Two people were sentenced to long prison terms last week for conspiring to defraud the Deepwater Horizon spill fund.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office Southern District of Mississippi said Thi Houng Le, also known as Kristy Le, and Gregory P. Warren were found guilty of conspiracy to commit identity theft, aggravated identity theft, mail fraud and wire fraud in connection with a lawsuit against BP.
Warren, 52, was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.
He was also ordered to pay a fine in the amount of $25,000.00.
Le, 34 from Pascagoula, was sentenced to 7 years in federal prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.
She was also ordered to pay a fine in the amount of $25,000.00.
The defendants were convicted of carrying out a conspiracy to defraud numerous victims from multiple states and the BP Gulf Coast Claims Facility.
The U.S. Attorney Office said that the pair collected the personal information from “any source available” in order to put together a client list that would be used for litigation tied to the Deepwater Horizon spill.
The defendants fraudulently submitted the names and personal information of over 40,000 individuals as plaintiffs in litigation related to the spill, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office added that the defendants knew that those individuals “had not consented to be represented by the law firm.”
The defendants were convicted by a jury in August following a four-week trial before Chief U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola.
