After years of successfully hawking forged folk art in New Orleans galleries and around the country, Baton Rogue's William Toye is quickly seeing his business built on a lie come to an end. Toye pleaded guilty this week to fraud charges for his fabrication of works by Natchitoches painter Clementine Hunter, who sold her paintings for a quarter in her lifetime. Toyes wife along with a local dealer, New Orleanian Robert Lucky Jr., face trial later this summer. 

A man was indicted yesterday for stealing $268,000 from Commander's Palace by issuing fake invoies. Shawn Michael Haygood, 39, a former manager at the Uptown nom zero, printed out invoices for Cap's Farmer's Market, then used the receipts to get cash. There used to be a Cap's Produce in Slidell, but it was shuttered by K. Can't blame a man for pursuing the dream of  fresh produce.

The city Inspector General's office is out front on cases of wrongdoing in the city. For the office's latest investigation, they bested everyone in the city by noticing that we have a library. Said library being a city department, it also doubles as an eligible venue for fraud and corruption. Investigators seized hard drives (here we go again!) from the New Orleans Public Library offices yesterday to investigate possible fraud that might stem from a past employee. WDSU-TV reports the hard drives will be copied, then given back to the library. Does anyone else see this ending up in a vicious cycle involving late fees?

Once again, we are confronted with another edition of: "Which is worse: Crime or Coverup." Former Louis Armstrong International Airport Aviation Director Sean Hunter pleaded guilty today to federal obstruction of justice charges in a plea deal that saw other charges dropped. Hunter cashed in on Katrina's devastation by claiming insurance money on his $50,000 BMW. Even worse, he then drove it around town and got caught on red light cameras. Hunter's wife, Shauna Hunter, was also in on the scheme, and will soon face her comeuppance as well.

by Kyle Gilmore

To the shock of everyone in New Orleans, it has now been confirmed that FEMA acted fraudulently and with incompetence following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  An independent inspector hired by the federal government to examine the $7 billion dollars in funds given to survivors of the hurricanes has released his findings.  $643 million in payments were improperly given to 160,000 individuals for housing and other aid following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  

We want to take pity on ACORN, with their good intentions and withstanding of audacious attacks from the daffy-right. But they don't make it easy. Today, FEMA inspectors found the housing/advocacy org, which was founded here, made up a program to apply for a $450,000 grant. They received the grant, but still didn't carry out the program. There. We did it. At least we didn't mention that wee-wee'd up Alaskan's visit.