Investigative Reports

An Amtrak carman based in Miami, Florida, signed a civil settlement agreement on September 3, 2024, with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida. The employee was ordered to pay $10,717 in restitution and a $1,883 penalty. Our investigation found that the employee falsified applications for two pandemic relief loans. The first loan was an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) in the amount of $19,500. The loan was for an alleged agricultural business operated out of his home. The second loan was a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan in the amount of $8,217, which was for an alleged trucking business. We interviewed the employee and he admitted that the agricultural business did not exist, and that his trucking business did not have any revenue or any employees. As a result, the employee received funds to which he was not entitled.

In May 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General Office of Investigations initiated an investigation into allegations that an EPA-funded researcher may be associated with a Chinese talent recruitment program. Subsequently, the EPA OIG has identified a concern regarding the lack of oversight and controls during the EPA research grant application process and duration of the grant. In July 2023, the OIG initiated an investigation into allegations that a major United States university was allegedly receiving funds from China while simultaneously receiving funds from multiple federal agencies, including the EPA. As explained in further detail in this report, the Chinese government sponsors a malign foreign talent recruitment program which could have placed federal funds in jeopardy or resulted in the unauthorized transfer of intellectual property or other nonpublic information.

An Amtrak train attendant based in Miami, Florida, signed a civil settlement agreement on September 2, 2024, with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida. The employee was ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution and a $2,500 penalty. Our investigation found that the employee submitted a false claim for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Advance of $10,000 for an alleged agriculture business, which operated out of his home. We interviewed the employee, who admitted he did not own an agricultural business and that his loan application contained false information. As a result, he received an EIDL loan advance in the amount of $10,000 to which he was not entitled.

We found that the Person in Charge failed to stop a pollution event, ordered platform operators to lie to BSEE inspectors, and falsified inspection logs.

We partially substantiated allegations that a senior DOI official violated ethics requirements and failed to disclose prohibited investments.

Our investigation of a company’s improper royalty estimates for oil and gas production led to the recovery of Federal mineral revenues.

Amtrak notified our office February 16, 2024, of a potential data‐sharing incident. Our investigation found that an employee granted two third‐party email accounts access to an Amtrak OneDrive/SharePoint folder which contained 369 company files related to an Amtrak program. As a result of our investigation into the incident, the company took remedial action to optimize Microsoft tools for data loss prevention, conducted routine auditing and removal of guest accounts, completed additional security enhancements, and provided alerts for risky file sharing.

An Amtrak conductor based in Los Angeles, California, was terminated from employment on August 13, 2024, following an administrative hearing. Our investigation found that the employee violated company policies by failing to report his arrest for driving under the influence.

An Amtrak train attendant based in Charlotte, North Carolina, signed a civil settlement agreement on August 13, 2024, with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of North Carolina. The employee agreed to pay a total of $10,800 in settlement, restitution, and penalties to the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB). Our investigation found that the employee worked a second job while receiving RRB sickness benefits. We found that between July 19, 2021, and January 16, 2022, the employee submitted at least 13 false claims to the RRB for sickness benefits. As a result, the employee received $8,282 in benefits to which she was not entitled.

Michael Holder, an Amtrak assignment clerk based in Chicago, Illinois, pleaded guilty on June 5, 2024, in U.S. District Court, Northern District of Indiana, to two counts of Wire Fraud related to the fraudulent receipt of benefits under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. Our investigation found that Holder provided false and fictitious information to support an Economic Injury Disaster Loan application to the Small Business Administration. Further, Holder provided false and fictitious information to a financial institution to support a Paycheck Protection Program loan. Holder obtained a total of $30,833 to support his purported personally owned business. Holder will be sentenced at a future date.