3. After FEMA awarded Tiffany Brown a massive contract, she only delivered a fraction of the
promised millions of meals.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has accused a woman of embezzling
millions of dollars by misusing a contract to deliver food and water to areas of Puerto Rico
devastated by Hurricane Maria.
A business owner in Atlanta was awarded a massive contract by FEMA at the outset of the crisis
to supply millions of meals, but just a fraction of those meals were delivered. The Atlanta
entrepreneur Tiffany Brown is accused of embezzling millions of dollars in humanitarian funds
from a nonprofit organization.
What charges have been made on Tiffany Brown?
Brown, 43, has been charged by the Department of Justice with 11 charges of major catastrophe
fraud. She has been charged with 14 counts of wire fraud, one act of theft from the government,
and three counts of money laundering.
Brown claimed in her proposal that she had the "vehicles, employees. She has know-how about
how to handle delivery 24 hours a day, 7 days a week" thanks to a partnership with a big
logistics company.
According to the investigation, shortly after submitting the application, Brown lied and claimed
that she and her main suppliers could produce one million of the "30 million self-heating meals
in 30 days commencing on October 7, 2017.
It has been reported that Brown had not arranged for the delivery of self-heating meals nor had
he located any suppliers.
Information about FEMA contract to Tiffany Brown
FEMA awarded Puerto Rico and Tiffany Brown company an almost $156 million contract to
distribute the food.
She allegedly submitted FEMA coupons and documents claiming that she had delivered 50,000
meals. But the food doesn't magically reheat itself despite what was promised.
Why and when the agreement was terminated by FEMA?
FEMA stated that the contract termination was due to "late delivery." They claim that Brown's
business was audited but that she has lost five government contracts for "not delivering required
food" and "not being able to ship supplies."
As an added complication, she has never before had to deal with something on such a massive
scale as a natural disaster.
4. FEMA terminated its agreement with Brown on October 19, 2017, following many weeks of
claims. The police say that she continued to lie in order to increase her financial gain even at that
late stage.
What was the end result?
It is reprehensible that Brown would take advantage of the tragedy that Hurricane Maria wrought
in Puerto Rico," US Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan was quoted as saying by the US Department of
Justice.
"The citizens of Puerto Rico, who are also Americans, were hoping for the best from their
federal government and from one another during this unparalleled calamity. Our office will
aggressively pursue fraudsters who target the government at times of extreme need."
The decision was criticised by Democrats like Rep. Stacey Plaskett, according to CBS News.
"How could they have been ready to sign a $156 million deal with a one-person firm?" she
questioned, referring to the company's previous warning to the system that it wasn't a good
company to do business with.
A federal grand jury indicted Brown in September on the accusations. FEMA said during the
crisis that food was not being withheld, yet they remained silent during the appeal.
