Brooklyn Boro

Adams: Sandy victims should refile insurance claims following fraud reports

Adams, Treyger call for special monitor

March 2, 2015 Compiled by Mary Frost Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. AP Photo
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Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams on Sunday urged Brooklynites who were denied or underpaid on their flood insurance claims following Superstorm Sandy to resubmit their claims.

Adams said that engineering firms used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) filed multiple fraudulent reports.

“We’re going to sit down and find out how do we introduce these claims back into the process,” Adams told reporters as he stood with Council Member Mark Treyger, chair of the Committee on Recovery and Resiliency, and other officials outside the Gerritsen Beach home of Vincent and Terri Ann Carrozza.

Despite an engineer’s report citing a total loss from Sandy, the Carrozzas were told by their insurance company they had no claim.

More than a thousand cases have been filed by policy holders in the Eastern District of New York, and Adams says that FEMA officials have reportedly acknowledged seeing evidence of wrongdoing.

Adams and Treyger called on New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to appoint a special monitor that will oversee all future claims and submissions.

Brad Kieserman, FEMA Deputy Associate Administrator for Insurance, told 60 Minutes last week that he has seen evidence of fraud in reports used to deny victims full insurance payouts.

Engineering reports originally blamed flood water for severe structural home damage, but were then changed to say there was no structural damage to homes, he said.

An insurance organization denied the charges.

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