Another arrest in John Beale case pending
Back in December, we talked about John Beale, the EPA employee who convinced his supervisors that he was also a CIA agent and defrauded the agency of nearly one million dollars. Well, it seems that he had help according to the Washington Post;
The expenses [Beth Craig] processed for Beale would sometimes exceed $20,000 for a single trip. In 2007, for example, Beale traveled to England, Sweden, India and Los Angeles on the taxpayer dime, charging $36,103.51.
The report also says that Craig knew that Beale claimed that he worked for the CIA and that she approved his timecards though he was rarely at work. Beale would often tell Craig that he had to “go to Langley,” according to the report. “Craig explained that she did not ask for details regarding Beale’s CIA work and agreements because she assumed it was true and the documents existed,” the report said.
Craig is the second EPA official, apart from Beale, to be implicated in the scandal. Former EPA administrator Robert Brenner recommended “retention bonuses” for Beale, a close friend of his.
Dude got away with it for almost 13 years and got 32 months with Tiny and Bubba, so give the rest of that time to his accomplices.
Category: Politics
Only 32 months? I don’t know which makes me angrier – the sentence or the crime(s).
I know why he got off with 32 months in guesthouse. He was a senior instructor for the Obama Department of Wealth Redistribution (DoWR) and had defied detection for so long, Schmolder passed it down to cut him loose becaus he was finally caught. Field test, pass!
In the known universe, what government department would absorb travel costs like that without charging them back the CIA?
There would be a standard adjustment for Beale’s labor cost and expenses that would route those costs to CIA – or – there would be a monthly memo sent to CIA (or some corporation) with the numbers and an inbound funds transfer from CIA (or some corporation) to offset the cost. But it isn’t tax revenue so how would it get booked, negative expense? GAO would be all over that – unless they were in on it too.
I suppose that there could have been some backroom conversation – “Say John, your budget is going to be about a $100k heavy for this Beale guy. Just cover it.” And John could tell his accounting people to “just cover it” without backup paperwork and nobody would notice? Does anyone think that could happen?
I do not see how Beale could make this happen without assistance.
Maybe my opinion of the general cleverness of government employees is too high …
We’d get MIPRs (Military Interdepartmental Purchase Request) from some of those Other Government Agencies we dealt with — even though we and some of the others were not military. The MIPR fund citation covered labor, purchases, TDY, etc. — all specified in great detail in budgets that were signed by officials from both agencies.
He’s such n honest and decent fellow, I’m sure that whoever helped him were smart to trust him not to give them up if caught. I bet the first words out of his mouth were, “Hey, let’s talk. There were others, you know.” Inmates just love snitches. I’m sure he’ll be safe.
He could always work for All-Points Logistics upon his release.
Since his ‘CIA’ costs should have been transfered via IPAC, I am going out on a limb here and figuring Ms. Beale was sharing in the windfall profits from the travel settlements.
Sorry, that should be Ms. Craig, not Ms. Beale. Although he could be a Miss by now depending on what institution he went to.
Beth was getting the D.
I understand from a source John Beale has already paid his fine, $1.2 million in cash.