U.S. Senator David Vitter, top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, today released information about a massive fraud case at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Air and Radiation. The U.S. Department of Justice is pressing criminal charges on an employee of the office for stealing $886,186 from the Agency.

"There appears to be corruption to the umpteenth degree," Vitter said. "I think it's appalling that Administrator McCarthy and former acting Administrator Bob Perciasepe could claim that sequester is depriving the agency of important resources when in fact their own employees are stealing from the government. It's clear that further investigations are necessary, and at the appropriate time we'll need answers - a whole lot of answers."

According to a criminal filing from the DOJ, the employee knowingly stole $886,186 from the EPA by collecting bonuses and extra salary. Vitter commended the EPA's Inspector General's (IG) office for their successful work in uncovering this fraud, and intends to follow up appropriately with the IG for any additional work that may be necessary.

This fraud was occurring for many years at the EPA's critical Air office, and during a period of time that Gina McCarthy was the Administrator of the Air office, and Bob Perciasepe was acting EPA Administrator.

See the court filing attached.

 

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