Falsified BP claim

[ScubaLatt]

Associated Press - August 4, 2010 8:34 AM ET
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - State agents have arrested two Iberia Parish men accused of trying to scam BP of nearly $10,000 in fraudulent commercial fishing trip tickets.
Wildlife & Fisheries agents say 36-year-old An Ly and 31-year-old Samith Huynh allegedly falsified trip tickets for January through April, claiming Huynh had fished 6,347 pounds of crabs from Louisiana waters.
Trip tickets report how much seafood commercial fishermen sell each month. Officials are using past trip tickets to determine how much compensation commercial fishermen should receive from BP while commercial fishing is restricted.
The Advocate reported Huynh was booked with criminal conspiracy, theft and injuring public records.
Ly faces charges of filing false public records, criminal conspiracy and injuring public records.

Information from: The Advocate, http://www.2theadvocate.com

[yak'em-n-stack'em]

Oooo Asians. Imagine that

[longcast]

Originally Posted by yak'em-n-stack'em

Oooo Asians. Imagine that

No way. *****

[speck-chaser]

not good ol boys from the berry?

[SULPHITE]

DAMN!! Chinese buffets are suffering in the Berry!!! Thanks ldwf!!

[speck-chaser]

I think they are kin to one flung dung.

[Zachary Boy]

Can't say I am shocked over BP fraud. Post Katrina, 1300 prisoners applied for and received FEMA checks while they were incarcirated.

[eman]

There will be ALOT more folks that go to jail for BP fraud.
5 years down the road and they still have a truck load of investigations of katrina fraud . This will probably be the same way.

[simplepeddler]

They need to have their butts busted.
Dang shame

[southern151]

I hope BP prosecutes to the the fullest of their abilities!!!

[Ray]

Vietcong and Cambodians from Eastern New Orleans were complaining about BP
paying by trip tickets. Guess a couple of them found a way to get around it.
Or thought they did.

[LPfishnTIM]

as if BP wasn't already getting raped by the government, people are going to try to screw them over left and right.

[Ray]

Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) Enforcement Division agents with the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) arrested a Chauvin man today, Aug. 5 for allegedly falsifying trip ticket information and are transporting him to the East Baton Rouge Parish Jail.
Jessie Lambas, 58, allegedly falsified trip ticket documents dated from May and June of 2009 in order to file a claim with BP America due to the Transocean Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Lambas was charged with three felonies for filing false public records, injuring public records and theft by fraud. The trip tickets were filed with LDWF on May 27 and represented 5,644 pounds of shrimp with a value of $10,237.50. Lambas stated that he received three payments from BP America totaling $3,000 from May 24 to July 14.
SIU agents met with Lambas on July 26 and 31 after receiving a complaint from the department's trip ticket section that Lambas did not possess a commercial fishing license in 2009. Lambas does have a wholesale/retail seafood dealer’s license that allows him access to trip tickets issued to the wholesale/retail seafood dealer.
Lambas stated that he filed trip tickets from 2010, but the department does not have any record of issuing Lambas trip tickets in 2010 according to the arrest warrant. The warrant also states that the trip tickets under question match the 50 trip tickets that he was issued in 2008.
If convicted, Lambas faces fines up to $5,000 and up to five years in jail with or without hard labor for each charge of falsifying and injuring public records. For the fraud charge, Lambas faces a fine up to $10,000 and up to 10 years in jail with or without hard labor.
"We want to ensure our commercial fishermen and dealers are compensated fairly by using accurate trip ticket information," said Col. Winton Vidrine, head of LDWF's Enforcement Division. "We do not want to see commercial fishermen or dealers tempted to commit felony violations by falsifying trip ticket documents."
LDWF routinely reviews every trip ticket received from the commercial fishing industry to ensure that the most accurate data are collected and properly reflect the important role the state of Louisiana plays in the production of seafood.
These reviews are critical to ensure that commercial fishermen and wholesale/retail dealers are appropriately credited with landings in the event of compensation that results from a natural disaster such as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 and the current BP America oil spill.
BP America is requesting commercial fishermen to provide landings information from 2007-10 to determine eligibility for financial assistance. LDWF is providing a landings data report back to commercial fishermen, when requested, to assist with this eligibility process.
The review of trip tickets has become even more critical during this time period considering that the previous years are being used to establish eligibility for assistance. Any trip tickets from previous years are being subjected to another layer of review by LDWF staff to confirm their validity.
"The information provided on a trip ticket is the best way for the department to establish the value of Louisiana fisheries and the importance of those fisheries to the nation. Trip ticket data also plays a key role in the managing of fisheries in Louisiana to ensure sustainability," said Michelle Kasprzak, LDWF Trip Ticket Program administrator. "We ask that trip tickets be completed accurately and submitted on time as required. Inaccurate or embellished trip tickets will be investigated by the department's Law Enforcement Division."
Trip tickets are filled out at the first point of sale between a commercial fisherman and wholesale/retail dealer or fresh product license holder and are due on the 10th of every month. Trip tickets are then entered into LDWFs Trip Ticket Program's database.
Commercial fishermen and wholesale/retail dealers may request their trip ticket landings by following the instructions on the LDWF Web site at www.wlf.louisiana.gov/oilspill or calling the trip ticket section at 225-765-2399.