The Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday said it has temporarily relieved a senior VA official based in Philadelphia who was found to have inappropriately convinced other senior officials to attend a party and undergo “psychic readings” by the wife of a subordinate.
VA officials were charged about $35 apiece for these psychic readings.
A report from the VA’s Office of Inspector General said last week that Lucy Filipov, assistant director of the Philadelphia office, inappropriately pressured her subordinates to attend and pay a reading fee, effectively using her position to help her co-worker’s wife’s business.
But like so many other VA officials who have gotten in trouble over the last several months, Filipov is not fired, at least not yet.
Instead, the VA said Monday that both Filipov and the husband of the psychic reader, Gary Hodge, have been “temporarily relieved of their responsibilities while the department further investigates.”
The VA did not say if the two officials are being paid while being temporarily relieved, and the VA did not respond to a question from the Washington Examiner about whether they would be paid.
Over the last six months, members of Congress have been pressing the VA to fire any official involved in the VA healthcare scandal. But while some officials have been cited for their role in that scandal, none have been fired precisely for that reason.
Under the law, for example, the Merit Systems Protection Board is allowed to review VA recommendations to fire people. In one case, that board said the VA failed to make the case that one official’s role in the scandal warranted a firing, but did say that former Phoenix VA Director Sharon Helman should be fired because she accepted an $11,000 trip to Disneyland.
