Investigative Reports

Umer Hassan Mir, of South Amboy, New Jersey, was sentenced on February 8, 2023, in U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, to five months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay restitution of $78,000. Mir pleaded guilty on July 12, 2022, to entering fraudulent charges on General Service Administration fuel cards and other corporate credit cards, including at least four cards assigned to Amtrak vehicles. Mir made the fraudulent charges from February 2018 through August 2021 while working as the manager and attendant at a gas station in Metuchen, New Jersey. Mir would manually enter credit card information he collected during legitimate fuel transactions into the point-of-sale terminal at the station and withdraw cash from the register in the amount of the fraudulent transactions. He used the funds from the fraudulent transactions to pay for personal expenses and to pay another gas station employee for working extra hours on Mir’s behalf.Agents and personnel from the Amtrak Office of Inspector General; General Services Administration OIG; and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Philadelphia Division, investigated this case.

Alain Galette, a resident of Miami, Florida, was sentenced on January 31, 2023, in U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, to 13 months in prison, two years of probation, and was ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution to the Small Business Administration. He previously pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in relation to his application for a Payroll Program Protection (PPP) loan and in obtaining an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) in the amount of $149,900. The PPP loan was in the amount of $163,577 but was denied. Our investigation found that Galette used an invalid social security number and included other false information on the PPP and EIDL applications. Upon receipt of the EIDL funds, Galette did not use the money for authorized purposes.

An Amtrak trainmaster based in New Orleans, Louisiana, was terminated from employment on January 27, 2023, after our investigation found that the employee violated company policies by intentionally submitting an application containing false statements and information to the Small Business Administration in order to qualify for a CARES Act Economic Injury Disaster Loan for a business that does not exist. Additionally, when interviewed by our agents, the employee failed to be forthright, honest, or cooperative. We also found that the employee violated company policy by not disclosing any outside business activities on his certificates of compliance.

We found a former nonprofit official misused funds received under a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service program assisting in recovering endangered or threatened species.

We did not substantiate allegations that a former DOI Secretary violated the Ethics Pledge and Federal conflict of interest rules.

Florida residents Jean Barbier and Bryan DeCastro pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud on January 10, 2023, and January 17, 2023, respectively, in U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida. Both defendants were employed by a company contracted by Amtrak to provide food services. Our investigation found that DeCastro fraudulently altered the timecards of Barbier and another individual to make it appear they worked more hours than they did, resulting in payment for hours they did not work. Barbier then paid DeCastro kickbacks for falsely inflating the timecards. Both defendants are scheduled to be sentenced on a future date.

An Amtrak vendor in Boston, Massachusetts, did not properly secure and protect Wright Express (WEX) fuel cards assigned to three vehicles, which Amtrak leases from the General Services Administration (GSA). This resulted in GSA billing the company for fraudulent or otherwise inappropriate transactions totaling $2,745. The company’s contract requires the vendor and its onsite employees to comply with the company’s policies concerning conduct and security. The contract also states that the vendor will be exclusively responsible for the theft or loss that occurs as a result of their failure to maintain adequate security. The vendor agreed to reimburse Amtrak $2,745 for the fraudulent charges. On January 10, 2023, Amtrak management implemented procedures to ensure compliance and proper use of the WEX fuel cards.We also determined that the vendor’s failure to adequately control the WEX cards allowed a former vendor driver to use these fuel cards to fuel his personally owned vehicles for fraudulent fuel purchases totaling $760. The vendor terminated the driver on October 28, 2022.

EAC OIG requested that the Department of Interior OIG investigate allegations that an administrative officer for EAC improperly signed contracts for EAC when she did not have a contracting officer warrant.

James Porter, Jr., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud, and Sean Porter, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering, both on January 5, 2023, in U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida. Our investigation found that the Florida residents conspired with others to unlawfully bill for approximately $1.4 billion of laboratory testing services which were medically unnecessary, and they fraudulently used rural hospitals as billing shells to submit claims for services that were mostly performed at outside laboratories. As a result of this scheme, Amtrak’s health care plans paid out more than $610,000 to three rural hospitals and associated laboratories. Both defendants will be sentenced at a future date. Criminal judicial proceedings for additional co-conspirators are pending.

An Amtrak Service/Train Attendant based in Miami, Florida, resigned from his position on December 20, 2022, prior to his administrative hearing. Our investigation found that the former employee violated company policies by engaging in outside employment, including self-employment, while on medical, personal, and collective bargaining agreement leaves of absence.

Our investigation uncovered billing irregularities related to contracts on New York’s Gateway Program rail infrastructure projects in the Northeast Corridor. Amtrak recovered approximately $3 million from a contractor who charged overhead rates that exceeded maximum pay rates as proscribed by the Gateway project contracts, including approximately $1.5 million pursuant to a civil settlement agreement filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and an additional approximately $1.5 million directly from the contractor. The Gateway contracts required that the contractor bill actual overhead rates up to a not-to-exceed maximum allowed rate. From 2013 through 2020, however, the contractor billed overhead rates that exceeded the allowed rate.