AS-IA Employee Misused Charge Card and Received Improper Cash Payments

August 5, 2020

17-0844

Investigation

The OIG investigated an allegation that an employee with the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs (AS-IA) may have improperly used entities that he owned or had a financial interest in to perform work at the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI). We found that the employee was involved in choosing two unregistered entities with whom he or other DOI staff had personal relationships and repeatedly paid them with a charge card, rather than establish a contract as required. The employee violated DOI policy and Federal regulations by misusing his Government charge card; asking for and receiving cash from the entities while they performed work for the DOI; issuing numerous payments to the entities with no supporting documentation; and submitting altered invoices during an internal charge card review as support for payments he made. We also found the employee personally received funds from the DOI for a private group he operated, and he did not file a financial disclosure as required by his position. The U.S. Department of Justice declined prosecution and the employee left Federal service.

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