Press Releases
BILOXI MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO KATRINA FRAUD
TUESDAY,SEPTEMBER 18, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
GULFPORT, Miss. – George B. Buckley, II, a Biloxi resident, entered a guilty plea in U.S. District Court today to charges of submitting false claims for Hurricane Katrina disaster assistance funds, U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton announced today.
Buckley pled guilty to an indictment charging him with filing a false claim with FEMA for disaster assistance, making false statements to FEMA, theft of government funds, and wire fraud. Buckley received $19,062.87, from FEMA. He was incarcerated with the State of Mississippi at the time of Hurricane Katrina and filed his claim the day after he was released on November 21, 2005.
Buckley will be sentenced on December 17, 2007 in U.S. District Court in Gulfport.
In September, 2005, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales created the national Hurricane Katrina Fraud Task Force, designed to deter, investigate and prosecute disaster-related federal crimes such as charity fraud, identity theft, procurement fraud and insurance fraud. The Hurricane Katrina Fraud Task Force - chaired by Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, Alice S. Fisher, includes members from the FBI, the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, the Postal Inspector’s Office and the Executive Office of United States Attorneys, among others.
Pursuant to the Justice Department initiative, a local Katrina Fraud Task Force, consisting of over 20 Federal and State law enforcement agencies, was formed in the Southern District of
Mississippi to pursue and prosecute individuals who engage in fraud associated with the hurricanes.
If anyone has information concerning possible fraud being committed during the post-Katrina recovery effort, please call either the DHS-OIG Fraud Hotline at 1-866-720-5721 or the FBI Fraud Hotline at 1-800-225-5324.
