Atlanta Woman Convicted of FEMA Fraud in Hurricane Maria Relief Effort

Race Day Live  (Atlanta, GA) – According to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, an Atlanta woman has been convicted of defrauding FEMA and a Georgia-based lawsuit funding organization in scams related to Hurricane Maria relief operations.

Tiffany Brown, 45, is scheduled to be sentenced in April after being found guilty of several offenses, including catastrophe fraud, wire fraud, theft of government funds, and money laundering.

After Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in 2017, FEMA sought contractors to provide crucial aid, including millions of self-heating meals. Brown’s Georgia-based company, Tribute Contracting LLC, landed a $156 million contract after falsely saying she could provide 30 million compliance meals in 16 days. Brown misrepresented her company’s capabilities, formed relationships, and created supply agreements with Canadian food maker Action Meals.

Despite collecting $255,000 in initial payments, Brown did not provide the promised self-heating meals, instead giving only 50,000 non-compliant dried meals. FEMA terminated the contract, but Brown continued to file false claims, including bogus invoices for non-existent heaters.

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The case also involves a separate plan to defraud the Litigation Funding Group (LFG), situated in Georgia. Brown allegedly stated she had a $5 million settlement with Total Quality Logistics (TQL) for purported delivery issues. To back up her accusations, she manufactured fake settlement agreements and email aliases. Investigators discovered that TQL had a default judgment against Brown, not a settlement.

“Brown resorted to extraordinary lengths to defraud FEMA during a critical period when individuals were in desperate need of food resources during the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Maria,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Richard S. Moultrie, Jr. “Our Office, along with our law enforcement partners, will remain vigilant in pursuing and prosecuting individuals who exploit the devastation caused by natural disasters as an opportunity to commit fraud.”

Sean Burke, the FBI’s acting special agent in charge, shared these thoughts.

“We will continue to investigate and support the prosecution of fraudsters who target vulnerable populations for their gains,” according to him.

Brown was convicted on January 17, following an eight-day trial. She is set to be sentenced on April 22 in the Northern District of Georgia, and she could face a lengthy prison term.

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