CHARLESTON, W.Va. –An accounting and professional services firm based in Mississippi will be paying just north of $1.2 million to resolve civil allegations of improper payments for services after the deadly 2016 flooding.
Horne LLP, out of Ridgeland, Mississippi, was chosen by the West Virginia Development Office to make the state’s action plan for the use of disaster recovery grants following the flooding, which killed 23 state residents. The grants were to help fund housing rehabilitation and replacement for low-income homeowners within the affected areas of the state.
Once the state received a federal disaster declaration, Horne entered a contract with the state originally totaling $900,000, but that contract later expanded to more than $18,000,000 after Horne added more task orders.
As a result of the Horne’s additions, the firm was awarded responsibility for the housing rehabilitation program — later re-branded as “Rise West Virginia Housing Restoration.”
In late 2017, state administrators reviewed the Horne’s contract and discovered the price of the contract was inflated without a review, bidding process or approval from the attorney general.
Horne looked to sell the data it had generated in West Virginia once state administrators declared the work illegal. The firm looked to sell the data to the federal government at a price “intended to reflect the value of its prior services.” The firm submitted an invoice that totaled $6.7 million that was paid through the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery fund in 2018.
When the project data was transferred to state officials, investigators dug up several “problematic” services, which included “personal consultations” at $950 each. The consultations were cold calls to homeowners that didn’t need services from Horne. For each person, Horne created an applicant file with fictitious birthdates, social security numbers, and fake signatures on documents.
In addition, investigators found that 48 property inspections were for vacant lots. Each inspection cost $1,850.
Horne also added 72 repair estimates with nothing to repair. Each property estimate cost $1,650.
Horne will pay $1,207,600 to resolve the government’s claims.