New Orleans Man Sentenced for BP Fraud

U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that GRAEGG L. HOLMES, age 43, of New Orleans, was sentenced yesterday after previously pleading guilty to committing wire fraud related to the 2010 British Petroleum Oil Spill.

U.S. District Court Judge Sarah S. Vance sentenced HOLMES to twelve months imprisonment to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, and $33,900 in restitution.

According to court records, at his guilty plea in August, 2016, HOLMES admitted that he filed a fraudulent application for relief relating to the April 20, 2010 explosion and fire, which occurred on the Deepwater Horizon, an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico where BP had been drilling a well.  In reality, HOLMES admitted that he worked at Abide Home Care from approximately 2001 through 2014.  HOLMES used false documentation related to a non-existent catering business that he claimed lost money because of the Deepwater Horizon Disaster. On August 4, 2016, HOLMES was ordered detained pending trial by U.S. Magistrate Judge Janis van Meerveld after his arrest for home invasion in Orleans Parish.

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, emailing at disaster@leo.gov or in writing to National Center for Disaster Fraud, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-4909.

U.S. Attorney Polite praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in investigating this matter.  Assistant U. S. Attorneys Patrice Harris Sullivan and Hayden Brockett were in charge of the prosecution.