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Billions of Dollars in Damage Followed by Billions of Dollars in Fraud
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ShareAugust 28, 2006 11:20 AM
Tina Marie Winston says she watched in horror a year ago as her two daughters, aged five and six, were swept away and drowned during Hurricane Katrina. She collected $5,600 from FEMA for her "pain and suffering" to help pay for her daughters' burial.
It was a heartbreaking story, but, according to federal prosecutors, it was also a lie. They say her two daughters did not die. In fact, they never existed. She was in southern Illinois, 662 miles from New Orleans, when Katrina happened. She has pled not guilty to federal fraud charges.
Her case is one of some 7,000 suspected cases of fraud by people accused of cashing in on the billions in emergency aid. According to Congressional investigators, more than a billion dollars was handed out to people who found FEMA was an easy target for fraud in the days after the hurricane.
"FEMA received over two-and-a-half million applications for individual assistance. You could call in by telephone, make an application, you could do it on the internet, or you could do it in person, " says David Dugas, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana who heads the Katrina Fraud Task Force out of Baton Rouge. "And FEMA would send them the assistance because that's what it was for."
In Biloxi, Miss., prosecutors say an overgrown lot, which had been empty for years, was one of 19 fake addresses used by Lawanda Williams to collect a total of $277,000 in taxpayer money from FEMA. No one ever checked her information, and she has since pled not guilty.
"Last year, we did not have the ability to perform an identity verification on over half of our registrants," explained David Garrett, the Acting Director of Recovery at FEMA.
Using the same method as Williams, according to prosecutors, Houston hairdresser Michael Green (pictured above) collected some $36,000 from FEMA. He too has pled not guilty, but the controversy surrounding Green isn't only over the money but rather what he allegedly used it for -- a sex-change operation.
Green's lawyer categorically denies that he used the money for a sex-change operation, and in fact, won't confirm Green had the operation at all, but pictures of him show a man with longish dyed hair and large breasts.
Such cases outrage the real victims of Hurricane Katrina.
"It's fraud; it's wrong; it's illegal," says Pastor Randy Millet of St. Bernard's Parish in New Orleans, who counsels dozens in his congregation who really have lost their homes and loved ones in Hurricane Katrina. "It's a slap in the face to the people who really lost everything."
Federal prosecutors have charged more than 370 people with fraud and are working through a list of some 7,000 leads. Dugas has a warning for those who think they've gotten away with scamming the system.
"For those who tried and think they got away with it, we have five years to find you," he says, "and bring you to justice."
August 28, 2006 in Hurricane Katrina | Permalink | User Comments (7)
You have to be kidding!!! Insurance Companies defraud US for Billions and you come u0p with $5600, I dont' think anyone should steal, BUT stop NOT reporting on the real thieves, the Insurance Co and the Big Corps that support them
Posted by: Insrance Survivor | Aug 28, 2006 1:00:49 PM
Haste makes waste....!!! But this is ridiculous. Rather of being accused of not "caring", billions have been lost or untraceable. And billions will continue to be lost in fraudulent claims. The Government is doing its part by shoveling money into the region in part to keep the liberal media from further accusing the Bush Administration of being insensitive and non-caring. So as taxpayers, we smile and watch our money disappear with gay abandonment.
Posted by: ShareHolder | Aug 28, 2006 3:45:23 PM
We are america, our nation sets examples to others in the world. We have the capability to send the money to those who are in need if we realy tried. We could if the government stoped concentrating on the world and working on the United States. We are able to rebulid the gulf coast without having our money fly here and there. The US government should organize the rebuliding plan, they must make sure where there money is going. As the american public we want our tax money to be sent to our fellow americans, not to others who dont care about the gulf coast and just care about themselves. We want to do it right and fast. We want to see New orleans and Mississippi to shine one more time.
Posted by: Khalid | Aug 28, 2006 4:51:36 PM
They need to make them repay (if proven guilty) with credit card interest. Don’t jail them because it would cost us more tax dollars.
Posted by: BB | Aug 28, 2006 9:00:01 PM
Insurance is one of the biggest racket's in our current economy. But that gives no-one the right to stoop to their level. The money would go to the right people if the government cared enough (translation: could make a profit off of it). I agree with Khalid. We as a nation need to start worrying about the people who live here first. If everyone in this country was accounted for, people in this country could begin to explore the possibility of helping others abroad. Kind of tough to consider when the government is hell-bent on turning a profit on a never-ending war, at the expense of young American lives.....American lives that will never share the same last names as the higher-ups who sent them there. God Bless the American People.
Posted by: Dustin Handley | Aug 29, 2006 12:11:24 PM
I learned how O'Phra set on line shops up where we can actually purchase things for these families they can use, without the government. I have done cad drawings for the habitat and this is really helping people without the government. We are human but we have to be personally involved. Everything else is too open for corruption. We can still make a difference and contribe even today.
Posted by: burrus | Aug 30, 2006 12:17:05 AM
Why no story about Haliburton, Bechtel and the other no-bid $Billion contracts?
This is the best our government and media can do: attack the poor and be silent on the Corporate Disaster Profiteering!
Meanwhile, no shortage of coverage for Bush photo-ops.
Posted by: bascombe | Aug 31, 2006 4:29:40 PM
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