May 22, 2003 3 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – Thousands of New Yorkers who received free air conditioners, air-purifiers and vacuums after the World Trade Center collapse benefited from a loosely written federal program that qualified nearly all city residents, investigators said. Federal administrators initially blamed widespread fraud and abuse for the problem, which resulted in more than 100,000 New Yorkers – some living nowhere near Ground Zero – getting free equipment. But investigators said loose regulations, not criminal wrongdoing, were responsible.

“You can’t say that these people are defrauding things,” Richard Skinner, acting inspector general for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told The Associated Press.

“Most of what we tracked down was not fraudulent.”

The program was launched to assist those who had lost jobs or property as a result of the Sept. 11 attack. Air cleaning costs were reimbursed because dust from the collapsing towers was found to contain traces of asbestos. Experts estimated roughly 15,000 apartments in the blocks near Ground Zero needed precautionary cleaning.

But under the FEMA program, people living in the Bronx or Queens, more than 10 miles away from Ground Zero, were just as eligible for the aid as someone who lived 10 blocks away. Roughly 228,000 people applied, and more than 111,000 were approved.

FEMA administrators complained in February that the program had gone so awry that as much as 90 percent of the reimbursement claims were from people who had not suffered any ill effects from dust and debris.

The agency alleged far-reaching fraud and abuse, saying tens of millions of dollars had been misdirected toward people who did not have a legitimate need. It said many had lied to get free equipment – worth up to about $1,500 per applicant – from the government.

“We do know that there were a significant number of irregularities uncovered in applications we received that appeared to be incidences where individuals attempted to obtain assistance under false pretenses,” FEMA’s New York office said Wednesday in a statement.

Skinner’s office sent teams of investigators to track down New York City residents who fraudulently benefited from the program.

“We determined that we were just chasing air,” said Skinner.

Investigators found fewer than 15 people actually lied to federal workers to get the aid, said Special-Agent-in-Charge Tom Barbee.

“I don’t think I would say that’s widespread,” said Barbee.

The real issue with FEMA’s air quality program, said Barbee, was not that people were cheating the system, but that the system was so open-ended, almost anyone was entitled to benefits.

“The rules were issued so that everybody in any of the five boroughs was eligible for this,” said Barbee.

Applicants for a new air conditioner were required to already own an air conditioner. Anyone living in a building with central air was automatically ineligible.

Barbee said he met with officials in both the Manhattan district attorney’s and U.S. Attorney’s office to discuss the issue, and “neither one of those prosecutors thought it rose to the level of criminal fraud – it was really a programmatic issue.”

The head of FEMA’s Sept. 11 efforts, Brad Gair, had complained of rampant fraud and abuse of the program.

He said a number of unscrupulous small operators pretending to be affiliated with FEMA were constantly cold-calling city residents to entice them to buy overpriced air equipment that could be reimbursed by the government, further escalating the program’s costs.

Gair received such phone solicitations at his own home in Brooklyn.

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On the Net:

www.fema.gov

AP-ES-05-21-03 1655EDT