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The Federal Emergency Management Agency carelessly distributed an
estimated $1 billion in emergency rental and expedited aid for
victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. According to a Government
Accountability Office report issued June 14, 16 percent of
assistance payments distributed by FEMA were improperly used or
fraudulently obtained.
The GAO blamed "significant flaws" in the process of registering
victims for assistance that opened the agency to potential fraud.
That appears to be an understatement.
In the most galling case, a Texas man filed 19 applications for
assistance, then used the money to pay for a sex-change operation,
according to a report in The Chicago Tribune.
Also according to the GAO report:
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One individual obtained $139,000 by submitting applications
using 13 different Social Security numbers.
Eight individuals received $109,000 in assistance payments at
the same address despite FEMA rules that individuals displaced to
the same address would receive only one payment.
More than 1,000 registrations were made using names and Social
Security numbers of prison inmates.
Undercover GAO employees received payments for damage to homes
that didn't exist, one even after a FEMA agent confirmed the address
was fake.
Some debit cards that were supposed to be issued to victims to
help pay for necessities were spent inappropriately. Consider this
wry paragraph from the report: GAO "continued to find that debit
cards were used for items or services such as a Caribbean vacation,
professional football tickets, and adult entertainment, which do not
appear to be necessary to satisfy disaster-related needs as defined
by FEMA regulations."
Other debit card purchases included $300 worth of fireworks at a
San Antonio fireworks store; a $200 bottle of Dom Perignon champagne
at a Hooters restaurant; and $300 worth of "Girls Gone Wild" videos
at a Santa Monica, Calif., video store.
The entire report is available at http://www.gao.gov/.
The level of fraud this report details reveals an agency given
too much license to distribute too much money with little regard for
who got it. These mistakes must not be repeated. The waste
represents money that could have been more wisely spent in a time of
war and rising national deficits, or money that could have gone to
legitimate victims of this disaster.
Government must be more careful with taxpayer money, and that
means being particular about who is given disaster assistance and
how they spend it. |
Greer
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