A Houma man has been sentenced to one year in prison for fraudulently receiving money from the $20 billion claims fund that BP PLC established after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey also ordered 25-year-old Nicholas Billiot to pay $26,000 in restitution to the Gulf Coast Claims Facility.
Billiot pleaded guilty in June to one count of mail fraud.
Federal prosecutors say the GCCF issued $26,000 in checks to Billiot, who claimed he owned a company called Hope’s Home Improvement that lost business after last year’s Deepwater Horizon rig blast triggered the massive spill. Prosecutors say the company never operated or conducted any business.
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