WASHINGTON D.C. –-(Ammoland.com)- A Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) whistleblower exposed Bureau administrative employees fleecing the American taxpayers for possibly millions of dollars.
The whistleblower only identified as Joe told CBS that multiple employees filed for and received “LEAP” pay even though they did not qualify for the bonus scale. LEAP stands for “Law Enforcement Availability Pay.” It is meant for paying law enforcement officers for on-call hours where they are required to work long and odd hours. The pay is not meant for non-law enforcement employees of the ATF, and non-LEO is expressly prohibited from collecting the income. The ATF pays a rate of 25% over base pay. If an employee makes a base salary of $100,000, that officer could be paid $125,000 with LEAP pay.
“If you were functioning in an administrative capacity, you don't qualify for the pay. So, you're not supposed to get it,” Joe said. “A lot of people were getting it.”
In 2016, the whistleblower noticed the problem of administrative employees claiming LEAP pay shortly after taking a job as an information specialist in the ATF's Human Resources department. Joe reported the violations to his supervisors. Instead of rewarding him for finding fraud, his employee review was downgraded from “fully successful” to “minimally successful.” Last summer, the ATF fired Joe for “unacceptable performance,” which he believes was retaliatory for his discoveries.
Last year, a lawyer for the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) claimed the agency found “a substantial likelihood of wrongdoing.” The OSC is an independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency whose mission is to investigate whistleblower's claims.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) performed an audit on ATF employees filing for and receiving LEAP pay. The audit turned up at least 94 employees that collected LEAP pay when they were not entitled to the money. OPM stated that the ATF engaged in “prohibited personnel practices.” OPM suspended the ATF's ability to create specific jobs for “no less than six months.”
OPM did not state the fate of the ATF employees that defrauded American taxpayers out of taxpayer's money. It is not known of any disciplinary action or if the employees were forced to pay back the money. The exact amount of funds incorrectly paid out to administrative employees is also not known. It is also not known for how long the fraud has been going on inside the Bureau.
A recent AmmoLand News story recently highlighted a leaked video conference call where Acting Director Marvin Richardson announced the ATF's goal to double in size over the next five years. Many in the gun world worry that this goal, along with the mismanagement of current funds, could affect gun rights and waste money that could be used for things like clearing out the NFA backlog.
Some gun rights groups and government waste watchdogs see this uncovered fraud as yet another example of an out-of-control agency abusing its power and changing the rules as it sees fit. Many believe that the ATF works outside the law by changing definitions to meet its political goals and sees the firing of Joe as internal political payback.
The ATF did not respond to AmmoLand's request for comments.
Read the original article in its entirety here.
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I would hope that everyone who filed for this pay and didn’t qualify should be terminated of their employment and charged with embezzlement and falsification of official government papers I am telling you that there are a huge amount of crooks that work for the ATF and FBI These put people in prison and now I wonder if these same people also lied regarding their arrest of people I say everyone working as agents for ATF and FBI should have to take a polygraph to see how many of them are crooks Both of the agencies can use the polygraphs as evidence against these criminals
Whistle blowers should have strong protection. It takes courage to stand for truth.
The BATF needs dumped. They write “rule changes” without and investigation by congress when they aren’t law makers.
Purge whole Govt: CIA FBI DEA ATF DNI NRO State Dept, Treasury
Fire them for felony theft and then arrest, try, and sentence them accordingly.