Posted on 05/12/2021 12:40:00 PM PDT by CheshireTheCat
As scammers bilked millions from Ohio’s unemployment benefits system during the initial months of the coronavirus crisis, State Auditor Keith Faber says system officials withheld the extent of the problem from his office and dawdled on installing anti-fraud measures.
In an interview with cleveland.com, Faber said that officials with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services told auditor’s office officials conducting a routine annual audit last year that there was no unemployment fraud outside of “ordinary scope stuff.”
When representatives from Faber’s office asked if ODJFS was being hit with fraud on the same level as the state of Washington, which paid out $650 million in bogus claims, Faber said, “the answer was ‘No, not really -- we think we’re doing pretty good.’” That answer, Faber said, was repeated from May until December, when his office had to issue preliminary findings for the ODJFS audit.
Kimberly Henderson, ODJFS’ director at the time, said in February that her department knew as early as June that it was being hit with a tsunami of fraudulent claims that eventually totaled more than $332 million in 2020 alone.
“It was really, really disappointing to me that they had failed to make the required disclosures,” Faber said. Faber, a Mercer County Republican, added that a fraudulent claim for jobless benefits was even filed in his own name, though his HR department flagged it before any money was paid out....
(Excerpt) Read more at cleveland.com ...
For your consideration.
Simple enough. Pay it back from their pensions and then go after their assets.
Do bureaucrats ever take responsibility when they screw up?
“As scammers bilked millions from Ohio’s unemployment benefits system during the initial months of the coronavirus crisis,”
The government always seems to come up with these highfalutin $$$ programs to “rescue” the people affected by a “crisis” but then administer it like fifth graders trying to manage a Walmart store.
I think, on the one hand, there isn’t much you can do about incompetent people. I mean, you can fire them but that’s all. Fraud was happening? Well, fire the people who failed to stop it.
But dishonesty? In government? Hiding the fraud? The US Constitution should explicitly demand the death penalty for any dishonest politician. Make a mistake, fine. Act like Hillary Clinton? Death.
DeWine is supposedly going to do a “special” Covid press conference today at 5:30. The state rep out of Wooster is going to file a resolution to rescind all health orders immediately.
NOTHING CHANGES TILL THE MONEY RUNS OUT...............
Yep, and they all stand around shrugging, “we didn’t know”, or “we didn’t know what to do about it”, meanwhile hard-working taxpayers just have to keep working to make up for the theft/fraud.
These state employees need some clauses in their employment agreements, that they WILL FORFEIT their retirement benefits, if not also face prosecution, if there is proven to be negligence on their watch, IMO.
ya...hid it my a$%!!
took “their cut” of it more likely...and will cycle a chunk of it back into the appropriate state politicians pockets to keep anyone from looking too hard at what happened.
I’m gonna take a stab at things here, and suggest that some people who honestly deserved the money didn’t get it. That’s usually what happens in situations like this. In my experience.
OHIO PING!
Please let me know if you want on or off the Ohio Ping list.
Ohio unemployment officials hid extent of fraud from state auditor’s office, Auditor Keith Faber says
Cleveland.com ^ | May 12, 2021 | Jeremy Pelzer
Posted on 5/12/2021, 3:40:00 PM by CheshireTheCat
Received a 1099G from ODJFS for over $12000. Never applied never received a dime. I am self employed. Filed fraud report.
Just got a corrected 1099G yesterday.
I can never figure out whether they are mostly incompetent or mostly corrupt. Either situation is horrible.
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