Federal Reports

Octavia Murphy, a resident of Bourbonnais, Illinois, pleaded guilty on January 27, 2026, in U.S. District Court, Central District of Illinois, to one count conspiracy to commit wire fraud and four counts wire fraud. In the same investigation, Regina Murphy, a resident of Kankakee, Illinois, pleaded guilty on December 17, 2025, in U.S. District Court, Central District of Illinois, to one count conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count wire fraud.

Our investigation found that Octavia and Regina Murphy, along with 12 alleged codefendants, submitted false information to the Small Business Administration and its participating lenders to receive Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) advances, Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, and PPP loan forgiveness. Octavia Murphy orchestrated a scheme whereby she submitted false applications containing material misstatements and fictitious documentation to make claims for pandemic relief programs on behalf of herself and the other co-conspirators, for which she was paid kickbacks. Regina Murphy and numerous co-conspirators voluntarily provided Octavia Murphy with their personally identifiable information and their bank routing transit and account numbers. As a result of the scheme, Octavia Murphy, Regina Murphy and the other codefendants received $93,000 in EIDL advances and $74,428 in PPP loans to which they were not entitled.

Judicial proceedings for the codefendants, including five Amtrak employees, are ongoing.

AmeriCorps Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigated allegations that the Foster Grandparent Program (FGP) Director of Community Action Partnership of North Alabama (CAPNA) had not performed the duties of the position since 2019, contrary to representations made to AmeriCorps in grant documents.

The Department of Game, Fish, and Parks should take steps to improve its grant performance reporting and subaward management.

An Amtrak train attendant based in Chicago, Illinois, was issued a letter of reprimand on January 26, 2026, following an administrative hearing. The employee was issued a final disciplinary action which may be used for future progressive discipline for 36 months from the date of issuance. Our investigation found that the employee violated company policy by failing to report his conviction for the fraudulent receipt of pandemic related funds.

To enhance the operational efficiency of mission support services, such as information technology, financial resources, human resources, legal services, and infrastructure management, NASA initiated the Mission Support Future Architecture Program (MAP) in 2017 to move from a center-focused approach to an interdependent agency-wide model. While MAP consolidated Agency mission support services and enabled a more strategic view of Agency operations, implementation remains incomplete despite NASA declaring the initiative complete in 2021.

We performed an audit of costs billed to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) by TRC Environmental Corporation (TRC) for energy efficiency services provided in support of TVA’s EnergyRight® Services for Business and EnergyRight® Services for Industry under Contract No. 15361. Our audit objective was to determine if the costs billed to TVA were in accordance with the contract terms.  Our audit scope included approximately $43.56 million in costs billed to TVA from January 1, 2023, through March 31, 2025.

In summary, we determined TRC billed incentives in accordance with the contract terms.  However, we determined TRC overbilled TVA $251,352 in time and material costs.  Specifically, we determined:

• TRC overbilled $242,985 in labor costs, including (1) $230,831 due to incorrect rate escalation, (2) $9,230 in time and material rates that exceeded the contract rates, and (3) $2,924 for subcontracted personnel in excess of the actual costs paid.  
• TRC overbilled an estimated $8,367 in travel costs, including (1) $4,792 in ineligible travel booking fees and (2) an estimated $3,575 in overbilled mileage costs.  In addition, meals and incidental costs and lodging costs associated with travel were not billed in accordance with the contract, resulting in a net immaterial overbilling.