Olympia, Washington — Auditors for the state of Washington said they found what might be the biggest case of fraud against a state body ever.
A management analyst at the Office of Administrative Hearing is said to have used agency money to pay himself more than $878,000. This happened between June 2019 and May 2023. The worker is suspected of paying his own business with the company’s credit card.
A spokesman for the state Auditor’s Office said that would have to be the biggest theft of state agency funds ever. The representative said that records only keep track of numbers from 2009 onwards.
“There were no records available to show any business activity for them other than charging the Agency for no clear purpose,” said the audit that came out on Monday.
Police say that some of the stolen money was used to buy gift cards and pay for the employee’s cell phone bills.
Olympia cops are looking into it.
The worker took “unexpected” time off when inspectors called the company, and they quit a month later, in June 2023, according to the office of the auditor.
People who have complaints against state bodies can go to hearings held by the Office of Administrative Hearings.
Since the employee being investigated was the only one who could see the credit card bills and use the card, Washington Auditor Pat McCarthy said the worker could spend the money without anyone checking on them.
“The good people who work at the OHA did not want this to happen.” That’s why it worked, though: there were no internal rules in place. It seems so simple. But you know what? People get comfortable. McCarthy said, “I think this should wake everyone up.”
Source: KING5
