FBI Pursues Fraud in the Wake of Katrina

The FBI is investigating an unspecified number of instances of fraud, corruption, and misuse of public office, all of which occured in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. Relief efforts resulted in an increased oppurtunity for unethical people to take advantage of the system. Agent John Raucci said there would be indictments, but he refused to indicate how many might be expected, or who might be targetted.



Understandably, details are sketchy. This is, after all, an ongoing investigation. It's nice to see something being done though. I hope it doesn't all turn out to be lip service. That would be a let-down.

The situation down there is mirroring the fiasco in Iraq, with the exception that there isn't quite so much money floating around. To my knowledge, Katrina reconstruction officials aren't lounging on pallettes stacked with shrink wrapped 100 dollar bills.

I know there have been a number of abuses since the disaster. It's amazing how some people can only think of money, even when lives are at stake all around them. Brings to mind images of those idiots trying to steal plasma televisions as the floodwaters rose.

This NYT article is a short read, talks a little about a report put out by the interior department, analyzing the response to Katrina. Apparently, there have been something like 80k pages of documents, including this Interior Department report, that detail specific failures on the part of various agencies, leading up to, during, and in the aftermath of the disaster.

Link

The examination of the Interior Department's role also says that some agency employees may have used government resources to repair their own homes, or the homes of friends or relatives, after the storm.

That's what caught my eye though, in relation to the topic of this thread. It provides some idea of one sort of fraud the FBI is investigating.