A Texas hotel owner says his medical condition led him to unintentionally defraud the federal government over Katrina disaster relief claims. 

Daniel Yeh, the owner of the Flagship Hotel in Galveston, Texas, had enrolled in a FEMA program that reimbursed hotels for providing free lodging for Katrina evacuees.  Yeh is accused of filing false claims totaling over $200,000 for guests who were not evacuees.

Yeh is facing trial for 22 counts of wire fraud and 17 counts of filing false claims.  But Yeh's attorney, Robert Bennett, said his client's judgment at the time was severely impaired by a pre-existing brain tumor that led him to misunderstand the rules of the FEMA program.  According to Bennett, "The brain tumor affected his frontal lobe, the center for rational thought -- essentially all executive decision-making."   

At a pre-trial hearing, Bennett claimed Yeh's medical condition made him unable to assist in his own defense and understand the charges brought against him. A court-appointed forensic psychiatrist confirmed Yeh's condition and agreed that he was incompetent to stand trial. 

During the hearing, prosecutors hotly contested Yeh's alleged incompetency. Nancy Herrera of the U.S. Attorney's Office said, "The U.S. presented evidence which showed that during the time that Mr. Yeh was engaging in these claims to FEMA he was teaching a college-level class at the University of Houston."  Herrera added that in December of 2005 Yeh negotiated the sale of a $1.2 million hotel in Oklahoma City. 

A district court judge is expected to decide shortly on whether or not Yeh should stand trial.

According to Bennett, Yeh is no longer running the hotel and has paid the government back for the disputed charges.