NEW ORLEANS (LA)
Times-Picayune and New Orleans Advocate
June 4, 2020
By Gordon Russell
The Archdiocese of New Orleans on Thursday strongly denied the allegations in a whistleblower lawsuit that claims the church and several other local institutions, including Xavier and Dillard universities, misrepresented the extent of damage to their facilities after Hurricane Katrina in order to collect a bigger aid check from the federal government.
A “qui tam” lawsuit filed under seal in 2016 by a former project manager at California-based engineering firm AECOM claims that a former AECOM employee, Randall Krause, knowingly gamed the system to gin up larger payments after it was hired by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help local entities prepare damage assessments for FEMA aid.
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The church was aware of the lawsuit; it is mentioned in the archdiocese’s recent bankruptcy filing. Presumably, if the government succeeds in its effort to claw back some or all of the overpayment, it will be treated similarly to the archdiocese’s other creditors. A $46 million debt would rank as the archdiocese’s largest obligation.
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