley. Bills of information, filed in place of grand jury indictments, frequently signal a defendant's intent to cooperate with prosecutors pursuing others connected to the case. If Huye does cooperate, the federal investigation's focus on MMA's broader leadership could intensify.
Court filings allege that Huye helped MMA open a New Orleans office within days of Hurricane Ida making landfall as a Category 4 storm on August 29, 2021. MMA then worked with Alabama roofing company Apex Roofing and Restoration. Apex signed storm victims to assignment of benefits (AOB) agreements that transferred their insurance claim rights to the contractor, then passed those claims to MMA. Prosecutors say MMA told insurers it represented the homeowners, without disclosing its relationship with Apex or, in some cases, without the homeowners' knowledge.
Louisiana's legal ethics code prohibited paying non-attorneys to recruit clients, but MMA used an online advertising agency named Velawcity to sign up thousands of storm victims. Eight Louisiana homeowners are named in the charging document. Most received nothing meant to repair their roofs, or had their settlements cut by attorney fees they never authorized.
AOB arrangements are legal instruments that appear routinely in post-catastrophe claims handling. The MMA case shows how they can be turned against the policyholders they exist to protect, and how quickly a disorganized post-disaster claims environment creates space for that kind of abuse.
Louisiana regulators imposed a record $2 million in fines on MMA, Huye, and founding partners James McClenny and Zach Moseley in 2023. The Louisiana Supreme Court suspended Huye from practicing law. MMA later filed for federal bankruptcy protection in Houston in 2024.
The federal charge operates on different ground from the state penalties. In January 2025, a Louisiana administrative law judge ruled that the state insurance department lacked authority to enforce its own fines and cease-and-desist orders against MMA. The criminal proceeding is not subject to that constraint.
Huye's case is one of two major federal insurance fraud prosecutions in Louisiana, the Guardian reported. The other involved more than 60 people convicted in a staged vehicle accident scheme that generated fraudulent claims against 18-wheelers.
