Tax dollars hard at work.

[Aatrex]

FEMA hurricane cards bought jewelry, erotica
Federal audit finds $1 billion in potential fraud

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- 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 cards -- given to people displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita -- also bought diamond jewelry and a vacation in the Dominican Republic, according to the Government Accountability Office audit.

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."

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. (GAO report)

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.

FEMA acknowledged its shortcomings late Tuesday.

Spokesman Aaron Walker said FEMA has "revamped the registration process" and has a contract with a company that will verify immediately the identity and address of anyone for assistance.

"We are confident in the system we have in place at this point," Walker said. "We are prepared for the upcoming season."

The GAO also found that FEMA provided housing assistance to people who were not displaced, including at least 1,000 prison inmates, and also provided rental assistance to people who were simultaneously living in free hotel rooms.

Results of the GAO's audit will be presented Wednesday to an investigative panel of the House Homeland Security Committee. FEMA is part of the Department of Homeland Security.

The GAO also found that FEMA lost track of 750 debit cards, worth a total of $1.5 million.

After inquiries from the GAO, FEMA recovered about half of that money, which had not been distributed by JPMorgan Chase, the bank hired to run the program. But the agency still cannot account for 381 cards, worth about $760,000 total, which JPMorgan Chase says it distributed, according to the GAO.

GAO investigators estimated that 16 percent of FEMA's disaster relief payments were made to people who submitted invalid registrations, to the tune of about $1 billion. Because the figures were calculated using a statistical sample, however, the agency said the amount could range from $600 million to as much as $1.4 billion.

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.

As part of its audit, the GAO used an undercover registrant who submitted a vacant lot as a damaged address.

FEMA paid the registrant $6,000 and even made payments after being notified by one its own inspectors, as well as an inspector for the Small Business Administration, that the damaged property could not be found, the GAO investigators found.

The GAO concluded that the potentially fraudulent payments were made because FEMA did not validate registrants' identities and the locations and ownership of purportedly damaged property.

While conceding that FEMA acted out of the need to provide assistance quickly, GAO investigators said the agency's own policies required additional verification before continuing payments.

The GAO study also found FEMA improperly provided rental assistance to people who were staying in hotels paid for by FEMA because the agency did not require hotels to collect Social Security numbers and FEMA registration information.

Without that information, FEMA could not verify if people were staying in hotels when they applied for rental assistance.

And because that information doesn't exist, GAO auditors said they could not determine how many people might have double-dipped -- or how much it cost the government.

Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.



No wonder it's a shithole.

[Martrae]

Who didn't know this was going to happen? Anyone? Anyone?

[Captain Insano]

Black people can't help but commit crime....thats why god leveled New Orleans. We weren't meant to help them.

[Darcler]

I was in the Starbucks in the Galleria (expensive mall around here), and some guy comes in wanting coffee with his Katrina debit. He got all mad when the cashier said they dont take debit cards. I thought someone was going to get shot.

[Granh]

Working in a hotel we saw a number of evacuees staying on FEMA's dime.

One of them sounded really fishy to us, even though we still were paid by the red cross. When asked for their FEMA papers and ID one of them gave us a license with a West Texas address, one gave a license from Oklahoma, and another gave his fucking mug shot and arrest papers from a city 15 miles away. They did have all the correct letters from FEMA and other than their ID they were ok.

Now, 9 months later, the FBI has asked for any information on this "family" we might have.

Don't bother asking what race they were.

[Agrajag]

OMG! RACIST! is what you would all say if Mindia had posted this.

[Darcler]

No one but Ralf mentioned race though.

I knew this was a bad idea as soon as it hit the news. Not because "blacks are evil" but because people in general are greedy assholes and would use the free money to buy shit, not to better their lives.

[Harrison]

Anyone surprised by this?

We fucking called it months ago.

[Zanchief]

The only reason this is newsworthy is because you guys love taking shots at these guys.

[Granh]

You're all wrong if you think the people in my story were black.

White trash can be some of the most greedy sneaky SOBs

[Jay]

It's sad that these people are taking advantage of this terrible situation. It's worse that the government is funding it and giving everyone else a reason to demonize them. How could they have NOT known that this wouldn't happen? I think if anything they didn't want to invest the time to hand out food, vouchers for shelter or clothing or anything of the sort. Take the easy way out. Give em a bunch of money and let em figure it out themselves.

[Captain Insano]

You're all wrong if you think the people in my story were black.

White trash can be some of the most greedy sneaky SOBs

absolutely... But if you look at the numbers for every 100 black people they have a much higher percentage of crime per person than any other race... I'm not talking 5 percent, I'm talking double or more.

My little gook liberal ex-girlfriend argued this with me and I went out and did some research on various government websites and proved her wrong.

You see its not very "PC" to discuss crime on a racial per person basis, so they always talk about totals. There are more caucasions in America than any other demographic so the total crime committed is still higher, but with a little basic math the real truth is revealed.

[Darcler]

Oklahoma gave it away for your story to be about white trash. There are no black people in Oklahoma

[Minrott]

Jesus christ I got lambasted by the hippies for even suggesting this might happen.

[Tikker]

eh, everyone knows americans are greedy fuckers

[Adivina]

Didn't we have this discussion months ago, and someone called me a fucking asshead for saying it would happen and bringing up evidence that is was already occuring?!? In fact, wasn't it Sorina that flipped on me for saying it?

[Tikker]

When has Sorina ever made sense though?

[Adivina]

Yup here was my post... boy I must be a fucking psychic... OH WAIT IT WAS COMMON SENSE :P

Btw Sorina - These cards are being used so responsibly:

Men are using them at strip clubs on a regular basis
People are buying x-boxes and playstation 2's

The large majority of these cards are being abused. I'm glad they gave them out just because of the few that use them correctly are benefiting. But really, did you expect anything else?

Oh and don't come here and talk shit to us about our comfy middle class shit. A lot of the people on this board grew up dirt fucking poor and have worked their way into being able to be comfortable. I call that earning it, and those who have done so deserve every bit of it without feeling any guilt.

[Tossica]

The hooker and cocaine business saw a sharp increase when those cards hit the market, I'm sure.

[kaharthemad]

The hooker and cocaine business saw a sharp increase when those cards hit the market, I'm sure.

only cause you had your hookers start carrying Creditcard machines around. Fucking asshat

[Drem]

You're all wrong if you think the people in my story were black.

White trash can be some of the most greedy sneaky SOBs

absolutely... But if you look at the numbers for every 100 black people they have a much higher percentage of crime per person than any other race... I'm not talking 5 percent, I'm talking double or more.

My little gook liberal ex-girlfriend argued this with me and I went out and did some research on various government websites and proved her wrong.

You see its not very "PC" to discuss crime on a racial per person basis, so they always talk about totals. There are more caucasions in America than any other demographic so the total crime committed is still higher, but with a little basic math the real truth is revealed.

If white people lived in projects we'd have the highest crime rate. I know you're a big proud republican racist and all, but it's not like they do crime for fun. They have to cut rocks and run with gangs and shit to put food on their family's table. I don't know how black crime ranks around the world, but I doubt anyplace else comes close to the US. And I bet if you could look into it, black crime in the US is only really staggering in certain places like new york and conneticut and georgia etc.

When I was reading this thread I knew someone was going to chime in about how all the black people fuck everything up. They got stranded and ignored by Bush during Katrina so I say fuck it, they deserve a $200 bottle of wine on FEMA's dime

[Evermore]

The hooker and cocaine business saw a sharp increase when those cards hit the market, I'm sure.

only cause you had your hookers start carrying Creditcard machines around. Fucking asshat

Card Swipe is in the asscheeks.


If you are actually suprised by this you should /delete IRL

[Mop]

ya cuz the thugs that steal from where i work needed that video game. You need food, then steal food dont tell me their stealing 80grand worth of ipods to feed their families.

[Markarado]

What happened to Sorina? Haven't him post in quite a while. We ban him? ;p

[Aatrex]

If white people lived in projects we'd have the highest crime rate. I know you're a big proud republican racist and all, but it's not like they do crime for fun. They have to cut rocks and run with gangs and shit to put food on their family's table. I don't know how black crime ranks around the world, but I doubt anyplace else comes close to the US. And I bet if you could look into it, black crime in the US is only really staggering in certain places like new york and conneticut and georgia etc.

When I was reading this thread I knew someone was going to chime in about how all the black people fuck everything up. They got stranded and ignored by Bush during Katrina so I say fuck it, they deserve a $200 bottle of wine on FEMA's dime

It unfortunately translates to the taxpayer's dime.