Skip to main content
Press Release

New Orleans Man Pleads Guilty to BP Fraud

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Louisiana

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana announced that GRAEGG L. HOLMES, age 43, of New Orleans, pled guilty today to a one-count Indictment charging him with wire fraud related to the 2010 British Petroleum Oil Spill. According to court documents, 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. The loss from the fraudulent claims HOLMES submitted and received totals $33,900.

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. Following his guilty plea, HOLMES remains detained and faces a possible maximum sentence of ten years, three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss caused by the offense, forfeiture, and restitution to the GCCF.  U.S. District Judge Sarah S. Vance set sentencing for December 14, 2016.

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.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office 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.

Updated August 17, 2016

Topic
Financial Fraud