Another sign that corruption in the Trump administration was rampant emerged this week after two high-ranking Trump political appointees at the Environmental Protection Agency were caught in fraudulent payroll activities that cost the agency more than $130,000.
As reported by PBS, “former chief of staff Ryan Jackson and former White House liaison Charles Munoz submitted “official timesheets and personnel forms that contained materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements” to mislead EPA personnel and facilitate improper payments over multiple months, according to a report by EPA’s Office of Inspector General.”
The report says that the two men —who have since left the EPA— “arranged for former agency employees to continue collecting nearly $38,000 salaries even after they were fired.”
Separately, Munoz also received an improper raise and submitted “fraudulent timesheets” during periods when he was not at his work station that cost the EPA almost $96,000, the report said.
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“Pursuant to federal law, regulation and EPA policy, when a federal employee is appointed to a new position at the same grade level without a break in service, an increase in (pay) is not permitted,” the report said, adding: “No justification had been given to support the increase.”
Inspector General Sean O’Donnell told reporters, “Continuing to pay fired political staff, creating fraudulent records and authorizing improper pay increases represent serious waste of taxpayer funds.”
While the Justice Department has declined to prosecute the former Trump-era officials, “the EPA OIG will do everything within its power to ensure that public officials are held accountable for acts of misconduct during their service,” O’Donnell said.
Read the entire report here.
