Seven plead guilty in Gulf oil spill settlement fraud

Fuel Fix ^ | September 24, 2013 | Associated Press

[thackney]

Seven people have pleaded guilty to stealing money from an oil spill settlement fund, Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange announced Monday.

Five of the defendants were charged with theft of property. They’re collectively ordered to pay more than $20,000 in restitution, officials said.

The defendants were indicted by a Mobile County grand jury on accusations that they created fake documents to file fraudulent claims saying they had lost income because of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.

Defendants who were paid from the settlement fund have been sentenced to between one and five years in prison. Their sentences will be suspended and they’ll get probation if each pays court costs and restitution to BP, Strange said.

[thackney]

Excerpted for AP content

[Brad from Tennessee]

Instead of going through the courts Obama and his crony BP set up this $20 billion fund administered by a political hack who has been paid millions. I'm wondering how much of that fund has been diverted to campaign treasuries or offshore accounts.

[Still Thinking]

And Dem favor-holders.

[VRWCarea51]

I figure Acorn probably got most of it.

[Cicero]

They must have discovered that these guys weren’t among their toadies and cronies and donors and whatnot, which is normally what qualifies people for this kind of pork.

Good heavens, maybe they were even Republicans!

[SES1066]

Story says nothing about if any of these people were lawyers. Given the radio and TV ads going on here on Florida’s gulf coast, I think that there is probably a lawyer or two involved here. Those are the guys I want strung up HIGH!

[KSCITYBOY]

Some many thieves.

[placerville]

You mean these 7 people were not on the approved list to steal the money. Where as the ones on the approved list are good to go.