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Investigations

• Fraudulent Telemarketer and Co-Conspirators Sentenced for Roles in Fake Sweepstakes Scheme
  On September 22, 2009, four owners of Costa Rica-based telemarketing call centers, an employee, and a Texas-based list broker were sentenced for their roles in defrauding thousands of U.S. victims of more than $20 million through a phony sweepstakes scheme....More
  
  
• Former PTO Employee Pleads Guilty in $500,000 Embezzlement Scheme
  On August 27, 2009, a former financial analyst for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with an embezzlement scheme. Karen L. Parish of Woodbridge, Va., faces a maximum penalty...More
  
  
• Convictions, Restitution and Jail Terms Continue to Mount in Telemarketing Fraud Case
  Judicial actions continue to flow from OIG’s joint, international investigation of a major international telemarketing fraud scheme perpetrated by callers falsely identifying themselves as employees of the Department of Commerce and other federal agencies. Callers told victims they had won...More
  
  
• Commerce Employee Entered into Pretrial Diversion Program for Metrocheck Fraud, Removed From Federal Service
  An Office of the Secretary employee was arrested on charges of first degree theft by OIG special agents and the Washington, DC Metropolitan Police. The employee had fraudulently obtained and given away $1,950 in transit subsidy benefits that she had...More
  
  
• Former Census Contractor Sentenced for Money Laundering
  OIG assisted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with the investigation of a Census Bureau contractor, resulting in his conviction in the US District Court for the District of Columbia on one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. On February...More
  
  
• NIST Grant Recipient Sentenced for Grant Fraud; Civil Suit Filed
  A jury found a research scientist guilty of intentionally misusing approximately $500,000 in NIST Advanced Technology Program (ATP) grant funds to pay for numerous personal expenses including rent, home renovations, cleaning services for his condominium and miscellaneous household items. This...More
  
  
• Former NIST Employee Sentenced in Steel Theft Scheme
  A former NIST employee pled guilty to charges of theft of government property related to his conversion of large quantities of industrial steel samples while in charge of the NIST program dedicated to testing its strength and structural integrity. On...More
  
  
• NOAA Grantee Sentenced for Misusing Funds
  A NOAA grantee pled guilty on charges of violating 18 USC § 666, prohibiting theft concerning federal programs. The employee misappropriated NOAA funds on multiple occasions in May 2006, when he withdrew a total of $60,000 from a $109,886 grant...More
  
  
• NOAA Employee Fired for Misuse of Purchase Card
  A NOAA Corps shipboard employee misused his government purchase credit card for personal purchases. On November 11, 2008, a search warrant was served at a motorcycle specialty shop in Birmingham, Alabama. The employee’s personal racing motorcycle was seized and found...More