For most residents of the Gulf Coast, the oil spill resulting from the Deepwater Horizon blowout was indeed a disaster to varying degrees. But for some, the spill brought an unexpected windfall. It just depended on who you knew, and how brazen you could be.
Plaquemines Parish sheriff Jiff Hingle (that's "Jiff", not "Jeff". Srsly.) is at the top of the heap in the windfall position, along with several of his cronies and cohorts, making an estimated $1.7 million off the spill.
In an investigation by a New Orleans television station concerning the possible falsifying of campaign documents by Hingle and/or his wife, the reporters apparently stumbled upon records indicating that Hingle had made a killing after the spill.
FOX8/WVUE (yep, I know...) is reporting that Brandon Mouriz, a ranking sheriff's department employee who also acts as Hingle's driver - and is his partner in two businesses - and deputy Randy Fortmayer, are just two of apparently several connected to Hingle who made out like bandits after the spill. Mouriz started a new business to capture some of the BP cash, and Fortmayer looks to have expanded radically to do the same.
Records show BCA Offshore is a company owned by Mouriz and formed in June of last year, just two months after the oil spill. Internal documents obtained by FOX 8 list the people and companies paid for working the oil spill.
Mouriz's company is on the list. It made $468,000 from oil spill work. But Mouriz is not the only Plaquemines Parish employee who made oil spill money.
Deputy Randy Fortmayer owns Fortmayer Bush Hog Service, according to documents. His company made $158,000 off the oil spill.
"Ive been in business for 30 years and had Bobcats for 30 years. My company did work on the oil spill. I'm not going to deny it," Fortmayer said in a phone interview.
Fortmayer said his three sons took care of the business while he worked a full eight hour day for the sheriff. He says Hingle did not help his company get work cleaning the spill.
Two other sheriff's department employees also made money off the oil spill. Records show Captain Gerald Turlich made $96,000. Deputy Mike Mudge made $56,000.
But Hingle hasn't been letting his friends make all the money. He's managed to procure a tiny bit for himself...
State records show Hingle owns Delta Marina. That business made $259,000 off the spill. Hingle's business partner at the marina, Darren Angelo, ran some of the oil spill work. He is also a commissioned deputy through the Plaquemines Parish Sheriff's Office.
Angelo was paid $304,000 for his oil spill work. His company, Fleet Intermodal Service made an additional $304,000.
Much of the oil spill money was administered by The DRC Group out of Mobile, Alabama. Its managing director, Robert Isakson, also has a badge. He is another commissioned deputy for the Plaquemines Parish Sheriff's Office. Isakson lives in Mobile.
All totaled, documents show Hingle, his business partner, and employees made $1.7 million in about one year doing work on the oil spill.
Hingle refused to respond to the WVUE reporter's questions, saying, "I don't like you because I don't consider you a very good journalist."
But wait...this has opened another can of worms I found while reading up on the Hingle story. The DRC group - the disaster recovery company - is huge. Gigantic. Vampire Squid-size. And it looks like it's had tentacles in every disaster worldwide since 1989 - and I mean everything... Haiti, Kuwait, Kosovo, Somalia...and then every natural (and unnatural) disaster in the US, plus regular waste removal and landfills. This really deserves more research (like there isn't enough shady business going on). They might just be very good at what they do. But the amount of money changing hands is large, and the regularity at which they get contracts is..well, they get a lot of contracts.
As stated, they may be very good at what they do. But I find it seriously disconcerting that an international conglomerate can make a shitpile of money off a disaster, when the folks who are truly affected are having a horrible time just trying to achieve a semblance of normalcy again.
In 1995, DRC responded to Hurricane Marilyn in St. Thomas, USVI and Hurricane Opal in Florida, performing landfill management and debris removal services. In 1997 and 1998, DRC performed substantial landfill management, debris removal, park and trail restoration and other disaster management services in the aftermath of Hurricane Fran in North Carolina. DRC performed in excess of $17 million for the North Carolina Department of Transportation alone.
And the fact that the managing director, Isakson, has a Plaquemines Parish sheriff's badge might be just a good-ol'-boy thing - this happens all the time with badges..see Elvis - but still...sure looks incestuous to me. I guess the secret is indeed knowing the right people.
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