it’s just what you gotta do…
The scale of opportunity, er, corruption, is bigger than one might think.
According to fraud consultant David Williams of the Deloitte Financial Services advisory, a whopping billion worth of stimulus cash could be siphoned off the top for fraud (above and beyond the legally fraudulent activities of a venal and corrupt Congress).
“The rule of thumb typically,” Williams reports, “is that of the about 0 billion worth of money that’s going to run through the procurement process, somewhere between 5% and 10% of that usually finds it way into potential problems.”
The FBI is aware of the danger. As FBI Director Robert Mueller recently warned, “These [economic stimulus] funds are inherently vulnerable to bribery, fraud, conflicts of interest, and collusion. There is an old adage, that where there is money to be made, fraud is not far behind, like bees to honey.”
Of course, being aware of the danger and being able to do something about it are two different things…
Call it the Tony Soprano full employment act. With the government anxious to throw bales of taxpayer cash at “shovel ready” projects, the organized crime element will be standing by with a “shovel” too… “ready” to haul away veritable garbage trucks of loot.
Eyes Wide Open
So what can you and I do about this? Realistically, not very much. (Okay, let’s be honest… not a damn thing.)
But at the same time, I would rather go about my business with eyes wide open than eyes wide shut. The strong and growing presence of organized crime is something that ordinary citizens don’t have much day to day contact with (most of us anyway). But it is a reality we