What to Know
- A Florida woman was sentenced to prison after being convicted of filing a fraudulent claim following the BP oil spill.
A Florida woman has been sentenced to four years in prison after filing a false claim in connection with the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release Tuesday that 50-year-old Caridad Rioseco Alejandrez has been sentenced to 48 months in prison. She previously pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud.
Her father was sentenced to a year in prison in connection with a similar case. Authorities say both filed fraudulent claims against a fund created to reimburse people for costs and damages incurred after the BP well blowout.
The blowout killed 11 workers aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and leaked millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf over 87 days in the nation's worst offshore spill.
