Louisiana Citizens is high priced insurance and the gift that keeps on giving if you are Terry Lisotta: Legislative Auditor Steve Theriot was not amused:
The former head of Louisiana’s state-run homeowners property insurance program reported more than $285,000 in expenses from December 2003 to December 2006, including $106,579 in questionable spending for trips and possibly his daughter’s prom party, Legislative Auditor Steve Theriot said Monday.
In a 30-page audit, Theriot said that Terry Lisotta, who stepped down as head of the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. last year, rang up $52,247 for entertainment and travel “that appear both unnecessary and extravagant.”
The report said that Lisotta was reimbursed more than $19,162 for expenses he apparently did not incur and manufactured receipts to make them look legitimate.
The audit identified almost $48,000 of “questionable costs,” including a March 19, 2004 expenditure of $1,290.62 from a Sam’s Club in New Orleans for beer, chips, soft drinks, meats and other items. The audit said that there is no “documented public purpose for this expense.”
The audit said that Lisotta’s calendar indicated a “dance party for his daughter’s prom” on that night and “based on the nature of the items purchased, the lack of any documented public purpose, and the correlation with the private event, it appears that this purchase may have been personal in nature.”
John Wortman, who is now the chief executive officer of Citizens, said an entire new management team is in place, company credit cards Lisotta used to charge some of the expenses and private charge accounts with restaurants used by Citizens have been canceled and a tighter rein has been initiated for expense reports.
Theriot said he has forwarded the audit to U.S. Attorney Jim Letten in New Orleans, Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul Connick, Attorney General Buddy Caldwell and the State Board of Ethics for review and possible charges.
“”””The audit said that Lisotta