Good Summary. I have been following this story as well.
FWIW, I think that much of this involved a lack of understanding of how the government systems and computers worked. I can't say for certain, but I believe that much of the feeling that the monies were poorly accounted for was, at least partly, a lack of understanding of the same.
Thanks. Partly it was, but was essentially an attempt at the greatest scam ever perpetrated. The only true sample taken was of all of the Plaintiffs' leases and went all the way back to 1909. The sample found only $67 of incorrectly applied funds. From that, and because records going back to 1872 were pretty incomplete, the plaintiffs now want $176 billion. Lamberth has never asked the plaintiffs for one iota of evidence to support such a demand. What he has permitted is the plaintiffs demand that "if you can't prove you don't owe it to us, then by default, you do." The Department has tried every conceivable way to work with plaintiffs, but with the judge on their side, to no avail.