The OIG conducted a joint investigation into allegations that the owners of Encore Services, LLC and Ideal Consulting, LLC bribed Chippewa Cree Tribe (CCT) officials to sign and backdate agreements, which allowed the companies to steal millions of dollars from the CCT. We also investigated allegations that CCT employees conspired to embezzle funds from the CCT. We conducted this investigation jointly with the Health and Human Services OIG, the Environmental Protection Agency OIG, and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation Division. We substantiated the allegations.

OIG investigated allegations that Citation Oil & Gas Corporation (Citation) misreported mineral royalty data to the Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) and underpaid Federal royalties associated with the production of coalbed methane gas from Federal wells located in Wyoming. We determined that for the period January 2006 through December 2015, Citation deducted transportation costs and field fuel volumes inconsistent with marketable condition rules when it calculated and reported royalties to ONRR. In December 2017, Citation entered into a settlement agreement with the U.S.

OIG investigated allegations that a U.S. Fish and Wildlife (FWS) human resource employee accessed the protected personnel files of a Federal employee without authorization, and that another unknown FWS employee removed a document from the office of a senior manager. We found that the human resource employee unlawfully accessed the Electronic Official Personnel Folder and USA Staffing databases and queried records related to a Federal employee who had been selected for a position.

The OIG and the FBI jointly investigated allegations that two employees stole school funds from the Shonto Preparatory School (SPS) in Arizona, which is funded by grants from the Bureau of Indian Education. The investigation determined that former SPS Business Manager Felicia Barlow stole $20,430.87 by fraudulently obtaining three SPS checks. Barlow pled guilty to one count in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1163, Embezzlement and theft from Indian tribal organizations, in U.S.