The mafia has done this for years- especially on Federal construction projects requiring UNION bids preferred.
The term of Use, Liz (and thanks for the outstanding exposure placed on this clownette by OTB!)— the term is
“Ghost employee (or “worker”). Padding the staff rolls and then pissing the money elsewhere not accountable for the budget extended to the office— by Congress. This is frankly criminal. There is no excuse for the discrepancy of budgeted employee staff vs. actual staff on hire. Period.
Of course, kamala lost 92% of her original staff (that is the figure often given) in the 3 years + to date.) however that does not change this huge discrepancy (even if cross hires come over from other agencies, and carry higher existing federal salary— these should be accounted).
Payroll fraud entails serious crimes.......falsifying govt documents, misappropriation of tax dollars, skimming, larceny, check tampering, check kiting, billing fraud, payroll fraud, reimbursement fraud, pension fraud, misuse of tax dollars, theft of tax dollars, ID fraud, Social Security swindles, IRS fraud.