A $200 bottle of champagne from Hooters and $300 worth of “Girls Gone Wild” videos were among items bought with debit cards handed out by FEMA to help hurricane victims, auditors probing $1 billion in potential waste and fraud have found.
The GAO uncovered records showing that $1,000 from a FEMA debit card went to a Houston divorce lawyer; $600 was spent in a strip club and $400 was spent on “adult erotica products,” all of which auditors concluded were “not necessary to satisfy legitimate disaster needs.”
Aside from abuse of emergency funds handed out, the more critical issue was the inability of FEMA to manage and verify how someone qualified for assistance.
The GAO found that at least $1 billion in disaster relief payments by the Federal Emergency Management Agency were improper and potentially fraudulent because the recipients provided incomplete or incorrect information when they registered for assistance.
The GAO said the scope of the problem may be even larger, because it only looked at the validity of registration information and not at other forms of potential fraud.
Among other problems found with the registrations, according to the GAO study:
People signed up for assistance using Social Security numbers that didn’t exist or belonged to other people.
Aid applications contained bogus addresses for damaged property, or gave addresses for damaged property where the applicants did not live when the hurricanes struck. In one case, FEMA paid nearly $2,360 to a man whose allegedly damaged property was in a cemetery.
Payments were made to people who listed post office boxes as their damaged residences.
People submitted duplicate registrations, which FEMA did not detect.
More than 1,000 registrations used the names and Social Security numbers of prison inmates. According to the GAO, in one instance, FEMA paid $20,000 to a Louisiana prisoner who listed a post office box as his damaged property.
A business, a bank, a decent-sized corporation managed this poorly should end up with the grunts fired and the managers pilloried or indicted for fraud.
My favorite scam was the sex change operation
J/P=?
Agreed,
and I love the Wording…
‘potential ‘
WHAT?
If they ASKED any banker, they have the addresses of EVERY piece of property, and ITS VALUE. EVEN the City hall, should have the records, and the REALity agents in the areas also.
fire the idiots, and Fire there managers, then Process them in court, AS IF’ they can pay.
I seem to remember the complainers sayng that fema was being too restrictive in helping. damned if you do damned if you don’t. Us taxpayers get the bill either way.
Didn’t most of us know this was going to happen. Five years ago here there was a small storm that passed through. The local paper documented that over half the residence of a local federal housing project put in claims. There was no flooding or wind damage, most of the claims was for lightning damage taking out TV’s and window AC units. They thought FEMA was just another federal handout. There was very few claims away from this area. FEMA paid most of the claims quickly because they were in the $500 range.
The only way to eliminate corruption in high places…
Wow, you give poor people debit cards with thousands of dollars on them and they blow the money? Who would thunk it?
How do you avoid doing things like this when you’re handling that much money. If you monitor every transaction, that’ll cost you more than you save.
Again a smoke screen hiding the greater evil of megacorporations ripping off billions with the cooperation and complicity of the government.
Was there some pilfering? Of course. But don’t just blame poor people. Even some rich corporations (hey I am not against corporations, I own one) are fond of scamming the government and the public. Just look at Enron and some of the less then honest contractors in Iraq.
I believe these people thought they were given the money to use as needed. They probably paid for the divorce lawyer because that was the best way to give him the money and they used their available cash for groceries and shelter.
The truth is, many of these people lost what little they had. They needed to make it up some way and some made questionable choices. However, I was not there nor would I have wanted to change places with them.
Did some people steal? Yes, shame on them. Did we create a situation where they felt this was easier than doing the right thing? Did we make it unlikely that they could do anything else?
Was the government and we taxpayers taken advantage of? Yep. Just add these few millions to the almost trillion dollar fiasco in Iraq. Both of these losses were political knee jerks that have cost us our dignity, our best people, and quite a bit of money.
Let’s get more vigilant on every front and ask where the money is going. Let’s offer to help more readily and suggest changes on all levels. We are a strong, diverse people who are capable of so much better than what we have settled on.
Well, just because some a-holes blew the money irresponsibly, doesn’t mean many others didn’t use the money for it’s intended purpose, and wouldn’t have gotten through the rough times without it.
I wouldn’t punish everyone (i.e. not do this again) because of a few bad apples.
“Again a smoke screen hiding the greater evil of megacorporations ripping off billions with the cooperation and complicity of the government.”
Maybe so, but that has nothing to do with this story.
The GAO uncovered records showing that $1,000 from a FEMA debit card went to a Houston divorce lawyer; $600 was spent in a strip club and $400 was spent on “adult erotica products,”
“It takes two to tango”
Are said lawyer, strip club, and adult “boutique” facing any penalties for blithely accepting these FEMA cards as payment?
“I wouldn’t punish everyone (i.e. not do this again) because of a few bad apples.”
Since when has not giving hand-outs been punishment?
The government is only responsible for THEIR areas.
state is responsible for state roads and State facilities.
Fed’s for Federal roads, and building.
countires for county..
Thats Why there is INSURRANCE on homes, and property…
WHy are we paying the INSURRANCE claims???
another company BUY OUT..
Did anyone notice the contractors getting payed $92,000 to install a blue plastic tarp on damaged roofs? There are tens of thousands of these tarps installed and they should have only cost a few hundred dollars installed AT MOST.
its fraudulent thiefs like the ones that put in false aplications that make it SOO hard for honest people to get help when they need it, those people should be placed on a nice lil island, given seeds and two cows and told that everyone caried them now they can do it for themselfs.
nothing i wouldnt do if i was a thief and a lier.
Hooters has sent a check to the goverment for 200.00……they didn’t want to be involved in a rip off.
ANd we are paying off, the Insurrance, that SHOULD have been paid by the land owner, and Insurrance companies…
wouldnt mind getting a copy of girls gone wild.. anyone know what FEMAS number is right off hand?