Texas Businessman Pleads Guilty in Hurricane Rita Fraud Case

A Texas businessman faces up to five years in prison and paying more than $1 million in restitution in a Hurricane Rita-related fraud case.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Beaumont says 43-year-old Loc Chanh Tran of Port Arthur, also known as Victor Tran, pleaded guilty. Tran was indicted in June 2008 on a charge of making a false statement to the Small Business Administration while seeking disaster assistance.

The SBA denied Tran’s application for hurricane recovery funds for a seafood business. But prosecutors say similar schemes led to Tran getting more than $1 million from the Port Arthur Economic Development Corp. and XL Lloyds Insurance.

No sentencing date was immediately set.

Hurricane Rita rocked parts of Texas and Louisiana in September 2005.