Oops: Impostor scams Louisiana officials, is an article from CNN.com. An impostor passing himself off as a HUD official today was yanking the media's chain about 2 billion dollars in funding for New Orleans and a plan to keep Wal-Mart out of the rebuilding process.
A man who pulled a hoax on Louisiana officials and 1,000 contractors by presenting himself as a federal housing official said Monday he intended to focus attention on a lack of affordable housing.
"We basically go around impersonating bad institutes or institutes doing very bad things," said the man, who identified himself as Andy Bichlbaum, a 42-year-old former college teacher of video and media arts who lives in New York and Paris.
"That would be HUD. At this moment, they're doing some really bad things."
Masquerading as Rene Oswin, an official at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Bichlbaum followed Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin to the lectern Monday morning at the Pontchartrain Center in Kenner.
Officials appear not to have found the tactic funny. It also made me wonder about the governor's security detail.
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