The former FBI director probing accusations of overpayment and false compensation claims in the wake of the Macondo disaster has asked a judge to rescind a £216,902 payment.
Louis Freeh has asked a court in Louisiana to withdraw the compensation award to Casey Thonn, and any lawyer involved in his case to pay back their money.
The investigator, brought in by US judge Carl Barbier to investigate the claims, said claim had come from fraudulent information.
“In filing claims with the Deepwater Horizon Economic Claims Center, Mr. Thonn presented false information and documents, including tax ‘returns’ that in fact had never been filed with the Internal Revenue Service,” he said in a court filing.
The documents related to Thonn’s claims over his income from shrimping in 2009. He and his lawyers received £357,000 from the compensation fund.
Meanwhile it has emerged one of the lawyers behind a mass-injury law suit filed after the deadly 2010 spill is now suing one of the other lawyers to represent victims.
Louisiana lawyer Danny Becnel has brought a class-action suit on behalf of people who he says were exploited as victims of the disaster by rival lawyer Mikal Watts.
The suit claims Watts misappropriated the identities of thousands of fishermen to increase his chances of a position on the steering committee handling claims.
Watts, who denies the charges, is also being sued by BP over claims he falsely represented victims of the disaster.