Prayers are going out to Puerto Rico following the devastation caused by Hurricane Fiona this weekend. US President Joe Biden has also declared an emergency for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and authorised the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate all disaster relief efforts.
Following FEMA’s offer of their “thoughts” for the entire Puerto Rican community” and the offer of their “full support”, however, some members of the public are lashing out at FEMA.
In particular, they are concerned that FEMA’s treatment of Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico may be a repeat of the fraud uncovered by the FBI in connection with allegedly corrupt FEMA officials handling the response for Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.
The Maria corruption
According to the United States Department of Justice, the District of Puerto Rico reported on September 10, 2019 that Ahsha Nateef Tribble, a FEMA Region II, Deputy Regional Administrator, Donald Keith Ellison, former President of Cobra Acquisitions, LLC and Jovanda R. Patterson, aka “Jo/Jojo,” former FEMA Deputy chief of staff, were indicted and arrested.
The charges were:
Conspiracy to commit bribery of public officialsActs affecting a personal financial interestFalse statementsDisaster fraudWire fraud
At the time, the Department of Justice said that the indictment alleged that the defendants used Tribble’s positions in FEMA to benefit and enrich themselves and defraud the United States.
Count 1 of the Indictment charged Tribble and Ellison with a conspiracy to commit bribery by soliciting and giving things of value to Tribble in order to influence Tribble’s performance of official acts as a FEMA employee.
To further the conspiracy, Tribble and Ellison communicated using private email accounts, private cellular telephones, including a disposable prepaid cellular number, Apple iMessage, and SMS texts rather than FEMA-issued email accounts or cellular telephones.
Defendants Tribble and Ellison also faced a forfeiture allegation of $1,000,000 contained in Charles Schwab & Co, Inc account in the name of Donald Keith Ellison, seized on April 26, 2019 and $3,425,512.93 contained in Charles Schwab & Co, Inc account in the name of Ellison, seized on June 18, 2019.
See also
NBC News later reported in May 2022 that Tribble and Ellison “each pleaded guilty to one charge of accepting and offering gratuities in violation of a federal law prohibiting public officials from giving or receiving certain gifts of value that inure them to personal benefits.”
Reactions from Twitter
Given these past allegations surrounding FEMA, members of the public have made their concerns known on social media, including Twitter. Some of these comments are reproduced below from Twitter.
Not all comments on social media were negative though, with one person saying:
People with loved ones suffering in Puerto Rico will now wait to see how FEMA will complete the hurricane recovery process, in particular, identifying, mobilizing and providing the necessary equipment and resources to help those impacted by Hurricane Fiona.
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