Feinberg: ‘We’ll look at each claim’ as fund for BP Gulf oil spill attracts fraud

The independent claims fund designed to compensate Gulf residents impacted
by the BP oil spill has attracted a bevy of fraudulent claims, according to the man overseeing the payouts.

“We’ve got over a thousand claims that is suspicious, that might be
fraudulent,” Kenneth Feinberg, the administrator for the program, said
on CNN on Friday.

The $20 billion fund has already become targeted by requests from questionable parties who were not impacted by the spill.

“When you get a claim from a golf course 100 miles from the spill,
or you get claims as we have from dentists, chiropractors,
veterinarians, all asking for money, there’s going to have to be some
eligibility restrictions placed,” he said.

Feinberg also addressed instances when eligibility might fall into a gray area.

“A
restaurant in Washington that claims I can’t make shrimp scampi because
I can’t get shrimp from the Gulf, well, you can get shrimp elsewhere,”
he said.

Feinberg said he has received 450,000 claims and stressed that none will go unread.

“We’ll look at each claim,” he said. “We’ll see if they can document damage based on the spill, but we’re going to be.”

The fund has already paid out about $2.2 billion to eligible parties, he said.

As for whether he’s glad he took the job: “No good deed goes unpunished.”