. >> reporter: kenneth feinberg was appointed by both b.p. and the goverment to administer the fund. he says he is completely independent of both, but some people we talked to didn't think so. among them, walton kraver who attended one of feinberg's meetings last summer at bayou la batre, just across mobile bay from gulf shores. kraver owns several seafood- related businesses. >> we're running out of money quick, ok? and we have already closed one business, ok? >> i will check on that claim, even though i'm not up and running yet, and try and accelerate the payment of that claim. >> reporter: kraver's son, patrick, and daughter-in-law lillie say feinberg promised to personally get back to their family--but never did. >> mr. feinberg promised us personally at a meeting with my dad and he pointed his finger at him and mr. kraver he said you are directly affected we need to get you some money quick. six months later after we had to call him and say look this is getting out of hand we've got to have some money now and we submitted a figure that w

as to the claims, ken feinberg, who is the claim czar, i think that he is probably the most disliked man along the gulf coast these days, because people seem to have taken their anger at bp and focused it on him. he came in. when he took over this process, he said he was going to be quick and generous. but you talk to people down here, and they say he has been slow and stingy. feinberg says in the first nine months that he's been doing this, he has paid almost $4 billion to 300,000 people. but you talk to the fishermen, and they will tell you that when it comes to the issue of final payments, that they think that feinberg is asking for paperwork that they don't have and that he is underestimating how much they have lost. plus, in order to get a final payment, they would have to give up their right to sue bp. and they say with the environmental toll of this disaster still unknown, they're reluctant to do that. lester? >> anne, where do things stand in terms of bp's plans to drill there again? >> reporter: bp wants to continue drilling in deep water here in the gulf of mexico. bp is th

attorney kenneth feinberg was appointed by president obama and b.p.versee the claims fund, a job that pays his firm $15 million a year. he says the program, while not perfect, is working. >> 200,000 claimants, individuals, have been paid. 200,000 in nine months. now, it may seem like a low percentage relative to the total number filed, but don't ignore the absolute number. >> reporter: we first visited the beach wedding business of chris and jenny sherill last august. >> check-to-check, day-by-day. >> reporter: within three days of the oil spill they lost 14 weddings worth $10,000 apiece. by early fall, they'd gone through their savings and were on the verge of closing. finally in november they got a check that largely covered their six-figure losses, but many of their friends and neighbors all along the gulf coast are still waiting for their money and resentment is growing. >> that is the biggest travesty of all is that feinberg has put us into that position, that it tears this community apart. >> reporter: many of those who have been reimbursed by b

our darren gersh recently talked with ken feinberg, the administrator of b.p.'s $20 billion fund. darren began by asking if there's a problem with the way the fund pays out claims. >> well, there's a problem. first of all, one problem is the sheer magnitude of the number of claims. we have received in the past nine months 800,000 claims in just ninth months for all over 50 states. so there may be some businesses that rebate getting the type of tailored, individualized treatment they expect. that's a mistake. we try to minimize the number of those. we have taken great steps in the past two months to solve that problem. >> reporter: i know you don't comment on specific claims, but can you give us sort of an example of why somebody who might submit a $500,000 claim would get $4,000 and not much explapgz about that? why might that happen? >> it will happen. if the $500,000 claim ant provides a tax return that shows they reported $4,000 worth of profit in income. i mean, the big problem i've got in the gulf, between the objective of the claimant in some cases asking for $500,000 and on

kenneth feinberg said yesterday he's paid out $3.8 billion of the $20 billion set up by bp. said 8,000 of the claims he's received border on fraud. >>> more than 200 gallons of oil were released in the gulf during that bp disaster. officials say it's safe to eat the seafood. but for local fishermen, the damage may have been done. we report from empire, louisiana. >> reporter: oyster fishermen in empire, louisiana bring in their haul to the wholesaler. the harvests are smaller and out of state orders have dropped. the wholesaler ships about 3,000 bags a month. before the oil spill, he sold five times as many. bp paid out more than $3 billion to settle claims. but he said he only received a small fraction of what he lost and gets it runaround from bp lawyers. >> every time you talk to somebody, nobody can give you an answer. >> reporter: right now, most of the gulf of mexico is open for fishing. only a 1,040 square mile area near the bp rig is closed. researchers are conducting frequent testing of seafood in the gulf to make sure it's safe. the recent assessment shows no sign

feinberg, who is paid by bp but accountable to those who have been injured in this.nk we still have issues of competency we need to deal with. there are over 3000 employees apparently, and that is a big operation. we need to get to the bottom of this. we need to be sure that businesses get timely payments, because if you are not making money in business, then you are losing your assets of the business may never return. >> there was a piece last week in "the washington post." they reported this -- should there be an investigation into companies and individuals who received a large payout without documentation or proper reason to get the money? guest: absolutely. i do not think that anyone has committed -- that has committed fraud or abuse should be rewarded. i think they should be prosecuted. be know there wewill always companies and people that will take advantage of the situation, and that is the reason why the innocent are hurt in this, because you have to be careful and analyze everything that comes through. there are many people with legitimate claims that do not

feinberg, who is paid by bp but accountable to those who have been injured in this.still have issues of competency we need to deal with. there are over 3000 employees apparently, and that is a big operation. we need to get to the bottom of this. we need to be sure that businesses get timely payments, because if you are not making money in business, then you are losing your assets of the business may never return. >> there was a piece last week in "the washington post." they reported this -- shouldhere be an investigation into companies and individuals who received a large payout without documentation or proper reason to get the money? guest: absolutely. i do not think that anyone has committed -- that has committed fraud or abuse should be rewarded. i think they should be prosecuted. benow there wewill always companies and people that will ta advantage of the situation, and tt is the reason why the innocent are hurt in this, because you have to be careful and analyze evething that comes through. there are many pple with legitimate claims that do not get reimbursement

who lost money as a result of this disaster we do know that kenneth feinberg who took over the b.p. process because it was so broken has only paid out one third of the hundreds and thousands of claims that have been filed so that means the vast majority of people who have been out of work for a year if people who are subsistence fishers who live off the fish that they're supposed to eat have not only not gotten income they can't eat the food they are supposed to be able to eat and they also have not gotten their claims paid and those claims need to be processed and need to be paid out now contrast that the fact that b.p. is fighting tooth and nail for every dollar when it comes from compensating those who may actually affected you know with their negligence with the fact that now b.p. is once again donating to political candidates with the fact that in two thousand and ten the oil and gas industry spent more than one hundred forty six million dollars lobbying the federal government and donated twenty eight million to federal campaigns do you think that people can ever win when you h