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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.

Sept. 1, 2011

A U.S. federal judge ruled last week that Rosemary Barbour committed fraud against the Federal Emergency Management Agency in housing contracts her company received after Hurricane Katrina. Rosemary Barbour is the wife of Gov. Haley Barbour’s nephew, Charles Barbour, and her company Alcatec LLC received a $6.1 million contract with the federal agency in 2005 to inspect FEMA trailers. FEMA reduced the amount of the contract and later terminated the contract, arguing that Alcatec double-billed the agency and falsified inspection reports, The Miami Herald reported yesterday.

Jackson businessman Charles Barbour ran for and lost the Mississippi Senate seat for District 25 against his opponent Will Longwitz on Aug. 23. In an interview with the Jackson Free Press last month, Charles Barbour defended his wife.

“She has never been charged, she has never been indicted and has never gone before a grand jury,” he said. “What does that tell you? There was nothing there to begin with except petty jealousy.”

The judge ordered Rosemary Barbour to pay $350,000 in penalties and damages to FEMA.

Also see: “Republican Cat Fight for District 25”
“FBI Raids Barbour Niece”
Barbour’s Niece Racks up FEMA Contracts

Previous Comments

Wonder what the governor will say about this in his book on how to handle major disasters.

Mississippi native Donna Ladd and partner Todd Stauffer founded the Jackson Free Press in 2002 in the capital city. The heavily awarded local newspaper did many investigations heralded across the state and nation and served as a paper of record due to its diversity, inclusion, in-depth reporting and deep connection to readers and dedication to narrative change in and about Mississippi. In 2022, the nonprofit Mississippi Free Press, founded by Ladd and JFP Associate Publisher Kimberly Griffin in 2020, purchased the journalism assets and archives of the Jackson Free Press. A Google grant through AAN Publishers enabled Newspack's integration of the JFP archives into the Mississippi Free Press website to become part of a more searchable archive of recent Mississippi history and essential journalism.