Slow Payout of BP claims blamed on FRAUD!

 Apparently, there's a reason why compensation for DP claims is so slow. According to the following article, many of the claims are poorly documented, not documented at all or outright fraud. I can see how a documentation problem could  happen with small fishermen and shrimpers who probably make a minimum income anyway and don't keep much paperwork. What a mess!
    . . . June


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Leader on BP claims blames fraud for slow payouts
Yahoo! News: "By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press Writer Brian Skoloff,

ORANGE BEACH, Ala. – BP's $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the Gulf oil spill has been inundated with inflated or unsupported claims and in some cases, outright fraud — all slowing down the process of getting money to people who need and deserve it, the administrator of the program says.

Kenneth Feinberg said more than a third of the roughly 104,000 applicants need to do more to back up their claims, and thousands of claims have no documentation at all. He added that the amount sought in some cases bears no resemblance to actual losses, such as a fisherman's claim for $10 million 'on what was obviously a legitimate claim of a few thousand dollars.'

"People can put down on a claims form all sorts of numbers," he said.

At the same time, hundreds of claims that were initially denied have been accepted as Feinberg adjusts rules for compensation, such as whether people need to be physically close to the spill to get paid.

"At the beginning, it's always rough," said Feinberg, an attorney who previously oversaw claims for 9/11 victims. "Hopefully, by the end of this program, people will feel that the fund treated them fairly."

Many claimants are still waiting for checks from the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, which is doling out BP's money to oil spill victims. The Associated Press interviewed dozens who say they have received small fractions of the compensation they requested. Claims have been bogged down by the sheer volume of requests for money as livelihoods have crumbled since the April 20 rig explosion that killed 11 workers and spewed more than 200 million gallons of oil over about three months.

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