Investigative Reports

Following the receipt of a complaint that an AmeriCorps member was simultaneously enrolled in two AmeriCorps programs at different grantees without the grantees’ knowledge, AmeriCorps Office of Inspector General (AmeriCorps OIG) initiated a proactive review of members with multiple service terms during the same timeframe.

An initial query of data covering 2016 to 2023 held in AmeriCorps systems identified 14 members with overlapping service terms. A more detailed review of those 14 members found three of the members had service terms who appeared to be simultaneously enrolled in two full-time programs for some period of time.

The AmeriCorps Office of Inspector General (AmeriCorps OIG) investigated allegations that AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) members at Heal the City Free Clinic (HTC), located in Amarillo, TX, were engaging in prohibited activities. HTC was a VISTA service site for the Lone Star Association of Charitable Clinics, also known as the Texas Association of Charitable Clinics (TXACC).

A junior tamper was terminated following a disciplinary hearing on September 8, 2023. The former employee violated company policy when he transported a firearm in his personal vehicle, without authorization, on company property during a shift spanning March 1 and March 2, 2023

Seventeen Amtrak employees based at New York Penn Station or the NW Base in New Jersey, consisting of two Gang Foremen, four linemen, three truck drivers, six 3rd Rail welders, one trackman, and one electronic technician resigned in connection with an OIG investigation of alleged healthcare fraud. Five of those who resigned were among 10 current and former employees charged by indictment June 20, 2024, with conspiracy to commit health care fraud.The resignations occurred between July 15 and September 12, 2024. Our investigation found that the employees participated in an $11 million health care fraud scheme beginning in 2019 and continuing to June 2022 involving health care providers and others who recruited Amtrak employees—primarily from New Jersey and New York—to participate in the scheme. The employees were given cash payments in exchange for allowing the health care providers to use their patient and insurance information to submit fraudulent claims to Amtrak’s health care plan for services that they never provided or that were medically unnecessary.

An Amtrak mechanical foreman based in Miami, Florida, signed a civil settlement agreement on September 10, 2024, with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida. The employee agreed to pay $6,000 in restitution and a penalty of $2,325 related to the fraudulent application for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Advance. Our investigation found that the employee applied for an EIDL Advance for an alleged transportation business. We interviewed the employee and he admitted that his loan application was fraudulent, and the information contained in the application was not accurate. As a result, the employee received an EIDL Advance in the amount of $6,000 to which he was not entitled.

We found that an Area Foreman instructed platform operators to bypass safety systems before a pollution event.

The EPA failed to properly and timely disclose to the OIG unmistakable indicators of fraud against the EPA, the Clean Air Act, and the EPA's programs and operations by a business entity owner. As a result of the EPA's failure to properly disclose these indicators of fraud in a timely manner to the OIG, the U.S. Attorney's Office declined to pursue criminal charges against the business entity owner involved. Failure to disclose fraud, waste, and abuse, or other potential improper or illegal conduct involving an EPA program or operation can negatively impact the EPA's ability to fulfill its mission and ensure the soundness of, and confidence in, the EPA's programs and operations.