The abuse of FEMA funds was used for things I would never have imagined.

A divorce attorney claims he did not know.

“I do Katrina victims all the time,” Lipkin, the divorce attorney, told The Associated Press. “I didn’t know anybody did that with me. I don’t think it’s right, obviously.”
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But somebody wants to make the abusers pay.

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Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the subcommittee overseeing an investigation of post-hurricane aid, called the bogus spending “an assault on the American taxpayer.”

“Prosecutors from the federal level down should be looking at prosecuting these crimes and putting the criminals who committed them in jail for a long time,” he said.
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FEMA claims they were checking, but investigators have proven the checks were not good enough.

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To dramatize the problem, investigators provided lawmakers with a copy of a $2,358 U.S. Treasury check for rental assistance that an undercover agent received using a bogus address. The money was paid even after FEMA learned from its inspector that the undercover applicant did not live at the address.

FEMA spokesman Aaron Walker said Tuesday that the agency, already criticized for a poor response to Katrina, makes its highest priority during a disaster “to get help quickly to those in desperate need of our assistance.”

“Even as we put victims first, we take very seriously our responsibility to be outstanding stewards of taxpayer dollars, and we are careful to make sure that funds are distributed appropriately,” Walker said.
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FEMA’s estimate for the amount of abuse comes in way under what the GAO is reporting. Which means the actual number is probably well above what even the GAO estimated.

FEMA said it has identified more than 1,500 cases of potential fraud after Katrina and Rita and has referred those cases to the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general. The agency said it has identified $16.8 million in improperly awarded disaster relief money and has started efforts to collect the money.

The GAO said it was 95 percent confident that improper and potentially fraudulent payments were much higher – between $600 million and $1.4 billion.
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Just look at some of the other mess relief money was spent on.

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In another instance, FEMA paid an individual $2,358 in rental assistance, while at the same time paying about $8,000 for the same person to stay 70 nights at more than $100 per night in a Hawaii hotel.

FEMA also could not establish that 750 debit cards worth $1.5 million even went to Katrina victims, the auditors said.

Among the items purchased with the cards:

_An all-inclusive, one-week Caribbean vacation in the Punta Cana resort in the Dominican Republic.

_Five season tickets to New Orleans Saints professional football games.

_Adult erotica products in Houston and “Girls Gone Wild” videos in Santa Monica, Calif.

_Dom Perignon champagne and other alcoholic beverages in San Antonio.
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The names of prison inmates in other states were used in some of the fraud. Imagine being a thief in prison and the victim of identity theft .

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FEMA paid millions of dollars to more than 1,000 registrants who used names and Social Security numbers belonging to state and federal prisoners for expedited housing assistance. The inmates were in Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and Florida.
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An example that proves FEMA was doing a terrible job at checking information:

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FEMA made about $5.3 million in payments to registrants who provided a post office box as their damaged residence, including one who got $2,748 for listing an Alabama post office box as the damaged property.
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And another:

The GAO told of an individual who used 13 different Social Security numbers – including the person’s own – to receive $139,000 in payments on 13 separate registrations for aid. All the payments were sent to a single address.

Now some people have said that they should have just been given cash or each given a single large check, to spend as they pleased. But even if that were tried I’m sure there would be abuse involving people getting multiple payments. And with one large payout the abuse may have cost us even more. I was thinking just giving them each a check might be a good idea and less expensive than audits, but given there would still be abuse I’m now thinking things would have been even worse regarding the expense and abuse because of the larger single payouts.

What this all proves is that many of the the victims probably did not need much money in the way of relief to begin with. Good people with large families or large expenses before the hurricane hit probably used the money for their needs, but many others obviously did not “need” the money or they would not have abused it.

Personally I’m all for the government pulling people from a flooded home, putting them on dry soil and leaving them the fend for themselves or rely on charities from there. I just don’t feel it’s government’s job to play mother to anyone that encounters an issue. Granted the money was available, so I don’t blame anyone who did not abuse it and took the money. But charity is best done by the church and people who wish to give of their own free well. Sure charity donations were abused too, but people can better hold them accountable for fraud, by selecting another charity next time if better checks are not in place. That’s not as easily done with the government, that takes our money and even abuses it themselves.

Hat tip to reader brooklyn.