John W. Houghtaling II

John Houghtaling is an attorney, entrepreneur, oil and gas executive, TV personality, actor, and amateur racing driver. In 2014, Houghtaling appeared on an episode of Inside Man with Morgan Spurlock. He is currently the CEO of an oil and gas export company, American Ethane and is managing partner of the law firm of Gauthier, Houghtaling.

John W. Houghtaling II, the managing partner and majority owner of Gauthier, Houghtaling LLP, a law firm with a 42 year old legacy that paved the way to the $358 billion U.S. tobacco settlement in 1998, and won settlements and verdicts in an additional $4 bn. In 2005, Houghtaling served as special counsel to the Attorney General of Louisiana in the litigation of policyholder rights in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. His firm secured hundreds of millions of dollars in insurance funds to rebuild thousands of properties in several states.

Houghtaling collected hundreds of millions of dollars for hurricane victims in Katrina, Ike, Gustave and Sandy. In 2014, Houghtaling was appointed plaintiffs liaison counsel by the United States Federal Court for the Eastern District. He uncovered fraud within the FEMA Flood Insurance program. He represented over a thousand property owners in New York and New Jersey; the legal victories of his team led FEMA to admit that third parties committed fraud to underpay storm victims. FEMA then reopened the program for over 144,000 storm victims.

Houghtaling was also involved in the energy sector, where was CEO of Ocean Therapy Solutions, an oil service company founded with Kevin Costner that provided devices that assisted with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. In 2013 he co-founded and became CEO of American Ethane.

In 2012, Houghtaling married Russian pop star and model Julia Timonina. They live together in New Orleans with their daughter Alisia. Together they own the historic Brown Mansion on St. Charles Avenue a 22,000 square foot Mansion built at the turn of the century by the Cotton King of New Orleans, W.P. Brown.

Houghtaling's career was featured in a documentary on the Inside Man series hosted by Morgan Spurlock. Houghtaling has also been a legal commentator