JACKSON – Federal officials said a Port Gibson man will serve 13 months in jail after filing fraudulent forms claiming he suffered a financial business loss during the 2010 BP Oil Spill. Dennis L. Moore, 39, was sentenced in U.S. District Court after pleading guilty to mail fraud resulting from a scheme to defraud British Petroleum of $90,000 by falsely claiming monetary losses to a fictitious business.
As part of the scheme to defraud, Moore knowingly submitted false documents including a false Mississippi tax identification number, false state sales tax returns, a false Mississippi Department of Revenue Business Permit, false federal tax returns, and false sales receipts.
Moore pled guilty on Jan. 21, 2011. He was sentenced on April 13.
British Petroleum is a company whose activities include oil exploration and production in the United States and elsewhere, and whose subsidiaries included BP Exploration and Production Inc.
On April 20, 2010, an explosion and fire occurred on the Deepwater Horizon, an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico that had been drilling an exploration well.
In June 2010, British Petroleum established the Gulf Coast Claims Facility for the purpose of administering, mediating, and settling certain claims of individuals and businesses for costs, damages, and other losses incurred as a result of the oil discharges due to the Deepwater Horizon incident.
BP oil spill fund administrator Kenneth Feinberg said $20 billion had been allocated for that fund, but the payment process had been delayed due to an inundation of inflated or unsupported claims, and in some cases outright fraud. Such claims made it difficult to get money to “people who need it and deserve it,” BP officials said.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was notified of Moore’s actions by the Gulf Coast Claims Facility and investigated the crime which resulted in his conviction.
Daniel McMullen, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Mississippi, stated: “The FBI’s investigation of this case revealed that Moore made a fraudulent $90,000 claim to BP for loss he claimed to have suffered as a result of the disastrous BP oil spill. Those funds were set aside to compensate individuals and companies who suffered actual financial damage as a result of this disaster-not greedy individuals seizing on any opportunity to enrich themselves.”
McMullen further said the Criminal Fraud Division of the Department of Justice, the Offices of the U.S. Attorneys, the FBI, and the National Center for Disaster Fraud work together “to protect real victims of disaster.”
“These and other law enforcement agencies will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute those individuals who attempt to fraudulently profit from monies set aside for the relief and assistance of true disaster victims,” he said further.
BP officials said about 104,000 applicants filed claims due to the oil spill and many of those have no documentation to support their losses.
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