August 6, 2015

Sorrento Councilman and Wife Indicted in Fraud Scheme

BATON ROUGE, LA—United States Attorney Walt Green announced today that a federal grand jury has indicted RANDY ANNY (ANNY), age 51, and BARBARA FALGOUST ANNY (FALGOUST), age 51, both of Sorrento, Louisiana, with conspiracy and wire fraud in connection with a claim made to the Gulf Coast Claims Facility in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. If convicted, each defendant faces incarceration, fines, restitution, and supervised release following imprisonment.

The Indictment alleges that from in or about November 2010 through in or about June 2011, ANNY and FALGOUST engaged in a scheme to profit from a fraudulent claim submitted to the Gulf Coast Claims Facility or “GCCF,” an administrative entity that BP Exploration and Production, Inc. established to process damage claims resulting from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

According to the allegations contained in the Indictment, between November and December 2010, ANNYand FALGOUST submitted a fraudulent claim to the GCCF which represented that ANNY’s 26 foot boat had been damaged by the Oil Spill while located in Grand Isle, Louisiana. In support of the claim, ANNYand FALGOUST submitted a repair invoice which fraudulently reflected that ANNY had paid a company $7,800 in cash to repair specific items on his boat and boat trailer. As a result of the fraudulent claim, the GCCF wired $7,800 to a bank account controlled by ANNY and FALGOUST in June 2011.

This ongoing investigation and prosecution is being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Louisiana, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Ascension Parish Sherriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Chris Dippel and Alan Stevens, who serve as Deputy Chiefs of the Criminal Division.

This case was brought as part of this District’s partnership with the National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF), a nationwide initiative to protect available funds and assistance for those victims of both natural and man-made disasters such as hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, and the recent Gulf oil spill. If you have knowledge of fraud, waste, abuse, or allegations of mismanagement involving disaster relief operations, you can contact the NCDF by either calling the hotline at(866) 720-5721, faxing(225) 334-4707, e-mailing at disaster@leo.gov.

NOTE: An indictment is an accusation by the Grand Jury. A defendant is presumed innocent until and unless adjudicated guilty at trial or through a guilty plea.