Federal Reports

Jason Chan and Jamar Rogers, both California residents, were sentenced on April 8, 2024, and March 27, 2024, respectively, in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California, for Wire Fraud and Aiding and Abetting. Chan was sentenced to 3 years’ probation and Rogers was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison followed by 3 years’ probation. The men were also ordered to pay a total of $43,518.32 in joint restitution.Our investigation found that Rogers purchased Amtrak tickets with stolen credit cards and exchanged the tickets for vouchers that he then advertised for sale. Chan purchased the vouchers from Rogers at a discounted rate, used them to buy new tickets, cancelled those tickets to obtain new vouchers, and then offered Amtrak tickets for sale at a discount. As a result of the scheme, Rogers and Chan caused Amtrak to issue approximately $38,000 in ticket vouchers and caused losses of over $45,000 to Amtrak, card-issuing banks, and card holders.

Why We Did This ReportThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General conducted this audit to determine to what extent (1) the EPA is providing guidance and reviewing states’ clean water state revolving fund intended use plans, or IUPs, to ensure that the plans, as they relate to climate change resiliency, meet the intent of the presidential policy directive to strengthen and maintain secure, functioning, and resilient critical infrastructure; and (2) the states, in their clean water state revolving fund planning, are considering climate change resiliency to safeguard federal investments, including funding provided by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Summary of FindingsThe EPA prioritized climate adaptation and provided guidance to states during the development of their annual clean water state revolving fund intended use plans, or CWSRF IUPs. Despite these EPA actions, the EPA had limited success in getting states to include climate adaptation or related resilience efforts, such as those addressing natural disasters, in their IUPs. Just 13 states included this in their 2020 IUPs. After passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and after the federal government established its climate adaptation priority in 2021, the number increased to 25 states for the 2022 IUPs, an increase of 12 states over two years. In addition, only 13 states included climate adaptation or related resilience efforts as part of the project prioritization criteria documented in their 2022 IUPs. In federal fiscal year 2022, the EPA awarded $1.2 billion out of the available $3 billion CWSRF funds—which included annual and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act appropriations—to states that did not include resilience in their IUPs. Funded projects may become inoperable if the impacts of climate change are not considered.

A primary goal of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is to expand U.S. broadband Internet access and adoption. To help meet this goal, NTIA administers six broadband programs, including the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP). Our objective for this audit was to determine whether NTIA properly disbursed the federal funds provided for the TBCP. We reviewed awards made under NTIA’s first round of TBCP funding. Between September 1, 2021, and December 31, 2022, NTIA awarded about $1.73 billion. Overall, we found that NTIA did not adequately design and implement the award process to ensure that TBCP funds were awarded only for eligible proposed service areas. For the awards we reviewed, we determined that NTIA did not (1) independently verify that grant recipients needed funding for broadband infrastructure deployment and (2) consistently document its process for reviewing TBCP applications. As a result of these issues, the TBCP’s fraud risk is higher, and NTIA could not provide assurance that TBCP awards were made to tribes that did not have access to broadband and actually needed the funds.

We found that the Government email address of a former BIE employee was spoofed to change the employee’s direct deposit information.

On February 29, 2024, an Amtrak sheet metal worker based in Miami, Florida, signed a civil settlement agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida, to pay a total of $18,750, including $16,537.34 in restitution. Our investigation found that the employee applied for and received two fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loans for an alleged automotive repair business in the amount of $5,746 each. The employee claimed to have made over $25,000 in gross revenues from his business that qualified him for the loan. We interviewed the employee who admitted that the business had no reported income in 2019 or 2020 and that the PPP loan applications were false.

On March 11, 2024, an Amtrak customer service representative based in Miami, Florida, signed a civil settlement agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida, and agreed to pay a total of $15,000, including $10,000 in restitution. Our investigation found that the employee falsified an application for a COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL), and he received a EIDL loan advance in the amount of $10,000 from the Small Business Administration. While the employee claimed the loan was for a t-shirt making business, when we interviewed the employee, he admitted that the loan application was fraudulent.