A former Drug Enforcement Agency official responsible for issuing government credit cards invented dozens of phantom employees with the public plastic, then used them to get cash for herself.
Keenya Meshell Banks of Maryland pleaded guilty Tuesday to a fraud scheme that netted her $113,000 of taxpayer money. Using fake names and personal information, Banks applied for and obtained 32 government credit cards, according to the Department of Justice.
She then used the cards to withdraw cash from ATMs across Maryland and Northern Virginia.
A number of federal agencies have struggled to crack down on government credit card fraud in the past.
Weak oversight of purchase card programs leave taxpayer funds vulnerable to “fraud, waste, abuse and loss of assets,” a 2008 Government Accountability Office report found.
That report said nearly half of all credit card transactions by federal workers over $2,500 broke the government’s rules for using purchase cards.
For example, a series of reports by the U.S. Postal Service’s inspector general found employees had used their cards to steal thousands of dollars for their personal use. One manager had withdrawn $32,000 for gambling using her government purchase card.
Others used their cards to rent cars, give themselves cash advances on their salaries and pay their personal bills.
A 2014 Department of Transportation inspector general report discovered as much as $3.6 million had been lost to purchase card abuse.
