Mississippi Judge Orders Rosemary Barbour to Pay Damages

A federal claims court has ordered Rosemary Barbour to pay more than $350,000 in penalties and damages to FEMA in what the judge described as a scheme to defraud the government on a post-Hurricane Katrina contract.

The decision by Judge Christine Odell Cook Miller of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims was issued Aug. 24. The court hears contract cases against the federal government.

Alcatec LLC, which is owned by Barbour – who is married to the Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour’s nephew and Hinds County Supervisor Charles Barbour – received nearly $6.4 million in contracts for Katrina disaster relief.

She filed a claim against FEMA in 2008, alleging she was still owed money on the contract. FEMA filed a counter claim which resulted in the judge’s ruling.