A Texas lawyer and six co-defendants are now facing a reduced indictment of 73 charges, instead of 95, at federal trial on accusations that they faked more than 40,000 damage claims after the BP oil spill in 2010. Online court …
This year, extensive flooding has already affected parts of Texas and Louisiana. With more rain producing floods forecasted for the southern part of the U.S. this spring, the likelihood of disaster fraud increases. Disaster-related fraud affects auto, homeowners and commercial …
Officials say a volunteer with the American Red Cross allegedly defrauded the agency out of $20,000 by filing false claims. Attorney General Jim Hood says 43-year-old Wanda Perkins, of Gulfport, Miss., was charged with mail and wire fraud, false pretense …
A former county judge was sentenced to 33 months in prison Thursday after admitting he rigged the bidding for federally funded relief work following a 2009 tornado and received money back from a contractor. Former Ouachita County Judge Mike Hesterly, …
A former New Orleans, La., pastor who embezzled nearly $1 million in disaster relief aid in the wake of Hurricane Katrina has asked a federal judge to shorten his prison sentence by several years. The Rev. Toris Young, who has …
Disaster fraud was discussed at length at the 2014 Conference on Insurance Fraud & Auto Theft held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana last month. Walter Green, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana said the National Center for Disaster Fraud …
A woman who worked for a southwest Missouri disaster relief agency has been sentenced to prison for a fraud scheme following the deadly Joplin tornado. The U.S. attorney’s office says Herlana Latham, of Memphis, Tennessee, was sentenced Tuesday to 14 …
Two more New Jersey residents face allegations of filing fraudulent applications for Superstorm Sandy aid. Acting Attorney General John Hoffman says 53-year-old Carol Suto of Clifton and 56-year-old Debra Weigman of Berkeley Township both claimed that storm-damaged homes were their …
A 51-year-old Vancleave, Miss., man who claimed he caught 1,000 pounds of shrimp a day before the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is going to prison over $36,300. That’s how much he received in oil-spill recovery money by claiming he owned …
A federal grand jury in Connecticut has returned an indictment charging a 41-year-old man with fraudulently securing federal assistance by claiming that he was a victim of a series of tornadoes that killed four people and destroyed more than 1,400 …