Nearly $1.4 billion of federal aid for victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita went to fraudulent claims, according to a congressional investigation. The New York Times reported that the money went to people who did not live at the addresses they reported as being damaged, with more than $5 million going to people who gave cemeteries and post office boxes as addresses of damaged property. Federal Emergency Management Agency officials say that after the storms the agency’s priority was to distribute the aid as quickly as possible and they are now taking steps to fix management issues that could have allowed some of the fraud to occur.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/14/us/nationalspecial/14katrina.html