Thread by @DawsonSField

$39M stolen from food program for needy day care children. Enabled by employees of the Florida Dept. of Health including bribes from one defendant to assist the scheme. #ButNothingsHappening Stealing food from needy children, that's not a good look
justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/e…

The 2 individuals stole $39M from the federally funded Child Care Food Program. Inflated numbers, ghost employees, catering contractor kickbacks, state employees making false allegations against other providers to throw the feds off the trail, and so much more. HT @BabeReflex_8

One gets 10 years in prison & has to pay back $26M. The other gets 8 years in prison & seizure of $13M.

Think the Dems are going to be able to run in 2020 on expanding programs like this as the Trump DOJ keeps prosecuting fraudsters who use & supposedly oversee this programs.

These individuals were supposed to provide oversight to the program to detect & prevent fraud on the part of the daycare centers. Instead, they became 2 additional layers of bureaucracy that each added more fraud & abuse into the system.

Rigged bidding processes, kickbacks, over payments on contracts, the usual menageire of government spending program fraud. But it got much worse once the program went off the rails & came under suspicion.

After complaints of providing spoiled food to these needy day care children, bribes were used to get Florida Dept. of Health employees to look the other way. Even filing false reports against other caterers of providing spoiled food to try & throw off federal investigators.

How bad was it? How about giving 140 pre-schoolers staph-induced foodbourne illesses in one outbreak in Broward & Dade Counties. The vendor was banned but continued to get business because of kickbacks.

Then failed to report $27M in revenue (from a federal program) to the IRS!

I guess crime against federal spending program pays, or at least it used to. It looks like the days of fleecing the tax payers by manipulating government spending & corrupt employees will be coming to an end... #ButNothingsHappening