A Florida company whose chairman is former Republican Florida House Speaker Allan Bense is accused by the FBI of bilking "millions of dollars" from area governments in 2018 in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael when it was contracted to clean up debris, The Palm Beach Post reports.
According to court documents, GAC Contractors' top executives, including Bense and its late CEO Derwin White, ordered crews to go to job sites where the company had contracts to remove storm debris, but not to perform work. They then billed Bay County, the school district, and other local municipalities, according to the indictment.
Federal authorities said in an affidavit that Bense and White instead had GAC's employees clean up debris at their own homes and properties or those of other public officials, including state Sen. George Gainer.
Some of those who had work done on their homes were unaware of the scheme and at least one person made a $3,000 payment to the company after repeated requests for an invoice. He asked if he owed more when he afterward received an invoice for $3,000 and was given no definitive answer. The school board was later billed more than $9,000 for the work on his home.
Bense, who served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1998 to 2006 and as House Speaker between 2004-06, has been a managing partner of GAC Contractors, alongside Derwin White, since 1996. This year he is listed by the Florida Division of Corporations as the company's chairman.
The company allegedly prepositioned equipment throughout the county ahead of the hurricane, and workers were told to take as much equipment to work sites as possible but to do no work. All work was performed by subcontractors.
The equipment being on site allowed the company to bill the county for cleanup and for the equipment being there. The company allegedly cleaned debris from employees' homes and billed the school district as well.
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