Waste, Fraud & Abuse
ICE rushed to buy 11 warehouses for detention. Now it’s trying to sell 7 of them
ICE's effort to rapidly build its detention capacity has wasted millions of dollars as the Trump administration took a spend-first, ask-questions-later approach, the Government Accountability Office said in a withering audit Thursday.
Sen. Rand Paul to refer Fauci aide for prosecution after Democrats block immunity deal
Sen. Rand Paul said Wednesday he will refer a longtime aide to Dr. Anthony Fauci to the Justice Department for possible prosecution, saying she had a "20-year history of destroying records" for him.
Federal prosecutors say mailman tossed 300 mail-in ballots ahead of Utah primary
Federal prosecutors announced charges Tuesday against a former mailman who they accused of dumping about 300 mail-in ballots he was supposed to deliver ahead of Utah's primary election in June.
Marsha Blackburn wants a national database on child trafficking rings before she exits Senate
Sen. Marsha Blackburn says the Justice Department doesn't have a central database to catalog child trafficking rings.
Florida woman admits to scamming $750,000 from Epstein victims fund
An autism scholar from Boca Raton, Florida, faces up to 20 years in prison for fraudulently claiming $750,000 from a fund to compensate victims of Jeffrey Epstein's sex crimes.
Pandemic relief fraud was not sophisticated. The verification was simply switched off
When Congress waived basic identity checks to speed up pandemic relief, fraudsters exploited the system to steal hundreds of billions in taxpayer funds.
How federal telework fraud actually gets caught, and why it takes so long
Federal law has long barred employees from holding more than one full-time government position at the same time without approval, a restriction codified at 5 U.S.C. 5533. What the law has never required is a mechanism for checking it.
Feds ban 870,000 suspected pandemic fraudsters from getting future government loans
Vice President J.D. Vance announced Monday that the government is barring 870,000 people from getting future federal loans because they are suspected of defrauding the government during the pandemic.
Warning of AI doomsday ‘swarm’ sparks push to slam brakes on superhuman technology
A string of new, terrifying warnings from the artificial intelligence community has put Congress, the White House and the A.I. industry on notice: Slow the progress of the rapidly developing technology before a swarm of bots takes over the Internet and "kill all humans."
Skid row scam: Fraudsters used homeless to pose as valid voters for California referendum drive
Federal prosecutors have charged three California residents for allegedly scamming the state's referendum system by paying homeless people to pose as other voters, then sign petitions to try to get measures on the ballot.
Scammers exploit Trump’s $5,000 dividend pledge with fake text alerts
People say they're receiving texts from scam operators trying to exploit President Trump's $5,000 dividend pledge.
D.C. Council member Trayon White heads to trial in federal bribery case
D.C. Council member Trayon White's long-awaited federal bribery trial begins Monday, as the Ward 8 Democrat looks to prove his innocence and keep his seat he has held for the past decade.
Feds move to shut down Chinese cyberscam factory
The federal government has seized a Chinese-run online scammers' marketplace, blocked more than $50 million in laundered cryptocurrency, slapped sanctions on the operators and sent a strike force to Madagascar to help close 13 scam compounds.
Appeals court rules IRS broke privacy laws in turning over records to ICE
The IRS broke a Watergate-era privacy law when it gave information on 47,000 people to ICE for use in immigration enforcement, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
Ex-Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer contributed to ‘toxic’ work environment, says IG report
Former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer ran a department where staff drank on duty, cried through public dressing-downs and were dispatched to organize her closet and pick up her dry cleaning, according to a new report from the Labor Department's Office of the Inspector General.
ICE whistleblower warned of ‘unprecedented lowering of standards’ during hiring spree
A supervisor overseeing background checks warned last year that Immigration and Customs Enforcement was hiring many new officers who had not undergone basic vetting, violating federal rules and putting the agency at risk of misconduct, a newly released whistleblower complaint shows.
Secret Service ignored drone incidents for years. Then came the Trump shooting
The Secret Service ignored dozens of security incidents, including repeated drone sightings near presidents and candidates, according to Congress' independent watchdog agency.
Democrats plot crackdown on Supreme Court
Democrats eyeing majorities in the House and Senate are plotting how they will police Supreme Court justices they say are influenced by right-wing, dark money groups.
Post office can’t handle Trump’s orders to police mail balloting, says whistleblower
The U.S. Postal Service's attempt to carry out President Trump's orders to control mail balloting in this year's election is "potentially catastrophic" and could block millions of people from casting their votes by mail, according to a new whistleblower report.
A dead teen’s Social Security number stayed active for 24 years and $284,000 in fraud
For 24 years, the man known to the world as Carlos Obregon would scam Social Security, Health and Human Services, the State Department, the Treasury Department and Idaho's Transportation Department, walking away with nearly $284,000 in taxpayers' money.