this is funny... guy told his bosses he was a cia spy... for years.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/12/...agencys-top-paid-climate-official/#more-99340
Massive fraud at the EPA from agencyâs top paid climate official
Posted on December 16, 2013 by Anthony Watts
This is stunning, yet not surprising. We know people get caught up in âthe causeâ, and that there are massive egos involved in some of the more visible climate advocates that lead them to irrational excesses of word and deed, but this one takes the cake.
This NBC News investigation reveals that the highest paid individual at the EPA, John C. Beale, bilked the agency out of nearly $1 million in salary and other benefits over a decade.
The EPAâs highest-paid employee and a leading expert on climate change deserves to go to prison for at least 30 months for lying to his bosses and saying he was a CIA spy working in Pakistan so he could avoid doing his real job, say federal prosecutors.
Beale perpetrated his fraud largely by failing to show up at the EPA for months at a time, including one 18-month stretch starting in June 2011 when he did âabsolutely no work,â as Kern, Bealeâs lawyer, acknowledged in his court filing.
What was he doing? Galavanting around the world first class and staying in 5 star hotels at taxpayers expense, thatâs what.
The two sentencing memos, along with documents obtained by NBC News, offer new details about what some officials describe as one of the most audacious, and creative, federal frauds they have ever encountered.
When he first began looking into Bealeâs deceptions last February, âI thought, âOh my God, How could this possibly have happened in this agency?â said EPA Assistant Inspector General Patrick Sullivan, who spearheaded the Beale probe, in an interview with NBC News. âIâve worked for the government for 35 years. Iâve never seen a situation like this.â
And of course, hereâs the âanything for the causeâ blindness that allowed it all to happen:
Sullivan said he doubted Bealeâs fraud could occur at any federal agency other than the EPA. âThereâs a certain culture here at the EPA where the mission is the most important thing,â he said. âThey donât think like criminal investigators. They tend to be very trusting and accepting.â
Translation: heâs doing good work for âthe causeâ, so thereâs no need to look further.