Author Topic: Waste, Fraud, and Abuse  (Read 30209 times)

Coach is Back!

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Re: Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
« Reply #50 on: October 05, 2016, 04:22:14 PM »
Which is why I take EVERY legal loophole I can to pay as little as possible.

Dos Equis

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Re: Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
« Reply #51 on: December 12, 2016, 09:32:40 AM »
Pentagon buries evidence of $125 billion in bureaucratic waste
By Craig Whitlock and Bob Woodward
December 5, 2016

The Pentagon has buried an internal study that exposed $125 billion in administrative waste, according to findings by The Washington Post. (Victoria Walker/The Washington Post)

The Pentagon has buried an internal study that exposed $125 billion in administrative waste in its business operations amid fears Congress would use the findings as an excuse to slash the defense budget, according to interviews and confidential memos obtained by The Washington Post.

Pentagon leaders had requested the study to help make their enormous back-office bureaucracy more efficient and reinvest any savings in combat power. But after the project documented far more wasteful spending than expected, senior defense officials moved swiftly to kill it by discrediting and suppressing the results.

The report, issued in January 2015, identified “a clear path” for the Defense Department to save $125 billion over five years. The plan would not have required layoffs of civil servants or reductions in military personnel. Instead, it would have streamlined the bureaucracy through attrition and early retirements, curtailed high-priced contractors and made better use of information technology.

The study was produced last year by the Defense Business Board, a federal advisory panel of corporate executives, and consultants from McKinsey and Company. Based on reams of personnel and cost data, their report revealed for the first time that the Pentagon was spending almost a quarter of its $580 billion budget on overhead and core business operations such as accounting, human resources, logistics and property management.

. . . .

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/pentagon-buries-evidence-of-125-billion-in-bureaucratic-waste/2016/12/05/e0668c76-9af6-11e6-a0ed-ab0774c1eaa5_story.html?utm_term=.b0bf7daf1089

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Re: Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
« Reply #52 on: December 12, 2016, 10:09:53 AM »
Pentagon buries evidence of $125 billion in bureaucratic waste
By Craig Whitlock and Bob Woodward
December 5, 2016

The Pentagon has buried an internal study that exposed $125 billion in administrative waste, according to findings by The Washington Post. (Victoria Walker/The Washington Post)

The Pentagon has buried an internal study that exposed $125 billion in administrative waste in its business operations amid fears Congress would use the findings as an excuse to slash the defense budget, according to interviews and confidential memos obtained by The Washington Post.

Pentagon leaders had requested the study to help make their enormous back-office bureaucracy more efficient and reinvest any savings in combat power. But after the project documented far more wasteful spending than expected, senior defense officials moved swiftly to kill it by discrediting and suppressing the results.

The report, issued in January 2015, identified “a clear path” for the Defense Department to save $125 billion over five years. The plan would not have required layoffs of civil servants or reductions in military personnel. Instead, it would have streamlined the bureaucracy through attrition and early retirements, curtailed high-priced contractors and made better use of information technology.

The study was produced last year by the Defense Business Board, a federal advisory panel of corporate executives, and consultants from McKinsey and Company. Based on reams of personnel and cost data, their report revealed for the first time that the Pentagon was spending almost a quarter of its $580 billion budget on overhead and core business operations such as accounting, human resources, logistics and property management.

. . . .

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/pentagon-buries-evidence-of-125-billion-in-bureaucratic-waste/2016/12/05/e0668c76-9af6-11e6-a0ed-ab0774c1eaa5_story.html?utm_term=.b0bf7daf1089

Yamcha

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Re: Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
« Reply #53 on: December 15, 2016, 04:40:02 AM »
 :D

a

Dos Equis

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Re: Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
« Reply #54 on: April 10, 2017, 07:53:39 PM »
Watchdog calls out HUD for $500B-plus in accounting 'errors'
By  Brooke Singman   
Published April 10, 2017
FoxNews.com
 
Everybody makes mistakes – but this could be an accounting error for the ages.

An inspector general audit has identified more than $500 billion in "errors corrected" in the notes and financial statements for the Department of Housing and Urban Development under the Obama administration.

According to the report released in March, HUD reissued financial statements for fiscal 2015 and 2016 "due to pervasive material errors that we identified." Those errors were contained in a November filing.

"The total amounts of errors corrected in HUD’s notes and consolidated financial statements were $516.4 billion and $3.4 billion, respectively," the IG said. 

The office also noted other circumstances that apparently made it difficult for the IG to obtain “sufficient, appropriate evidence” as part of the report. According to the IG, this included weak internal controls over financial reporting which led to errors and delays in preparing financial statements; several “significant deficiencies”; and instances of noncompliance with applicable laws and regulations.

In response, HUD revised the statements and said the “errors” were solely in “presentation” of financial information which had since been corrected. A February letter from HUD’s Chief Financial Officer Courtney B. Timberlake also argued that the corrections “did not represent a change in cash balances, any improper payments, or misallocation of HUD resources.”

A source at HUD told Fox News that the matter of revising and re-issuing financial statements is taken “very seriously.”

But according to the Office of the Inspector General, HUD’s statements are “misleading” because they imply that the information reported was correct, and “merely presented inconsistently.”

OIG said HUD’s management is “downplaying the severity of the condition and impact of errors identified,” noting that they were significant enough to cause the department to reissue financial statements and notes for 2016.

Some of the errors were caused by HUD rounding dollar amounts to the nearest “billion,” when financial guidance calls for rounding to the nearest “million.”

Errors are common, but not of this magnitude.

“While we have audited HUD’s reissued statements, we have not fully evaluated any of the new process improvements HUD discussed in its response,” Assistant Inspector General for Audit Randy McGinnis wrote in a March 1 letter. “We look forward to evaluating these processes as part of our fiscal year 2017 audit.”

While Ben Carson is now secretary of HUD, Julian Castro was secretary at the end of the Obama administration.

HUD OIG performs an annual audit, as required by the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/04/10/watchdog-calls-out-hud-for-500b-plus-in-accounting-errors.html

Nick Danger

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Re: Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
« Reply #55 on: April 10, 2017, 08:04:12 PM »

Dos Equis

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Re: Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
« Reply #56 on: May 29, 2017, 02:29:00 PM »
Report: Rep. Gutierrez Paid Wife $12K From Campaign Funds
By Jeffrey Rodack   |   Monday, 29 May 2017

The wife of Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., received $12,000 — almost half of the Democratic congressman's first quarter campaign expenditures for 2017, The Washington Free Beacon reported Sunday.

Soraida Gutierrez has been on the payroll of the Gutierrez for Congress campaign committee since 2010, according to the Free Beacon, noting that during that time she has been paid $385,000.

Most recently, she was paid $6,000 on Feb. 6 for serving as the campaign treasurer and overseeing fundraising services, according to the Free Beacon, citing Federal Election Commission filings. She was paid an additional $6,000 on Feb. 28.

From Jan. 1-March 31, the campaign had spent $25,152.08 – including the money paid to the lawmaker’s wife, the Beacon noted.

Members of Congress have been permitted to put family members on their campaign rolls since 2001. The article explained Gutierrez has also paid his daughters from campaign funds in the past.

Gutierrez’s wife was a registered lobbyist in Illinois from 2003 to 2009 before joining his campaign, Fox News reported. She has been the top recipient of campaign funds in three cycles since assuming the role, according to the news network.

http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/Rep-Luis-Gutierrez-Soraida-Gutierrez-campaign-funds/2017/05/29/id/792937/

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Re: Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
« Reply #57 on: May 29, 2017, 03:54:13 PM »
Another liberal leech



Report: Rep. Gutierrez Paid Wife $12K From Campaign Funds
By Jeffrey Rodack   |   Monday, 29 May 2017

The wife of Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., received $12,000 — almost half of the Democratic congressman's first quarter campaign expenditures for 2017, The Washington Free Beacon reported Sunday.

Soraida Gutierrez has been on the payroll of the Gutierrez for Congress campaign committee since 2010, according to the Free Beacon, noting that during that time she has been paid $385,000.

Most recently, she was paid $6,000 on Feb. 6 for serving as the campaign treasurer and overseeing fundraising services, according to the Free Beacon, citing Federal Election Commission filings. She was paid an additional $6,000 on Feb. 28.

From Jan. 1-March 31, the campaign had spent $25,152.08 – including the money paid to the lawmaker’s wife, the Beacon noted.

Members of Congress have been permitted to put family members on their campaign rolls since 2001. The article explained Gutierrez has also paid his daughters from campaign funds in the past.

Gutierrez’s wife was a registered lobbyist in Illinois from 2003 to 2009 before joining his campaign, Fox News reported. She has been the top recipient of campaign funds in three cycles since assuming the role, according to the news network.

http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/Rep-Luis-Gutierrez-Soraida-Gutierrez-campaign-funds/2017/05/29/id/792937/

Dos Equis

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Re: Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
« Reply #58 on: June 30, 2017, 04:16:01 PM »
Senate Democrat blasts 'Obamaphone' over fraudulent findings, complete lack of oversight'
Published June 30, 2017
Fox News

A new government audit finds more than a third of enrollees of the "Obamaphone" program may not be qualified -- among other fraudulent findings -- prompting a Senate Democrat to roundly criticize the program's "complete lack of oversight."

A report released Thursday by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) claims the program, which gives cell phones to poor people, stashed $9 billion in private bank accounts, the Washington Times reported.

The 90-page report was requested by Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat who serves as ranking Democrat on the Senate’s chief oversight committee and who is a former state auditor in Missouri.

"A complete lack of oversight is causing this program to fail the American taxpayer — everything that could go wrong is going wrong," McCaskill said in a statement, according to the newspaper.

"We’re currently letting phone companies cash a government check every month with little more than the honor system to hold them accountable, and that simply can’t continue," she said.

The program -- officially known as the Lifeline Program and run by the Federal Communications Commission -- predates President Obama but received attention during his time in office when recipients began to associate the free phone with other benefits given to the poor, the paper reported.

The GAO report found that about 10.6 million people have an Obamaphone, but 36 percent of them may not qualify, according to the Washington Times. The audit also concluded that more than 5,500 people were found to be enrolled for two phones, while the program was paying for about 6,400 phones for persons the government has listed as dead, the paper reported.

Click here for more from the Washington Times

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/06/30/senate-democrat-blasts-obamaphone-over-fraudulent-findings-complete-lack-oversight.html

Soul Crusher

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Re: Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
« Reply #59 on: June 30, 2017, 05:39:57 PM »
Andre still calling porno lines on his Obamacare phone


Senate Democrat blasts 'Obamaphone' over fraudulent findings, complete lack of oversight'
Published June 30, 2017
Fox News

A new government audit finds more than a third of enrollees of the "Obamaphone" program may not be qualified -- among other fraudulent findings -- prompting a Senate Democrat to roundly criticize the program's "complete lack of oversight."

A report released Thursday by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) claims the program, which gives cell phones to poor people, stashed $9 billion in private bank accounts, the Washington Times reported.

The 90-page report was requested by Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat who serves as ranking Democrat on the Senate’s chief oversight committee and who is a former state auditor in Missouri.

"A complete lack of oversight is causing this program to fail the American taxpayer — everything that could go wrong is going wrong," McCaskill said in a statement, according to the newspaper.

"We’re currently letting phone companies cash a government check every month with little more than the honor system to hold them accountable, and that simply can’t continue," she said.

The program -- officially known as the Lifeline Program and run by the Federal Communications Commission -- predates President Obama but received attention during his time in office when recipients began to associate the free phone with other benefits given to the poor, the paper reported.

The GAO report found that about 10.6 million people have an Obamaphone, but 36 percent of them may not qualify, according to the Washington Times. The audit also concluded that more than 5,500 people were found to be enrolled for two phones, while the program was paying for about 6,400 phones for persons the government has listed as dead, the paper reported.

Click here for more from the Washington Times

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/06/30/senate-democrat-blasts-obamaphone-over-fraudulent-findings-complete-lack-oversight.html

Dos Equis

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Re: Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
« Reply #60 on: July 06, 2017, 02:33:50 PM »
Pure greed.

NJ millionaires-on-welfare sting: 12 additional individuals charged

By Brittany De Lea 
Published July 06, 2017

Twelve more wealthy individuals in Lakewood, New Jersey have been charged with defrauding Medicaid and other government assistance programs by misrepresenting their incomes, prosecutors said Thursday, after seven couples were charged last week for gaming the system out of $2 million.

The defendants have all been charged with theft by deception, misrepresenting their incomes to show levels low enough in order to qualify for public assistance programs including Medicaid, heating benefits and food stamps (SNAP).

“They’ve been given letters instructing them as to the time frame for appearing. All defendants are expected to respond no later than Tuesday of next week,” the Ocean County, New Jersey prosecutor’s office said in a statement to FOX Business.

The couples charged Thursday fraudulently amassed welfare benefits near $400,000, according to an analysis of data from the prosecutor’s office. One couple alone collected nearly $75,000 in unentitled benefits from Medicaid between 2011 and 2013.

Seven additional couples, including a Rabbi and his wife, were charged just last week with defrauding government assistance programs out of at least $2 million.

One of the couples allegedly received Medicaid benefits for multiple years despite their annual income of more than $1 million, the complaint said.

Throughout fiscal year 2016, New Jersey spent $14.5 billion on Medicaid, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Throughout the same time period, the country as a whole spent $553.4 billion on the health assistance program.

In another instance, a couple allegedly made $1.8 million through various business endeavors that they had listed under relatives’ names—yet received housing, food and health benefits. They ultimately defrauded the government out of $178,000. The max allowable gross monthly income for a family of five in the state to be eligible for SNAP assistance is $4,385—which amounts to about $52,600 per year.

The prosecutor’s office said Thursday the investigation is ongoing.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/2017/07/06/nj-millionaires-on-welfare-sting-12-additional-individuals-charged.html

Las Vegas

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Re: Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
« Reply #61 on: July 06, 2017, 03:37:02 PM »
Quote
Seven additional couples, including a Rabbi and his wife, were charged just last week with defrauding government assistance programs out of at least $2 million.

No way!  Not HIM.

Soul Crusher

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Re: Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
« Reply #62 on: July 06, 2017, 06:36:48 PM »
Hasidics are the damn worst welfare thugs


Pure greed.

NJ millionaires-on-welfare sting: 12 additional individuals charged

By Brittany De Lea 
Published July 06, 2017

Twelve more wealthy individuals in Lakewood, New Jersey have been charged with defrauding Medicaid and other government assistance programs by misrepresenting their incomes, prosecutors said Thursday, after seven couples were charged last week for gaming the system out of $2 million.

The defendants have all been charged with theft by deception, misrepresenting their incomes to show levels low enough in order to qualify for public assistance programs including Medicaid, heating benefits and food stamps (SNAP).

“They’ve been given letters instructing them as to the time frame for appearing. All defendants are expected to respond no later than Tuesday of next week,” the Ocean County, New Jersey prosecutor’s office said in a statement to FOX Business.

The couples charged Thursday fraudulently amassed welfare benefits near $400,000, according to an analysis of data from the prosecutor’s office. One couple alone collected nearly $75,000 in unentitled benefits from Medicaid between 2011 and 2013.

Seven additional couples, including a Rabbi and his wife, were charged just last week with defrauding government assistance programs out of at least $2 million.

One of the couples allegedly received Medicaid benefits for multiple years despite their annual income of more than $1 million, the complaint said.

Throughout fiscal year 2016, New Jersey spent $14.5 billion on Medicaid, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Throughout the same time period, the country as a whole spent $553.4 billion on the health assistance program.

In another instance, a couple allegedly made $1.8 million through various business endeavors that they had listed under relatives’ names—yet received housing, food and health benefits. They ultimately defrauded the government out of $178,000. The max allowable gross monthly income for a family of five in the state to be eligible for SNAP assistance is $4,385—which amounts to about $52,600 per year.

The prosecutor’s office said Thursday the investigation is ongoing.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/2017/07/06/nj-millionaires-on-welfare-sting-12-additional-individuals-charged.html

Soul Crusher

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Re: Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
« Reply #63 on: July 19, 2017, 02:12:59 PM »

Soul Crusher

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Re: Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
« Reply #64 on: July 19, 2017, 02:14:16 PM »
Feds charge 7 with $132M Medicare fraud
Sarah Rahal, and Robert Snell, DetroitNews Published 3:46 p.m. ET July 12, 2017 | Updated 3:46 p.m. ET July 12, 2017
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Detroit – Seven people were indicted Wednesday and accused of conspiring to defraud Medicare out of almost $132 million as a team of FBI agents raided their offices in the Fisher Building.

The indictment, unsealed Wednesday in federal court, alleges the defendants participated in a nearly decade-long conspiracy that defrauded Medicare through a series of kickbacks and bribes.

The indictment appears to be part of an annual, nationwide crackdown on health care fraud. Two years ago, federal agents charged 243 people nationwide with participating in fraudulent schemes that involved $712 million in false billings.

This year’s health care fraud crackdown, and the Detroit indictment, is expected to be outlined Thursday by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

In 2015, the enforcement sweep led to 16 arrests on charges relating to schemes that involved more than $122 million.

The indictment unsealed Wednesday alleges the seven defendants conspired in a scheme involving $131.8 million.

The alleged scheme involved paying kickbacks and bribes for services billed to Medicare.

The seven people charged are:

■Mashiyat Rashid of Oakland County.

■Yasser Mozeb of Oakland County.

■Spilios Pappas of Ohio.

■Abdul Haq of Washtenaw County.

■Joseph Betro of Oakland County.

■Tariq Omar of Oakland County.

■Mohammed Zahoor of Oakland County.

Ages and hometowns were not immediately available Wednesday.

Mozeb, Pappas, Haq, Betro, Omar and Zahoor were released on $10,000 unsecured bond Wednesday. Rashid was arraigned and temporarily held without bond.

Four offices at the Fisher Building, where most of the seven people conducted business, were raided Wednesday by the FBI. A Detroit News photographer captured part of the raid in offices 305 and 306.

The business being raided include Aqua Therapy and Pain Management Inc., which was run by Rashid; Tri-State Physician Group, run by Pappas; New Center Medical P.C.; and National Laboratories Inc.

The other companies include Global Quality Inc., Tri-County Physician Group P.C. and Tri-County Wellness Inc., which served as a management company, at 3800 Woodward Ave.

Omar and Zahoor are enrolled as providers with Medicare for Tri-County Physician. Mozeb was paid by Rashid and received payments from Global Quality and Tri-County Wellness. They opened bank accounts in the name of ISN Marketing to receive payments, according to the indictment.

The conspiracy has continued for nearly a decade and involved sending false and fraudulent materials to Medicare, the indictment alleges.

They disguised ownership and billed Medicare for false treatments, entered into sham agreements and made misrepresentations and omissions in the enrollment applications and claims submitted to Medicare, the government claims.

“Physicians … would prescribe medically unnecessary controlled substances, including Oxycodone, Hydrocodone, and Opana, to Tri-County Network beneficiaries,” according to the indictment.

The indictment lists nine charges, including health care fraud conspiracy, health care fraud, conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and receiving and paying kickback

Soul Crusher

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Re: Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
« Reply #65 on: August 18, 2017, 10:46:49 AM »
Feds Spend $438,699 Studying If ‘Gender Norms’ Make LGBTQ People Get Drunk
Washington Free Bacon ^ | 08/18/2017 | Elizabeth Harrington
Posted on 8/18/2017, 1:40:34 PM by ForYourChildren

Grant: Alcohol is 'integral component of bars and clubs'!

The National Institutes of Health is spending over $400,000 studying whether gender norms of masculinity and femininity lead LGBTQ individuals to drink too much.

Trying to find the "meanings of intoxication" of sexual and gender minorities is the central question of a study that was awarded in late July.

The project will "examine the extent to which gendered norms shape risky drinking practices for sexual and gender minority (SGM) young adults," according to the grant for the study.

The grant states that alcohol is an "integral component of bars and clubs."

"Alcohol has played a central role for SGM by facilitating exploration of sexuality and gender, coping with minority stress, trauma, and stigma and serving as an integral component of bars and clubs for SGM young adults," the grant states. "Given this central role, it is not surprising that problematic alcohol use, including heavy episodic drinking (HED) and intoxication, and alcohol-related problems are significant issues for SGM young adults."

Researchers will conduct "in-depth interviews" with approximately 200 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals about their alcohol use, to determine why they drink.

{..snip..}

(Excerpt) Read more at freebeacon.com ...

Dos Equis

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Re: Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
« Reply #66 on: August 18, 2017, 01:59:40 PM »
Feds Spend $438,699 Studying If ‘Gender Norms’ Make LGBTQ People Get Drunk
Washington Free Bacon ^ | 08/18/2017 | Elizabeth Harrington
Posted on 8/18/2017, 1:40:34 PM by ForYourChildren

Grant: Alcohol is 'integral component of bars and clubs'!

The National Institutes of Health is spending over $400,000 studying whether gender norms of masculinity and femininity lead LGBTQ individuals to drink too much.

Trying to find the "meanings of intoxication" of sexual and gender minorities is the central question of a study that was awarded in late July.

The project will "examine the extent to which gendered norms shape risky drinking practices for sexual and gender minority (SGM) young adults," according to the grant for the study.

The grant states that alcohol is an "integral component of bars and clubs."

"Alcohol has played a central role for SGM by facilitating exploration of sexuality and gender, coping with minority stress, trauma, and stigma and serving as an integral component of bars and clubs for SGM young adults," the grant states. "Given this central role, it is not surprising that problematic alcohol use, including heavy episodic drinking (HED) and intoxication, and alcohol-related problems are significant issues for SGM young adults."

Researchers will conduct "in-depth interviews" with approximately 200 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals about their alcohol use, to determine why they drink.

{..snip..}

(Excerpt) Read more at freebeacon.com ...

 >:(

Soul Crusher

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Dos Equis

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Re: Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
« Reply #68 on: October 17, 2017, 04:40:25 PM »
Maxine Waters Spent $10,000 on What??
The controversial representative spent $10,000 on tickets to a big Broadway show through her re-election campaign, and listed it as a “Fundraiser Expense.”
October 17, 2017

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) has spent weeks in the headlines this year for her consistent calls to impeach President Trump. Now she’s in the headlines for some of her own bad news.

Observers pointed out on Monday that Waters, in her campaign’s new FEC report, purchased $10,747.15 worth of tickets to the broadway show Hamilton and listed the purchase as a “Fundraiser Expense.”

It’s far from the first time Waters has made the news this year. She has frequently argued for impeachment of President Trump without evidence, she mentioned HUD Secretary Ben Carson in the same breath as the KKK in August, and in September even suggested the president has cheated on his wife.

For all her bluster, Waters has surely picked up some new fans in 2017 – but would they approve of her decision to use campaign funds to purchase Broadway tickets?

http://ntknetwork.com/maxine-waters-spent-10000-on-what/

Dos Equis

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Re: Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
« Reply #69 on: December 05, 2017, 03:09:53 PM »
Mueller Details $6.7M Spent in Early Months of Russia Probe
Tuesday, 05 Dec 2017

The special counsel investigation into possible coordination between President Donald Trump's campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential election has cost more than $6.7 million so far, according to a financial report released Tuesday.

The release of the report by special counsel Robert Mueller's office comes as the investigation appears to be gaining steam: Prosecutors have gained a key cooperator in their investigation and revealed that they are keenly focused on the actions of the president and his inner circle.

Of the overall price tag, only about $3.2 million was spent directly by the special counsel's office. An additional $3.5 million was paid out by the Justice Department to support the investigation, though the special counsel's office says that money would have been spent on ongoing probes anyway, even if Mueller had not been appointed.

Mueller incorporated several active investigations within the Justice Department including those of Trump campaign contacts with Russia, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's business activities and former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

The details of the expenditures related to Mueller's investigation were laid out in a report released publicly by the special counsel's office. The report covers from May 17, the date of Mueller's appointment, through Sept. 30, the end of the federal fiscal year.

According to Mueller's report, the special counsel's office spent about $1.7 million for salaries and benefits and more than $223,000 for travel-related expenses. The majority of the travel costs stemmed from the relocation of Justice Department employees temporarily assigned to the expanding investigation.

The office also spent nearly $734,000 on equipment and about $363,000 on rent, communications and utilities.

Previous special counsel investigations, including probes of President Bill Clinton in the late 1990s, have also spent millions over a few months' time.

A 1999 General Accounting Office report, for example, showed that independent counsel Kenneth Starr's office spent $6.2 million in the last six months of 1998, though it's unclear if that amount included both direct expenditures by the special counsel and supporting agency costs. In the report released Tuesday, Mueller's office noted that previous special counsels only reported direct costs and not those incurred separately by the Justice Department on their own expenditure reports.

The four-and-a-half year investigations headed by Starr and his successor, Robert Ray, cost more than $52 million in taxpayer funds as they probed Clinton and then-first lady Hillary Clinton.

A 2000 General Accounting Office report that detailed those figures said that $36 million came from congressional appropriations and $16 million from other federal agency costs. Starr's predecessor, Robert Fiske, spent an additional $6 million investigating the Clintons' involvement in the Whitewater real estate deal, according to a May 1999 GAO report.

Starr's investigation turned over documentation to the GOP-led House Judiciary Committee, which impeached Bill Clinton in December 1998 on single charges of perjury and obstruction of justice related to his affair with intern Monica Lewinsky. A Senate vote in February 1999 failed to convict Clinton on those charges.

So far, Mueller's team has charged four people as part of the ongoing investigation.

Last week, Flynn pleaded guilty to a felony charge of lying to the FBI and agreed to cooperate with Mueller's investigators. George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, made a similar plea deal with Mueller's prosecutors in October. Both men admitted to lying to the FBI about their contacts with Russians related to their work for Trump.

In addition, Manafort and his longtime business associate, Rick Gates, are currently facing several felony charges brought by the special counsel's office. Those charges involve allegations of money laundering and other financial crimes related to their political consulting work in Ukraine.

In its report, Mueller's team notes that it draws its funding from a revolving "permanent, indefinite" appropriation for independent counsels provided by Congress, as well as from non-reimbursed Justice Department agency expenditures and from intelligence agency appropriations.

In a statement, the special counsel's office said it will release a similar expenditure report after March 31, 2018.

https://www.newsmax.com/headline/trump-russia-probe-costs/2017/12/05/id/830037/

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Re: Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
« Reply #70 on: January 16, 2018, 09:21:27 AM »
Government Gives San Diego State Professor $430,000 to Study Latino Grocery Store Purchases
by TOM CICCOTTA
15 Jan 2018

A San Diego State University professor was given $430,000 by the federal government to study the grocery store habits of Latino Americans.
According to a report from The College Fix, Professor Iana Castro of San Diego State’s College of Business Administration has received a $430,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to study the grocery store purchases of Latino American families. The purpose of the study is to learn how Latino Americans can combat obesity by making healthier choices at the grocery store.

According to the grant proposal, the study aims to identify the factors that lead Latino families to purchase unhealthy items at the grocery store.

The proposed research will identify in-store and parent-child factors that influence grocery purchasing behavior, a behavior that occurs multiple times per week and has implications for dietary intake and diet quality through foods and beverages consumed. The modifiability of in-store and parent-child factors makes them excellent intervention targets, and examining their influence on grocery purchasing behavior is innovative and significant.

To conduct the study, Castro will follow Latino American families as they walk around the supermarket. She will analyze conversations from the entire shopping trip, particularly those between parents and their children. She plans to utilize eye-tracking technology to determine the products that the shopper’s eyes land on first.

The grant sets out that the project hopes to find solutions that will help promote the adoption of healthier diets amongst the Latino population. “Identifying strategies with the potential to promote the adoption and maintenance of healthier food and beverage purchasing is essential for improving health outcomes, including rates of obesity,” the grant reads.

http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2018/01/15/government-gives-san-diego-state-professor-430000-to-study-latino-grocery-store-purchases/

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Re: Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
« Reply #71 on: January 22, 2018, 09:10:10 AM »
State Department Spending $592,500 to ‘Explore Gender Identities of Boys and Men in Kenya’
Washington Free Beacon ^ | 1/22/18 | Elizabeth Harrington
Posted on 1/22/2018, 5:29:34 AM

The State Department announced a new $600,000 taxpayer-funded study that suggests "ideals of masculinity" in Kenya are contributing to terrorism.

The department's Bureau of Counterterrorism is seeking a nonprofit group to "explore gender identities of boys and men in Kenya." The grant proposal states that men being "tough, heterosexual, aggressive, unemotional, and achieving" can make them vulnerable to joining Islamic extremist groups.

"Gender is increasingly recognized as an essential aspect to understanding and countering violent extremism throughout the world," the State Department said. "To date, research and interventions on gender in Kenya have predominantly focused on the role of women and girls in violent extremism. However, men and boys are disproportionately recruited by and join terrorist groups and carry out terrorist operations. In Kenya, there currently exists no CVE [countering violent extremism] programming dedicated to the role of gender of boys and men and vulnerability to violent extremism."

To remedy this, the State Department will spend up to $592,500 on the "Masculinity and Violent Extremism" study, which will be awarded to an American nonprofit or nongovernmental organization later this year.

The study will "determine existing knowledge and gaps on male gender and violent extremism as well as explore gender identities of boys and men in Kenya."

The grant proposal blames Kenya's "patriarchal" society of "tough, heterosexual" men for problems facing the developing country.

"In Kenya, boys and men are disproportionately recruited by al-Shabaab and more likely to be both operators and victims of terrorist acts," the State Department said. "Kenyan society, while diverse in its ethnic and cultural composition, is uniformly patriarchal and highly prescriptive of gender expressions and identities."

"Kenyan males are expected to head the household as well as provide for, protect, and maintain the family," the department continued. "Socially, males are expected to be tough, heterosexual, aggressive, unemotional, and achieving. The practical and social pressures to fulfill these expectations can be immense and create vulnerabilities that are exploited by violent extremist groups who appeal to these characteristics and offer the opportunity to fulfil [sic] these roles."

The State Department added that the research would involve fathers and community leaders in Kenya in the hopes to "shape existing cultural narratives on masculinity, gender, and violent extremism."

"Funds will support male-to-male dialogue and training on issues of gender and encourage stronger social and familial support structures," the department said.

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Re: Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
« Reply #72 on: March 14, 2018, 10:02:54 AM »
Sheriff who pocketed $750G from inmate food fund bought beach house for $740G
By Kathleen Joyce   | Fox News

An Alabama sheriff who pocketed $750,000 from funds meant to feed inmates is coming under fresh scrutiny for the purchase of a beach house that cost nearly the same amount of money.

AL.com reported Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin received $750,000 of “compensation” from a source he called “food provisions” during a three-year period. When AL.com contacted Entrekin about the money he did not deny he received it despite the money being “allocated by federal, state and municipal governments to feed inmates in the Etowah County Jail.”

Entrekin like other Alabama sheriffs believe a pre-World War II state law allows them to keep any “excess inmate-feeding funds” for themselves. However, in counties such as Jefferson and Montgomery, any excess money is supposed to be given to the county government.

In forms filed with the Alabama Ethics Commission, Entrekin reported he made “more than $250,000 each of the past three years via the inmate-feeding funds.”

"In regards to feeding of inmates, we utilize a registered dietitian to ensure adequate meals are provided daily," Entrekin told AL.com in an email. "As you should be aware, Alabama law is clear as to my personal financial responsibilities in the feeding of inmates. Regardless of one's opinion of this statute, until the legislature acts otherwise, the Sheriff must follow the current law."

Entrekin’s annual salary is $93,178.80, AL.com reported. However, Entrekin was able to purchase a four-bedroom beach pad with a built-in pool for $740,000. Entrekin and his wife Karen also own a two-story home in Orange Beach worth about $200,900.

Matthew Qualls, 20, was arrested on drugs charges just days after he publicly criticized Sheriff Todd Entrekin.  (Etowah County Sheriff's Office )

Some residents questioned Entrekin’s purchase, including one, Matthew Qualls, who was arrested on drug charges earlier this month just days after he publicly criticized Entrekin for keeping the fund surplus.

Qualls who was paid to mow Entrekins’s lawn told AL.com in an article published in February he questioned why he was receiving checks for his services via a “Sheriff Todd Entrekin Food Provision Account,” when he knew of individuals in jail who had gone without meals.

"I saw that in the corner of the checks it said 'Food Provision,' and a couple people I knew came through the jail, and they say they got meat maybe once a month and every other day it was just beans and vegetables," Qualls told AL.com.

Qualls was arrested after police responded to an “anonymous tip” about a marijuana odor coming from an apartment where he and a friend were found inside. He was released from custody after taking a plea deal prompted by public outcry after his arrest. The deal requires Qualls to participate in the Etowah County Drug Court program, where he will be subject to random drug screenings, and must complete substance abuse classes instead of facing prison time, his attorney Sam Bone told AL.com.     

Entrekin is also being challenged for his job this year by Rainbow City Police Chief Jonathon Horton. Horton has pledged not to pocket any excess money from the inmate-feeding funds.

"I believe the funds belong to the taxpayers and any excess funds should go toward things that benefit the taxpayer," Horton told AL.com. "There's been a tremendous amount of money left over that shouldn't be used as a bonus check."

Entrekin declined to respond to AL.com about his finances and multiple homes.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/03/14/sheriff-who-pocketed-750g-from-inmate-food-fund-bought-beach-house-for-740g.html

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Re: Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
« Reply #73 on: December 26, 2019, 12:42:43 PM »
Mueller Details $6.7M Spent in Early Months of Russia Probe
Tuesday, 05 Dec 2017

The special counsel investigation into possible coordination between President Donald Trump's campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential election has cost more than $6.7 million so far, according to a financial report released Tuesday.

The release of the report by special counsel Robert Mueller's office comes as the investigation appears to be gaining steam: Prosecutors have gained a key cooperator in their investigation and revealed that they are keenly focused on the actions of the president and his inner circle.

Of the overall price tag, only about $3.2 million was spent directly by the special counsel's office. An additional $3.5 million was paid out by the Justice Department to support the investigation, though the special counsel's office says that money would have been spent on ongoing probes anyway, even if Mueller had not been appointed.

Mueller incorporated several active investigations within the Justice Department including those of Trump campaign contacts with Russia, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's business activities and former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

The details of the expenditures related to Mueller's investigation were laid out in a report released publicly by the special counsel's office. The report covers from May 17, the date of Mueller's appointment, through Sept. 30, the end of the federal fiscal year.

According to Mueller's report, the special counsel's office spent about $1.7 million for salaries and benefits and more than $223,000 for travel-related expenses. The majority of the travel costs stemmed from the relocation of Justice Department employees temporarily assigned to the expanding investigation.

The office also spent nearly $734,000 on equipment and about $363,000 on rent, communications and utilities.

Previous special counsel investigations, including probes of President Bill Clinton in the late 1990s, have also spent millions over a few months' time.

A 1999 General Accounting Office report, for example, showed that independent counsel Kenneth Starr's office spent $6.2 million in the last six months of 1998, though it's unclear if that amount included both direct expenditures by the special counsel and supporting agency costs. In the report released Tuesday, Mueller's office noted that previous special counsels only reported direct costs and not those incurred separately by the Justice Department on their own expenditure reports.

The four-and-a-half year investigations headed by Starr and his successor, Robert Ray, cost more than $52 million in taxpayer funds as they probed Clinton and then-first lady Hillary Clinton.

A 2000 General Accounting Office report that detailed those figures said that $36 million came from congressional appropriations and $16 million from other federal agency costs. Starr's predecessor, Robert Fiske, spent an additional $6 million investigating the Clintons' involvement in the Whitewater real estate deal, according to a May 1999 GAO report.

Starr's investigation turned over documentation to the GOP-led House Judiciary Committee, which impeached Bill Clinton in December 1998 on single charges of perjury and obstruction of justice related to his affair with intern Monica Lewinsky. A Senate vote in February 1999 failed to convict Clinton on those charges.

So far, Mueller's team has charged four people as part of the ongoing investigation.

Last week, Flynn pleaded guilty to a felony charge of lying to the FBI and agreed to cooperate with Mueller's investigators. George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, made a similar plea deal with Mueller's prosecutors in October. Both men admitted to lying to the FBI about their contacts with Russians related to their work for Trump.

In addition, Manafort and his longtime business associate, Rick Gates, are currently facing several felony charges brought by the special counsel's office. Those charges involve allegations of money laundering and other financial crimes related to their political consulting work in Ukraine.

In its report, Mueller's team notes that it draws its funding from a revolving "permanent, indefinite" appropriation for independent counsels provided by Congress, as well as from non-reimbursed Justice Department agency expenditures and from intelligence agency appropriations.

In a statement, the special counsel's office said it will release a similar expenditure report after March 31, 2018.

https://www.newsmax.com/headline/trump-russia-probe-costs/2017/12/05/id/830037/

We spent about $32 million of taxpayer money investigating a partisan-funded hoax. 

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Re: Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
« Reply #74 on: December 26, 2019, 12:43:30 PM »
Embattled union honchos’ lavish spending exposed: Villas, four-figure dinners, $60,000 cigar bill
By Ronn Blitzer | Fox News

Work hard, play hard -- and on the union's dime.

That might as well have been the motto for some former top officials at the United Automobile Workers, whose lavish spending on luxuries including high-end cigars, four-figure dining and California villas has been exposed in painstaking detail by federal prosecutors.

It's a case that threatens to cause serious problems for top auto union bosses, including Gary Jones, who resigned as president last month under pressure. A complaint filed in September in Michigan federal court against union leader Vance Pearson refers to several unnamed individuals, but union officials have told the New York Times that one of them, UAW “Official A,” is, in fact, Jones, whose home was raided by federal agents.

And Official A's wild expenses are all over the court documents, allegedly including $13,000 at a cigar store.

“A December 2015 Gary’s Sales invoice issued to ‘UAW c/o [UAW Official A]’ for a $13,046.91 purchase that included an order for 12 boxes of Ashton Double Magnum cigars at $268.00 per box (totaling $3,216) and 12 boxes of Ashton Monarch Tubos cigars at $274.50 a box (totaling $3,294),” was among the purchases listed in court documents. The documents listed another $13,000 purchase invoiced to Pearson from the same store the following year, part of an alleged $60,000 on cigar- and tobacco-related purchases between 2014 and 2018.

This is just one example of expenses allegedly made by Jones, Pearson and others, which prosecutors say were made via accounts set up with hotels such as the Royal Palm Springs Hotel (RPSH) and Loews Coronado Bay Resort, where they had training conferences. The hotels then paid outside vendors on the UAW officials’ behalf, “as a way to conceal the embezzling of union funds for their own personal use,” the complaint says.

The Times detailed a slew of these expenses in a lengthy story Thursday, noting that another official referenced anonymously in court documents is Jones' predecessor as president, Dennis Williams. Neither has been charged. An attorney for Jones downplayed the accusations as part of filings "in which Gary was not charged," according to the Times, while a source close to Williams reportedly rejected accusations that he urged the misuse of funds.

General Motors and United Auto Workers union reach tentative contract dealVideo
Through the RPSH, union officials spent more than $400,000 at local businesses between 2015 and 2017 on expenses including off-site condominiums and villas for themselves, prosecutors claim. An additional amount of nearly $400,000 was spent on “training” and “conference” expenditures at the Loews Coronado Bay Resort. These allegedly included meals and “excursion expenses” for senior union officials and their spouses, including the San Diego Zoo’s Safari Park and horseback riding on the beach.

The Times detailed how a "master account" was billed for over-the-top dinners, including one at LG's Prime Steakhouse that ran over $6,500.

According to a Detroit Free Press report, prosecutors allege top union officials misused upward of $1.5 million. Pearson is facing charges including embezzlement of union funds, filing false reports and maintaining false union records, money laundering, conspiracy, and mail and wire fraud.

Jones resigned as president in November before facing internal charges that would have removed him both from office and the union entirely. Jones' attorney Bruce Maffeo did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment, but he previously told The Detroit News that Jones' decision to resign "was reached before learning of the internal charges" that had been filed.

The case against Pearson is part of a larger investigation of UAW and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles that has gone on since 2015 and has already resulted in nine convictions. Many of these have been related to UAW officials improperly receiving things of value from Fiat Chrysler, and another involved a UAW official taking kickbacks from vendors in exchange for union contracts.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/embattled-union-honchos-lavish-spending-exposed-villas-four-figure-dinners-cigars