Free Republic

As economic freedom ebbs, political corruption flows.. The government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic pushed an astonishing number of businesses into bankruptcy. But there’s no denying that there have been some winners in the federal government’s $5 trillion federal spending spree. That figure included $745 billion in direct aid to state and local governments. Just ask Amy Gentry, an executive assistant to Illinois Emergency Management Agency Director Alicia Tate-Nadeau, who billed the agency more than $1 million since 2020 before abruptly resigning last week. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that between February and August of this year alone, Gentry accounted for...

@DougAMacgregor Over the last few decades the United States Government has lost, JUST IN PAYMENT ERRORS over 2.4 Trillion Dollars. We must stop this. 3 Minute Video

Crime Former school official accused of embezzling $1.5 million worth of chicken wings January 31, 2023 / 7:27 AM / CBS News A former official in a school district in the Chicago suburb of Harvey is accused in a bizarre scheme involving more than $1 million worth of stolen chicken wings, CBS Chicago reports. Vera Liddell is the former director of food services at Harvey School District 152. The Cook County State's Attorney's office alleges that Liddell launched an embezzlement scheme that resulted in the theft of wings that cost more than $1.5 million in taxpayer money. The alleged scheme...

LARGO, Fla. (WFLA) — A man from Pinellas Park was accused of stealing over $600,000 from his employer in an alleged scheme that had been going on since 2013. According to a Largo Police Department arrest report, Mark Delano, 59, allegedly stole work orders from his employer, used his employer’s equipment and materials to fulfill the work orders under his own company, and then pocketed the proceeds. Police said Delano also collected a salary from his employer while running the alleged scheme. Delano’s employer allegedly caught him in the act on April 11, 2022, when his boss showed up to...

Olena Zelenska, wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, traveled to Paris France for a three-day visit December 12-14. As reported by Le Monde, “Members of the Ukrainian government will also come, including Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, and several ministers in charge of reconstruction, including Yulia Svyrydenko (economy), Oleksandr Kubrakov (infrastructure) and German Galushchenko (energy).”

Under Elon Musk's ownership, Twitter recently laid off 3,700 people, roughly half its workforce. ... Musk ordered a payroll audit, in which managers were asked to confirm employees were human, because he worried "ghost employees" would receive money ... Elon Musk has long been wary of bots on Twitter. It turns out he's also suspicious that some of Twitter's employees, not just its users, aren't actual people. ... Musk wanted confirmation that Twitter employees were "real humans" and ordered a payroll audit to confirm that was the case before giving staff regularly scheduled bonuses. ... Before paying the bonuses .....

A Florida man has been arrested after stealing a lot more than burgers from a McDonald’s location, according to deputies On September 4, 2022, Escambia County Sheriff’s Office investigators arrested Jon Jon Smith, 38, for stealing nearly $200,000 from a local McDonald’s. Investigators say these thefts occurred between September 2021 and June 2022, while Smith was employed as the store manager. On June 30, 2022, deputies said they were told that Smith committed the crime by change orders. Smith would request a change order and when he received it, he would put the money in his pocket and not into...

New Mexico turns COVID-19 relief funds into tuition for illegal immigrants

A former White House adviser to former President Obama pled guilty to wire fraud on Friday in connection to an alleged scheme to steal $218,000 from a school network that he helped create. “Seth Andrew, a former White House advisor, admitted today to devising a scheme to steal from the very same schools he helped create," Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. "Andrew now faces time in federal prison for abusing his position and robbing those he promised to help.”

A former employee of Palo Alto restaurants Rangoon Ruby and Burma Ruby has been charged with embezzling more than $200,000, the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office announced on Wednesday. Jennifer Colvin, 40, of Oakland, was the director of human resources, payroll and risk management for Rangoon Ruby Investments, LLC and Burma Ruby Investments, LLC in Palo Alto. She allegedly increased her monthly salary and paid herself bonuses without authorization. The alleged embezzlement occurred between February 2019 and October 2020. The owner of Rangoon Ruby and Burma Ruby discovered the alleged fraud in November 2020 after noticing accounting discrepancies. Colvin...

The embezzlement trial of attorney Michael Avenatti, who is accused of stealing millions in settlement money from clients, ended in a mistrial Tuesday as U.S. District Judge James. V. Selna ruled that federal prosecutors failed to turn over relevant financial evidence to Avenatti, the Associated Press reported. The trial was the second in recent months for Avenatti, who captured the nation's attention when he represented adult film actress Stormy Daniels in a lawsuit against then-President Donald Trump. Selna scheduled a tentative new trial date for October 12 and another hearing is set for September 2. In July, Avenatti was sentenced...

The communists in the government are determined to destroy every single thing about America that is good and great. This is why the communists are trying to destroy triple-amputee war hero Brian Kolfage and why they hate him for building a wall on the Southern border. We’ve reported before on hero Brian Kolfage. Once the Department of Justice goes after a target who’s pro-God, pro-family, and pro-American they never stop. The attack again and again. If the person is an American war hero, they attack them as if they’re working for communist China. ..... Snip..... The courts have gone after...

This is my personal observation of a pattern of suspicious activities and behaviors going on in the government of a certain West Coast Democrat-operated state that will remain nameless (but it's just south of Oregon). Approximately ten years ago I observed a massive increase in turnover in the accounting departments and HR departments of state agencies responsible for making grants of state and Federal money to the public. This phenomenon did not seem to impact any agencies that do not issue payments to the public. In prior years the pattern within state government was that accounting staff would frequently spend...

Switzerland’s attorney-general is investigating allegations that Lebanon’s central bank governor and his brother embezzled more than $300m from that institution through transactions to a mysterious offshore company. “Since April 2002 at least, it appears the central bank governor, Riad Salame, with help from his brother, Raja Salame, organised embezzlement operations, . . . exceeding $300m to the detriment of the Banque du Liban [BdL],” the Swiss attorney-general’s office wrote in a letter to the Lebanese authorities requesting mutual legal assistance

Auction held at home of late priest who lived like a prince Aug 31, 2020 In this June 1, 2017 file photo, the Rev. Jonathan Wehrle appears in court for a preliminary hearing over embezzlement allegations at the 55th District Court in Mason, Mich. An auction is underway near Lansing at the mansion of Wehrle, a Catholic priest who was accused of embezzling millions of dollars before he died while awaiting trial. There are nearly 1,000 items for sale Saturday, Aug. 29, 2020 including about 100 pieces of furniture from the six-bedroom home. WILLIAMSTON, MI — An auction was held...

Four U.S. senators swear they didn’t use insider knowledge when they sold off stocks ahead of the coronavirus-induced record market crash. Americans are outraged, but what if so-called insider trading is a mere gimmick of the greater political establishment? This is the age of the outsider. In politics, we have President Trump and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In the economy, we have Uber and Airbnb. More than ever, being an insider carries a negative connotation. Insider trading, then, must be nefarious. If only it had a legal definition. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, that creature of Congress which acts as...

FLORENCE TOWNSHIP, N.J. — A financial secretary for a New Jersey church is accused of embezzling more than $500,000 in parish money to pay her personal bills, including car loans and even her wedding, authorities said Tuesday. Taisha D. Smith-DeJoseph, 43, of Willingboro, was charged with 13 crimes, including computer criminal activity, tax fraud, theft by deception and second-degree theft, Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina told NJ.com. In a news release, Coffina said Smith-DeJoseph allegedly stole $561,777 over a five-year period until March 2019, when she was overseeing the finances for St. Paul’s Baptist Church in Florence Township, The Philadelphia...

LOS ANGELES – Attorney Michael Avenatti was arrested by Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents Tuesday evening during a break in a disciplinary hearing in Los Angeles over allegations that the high-profile lawyer scammed a client out of $840,000. The arrest occurred around 6 p.m. outside the State Bar Court, where the State Bar of California has initiated proceedings against him. * * * Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles, told Fox News that Avenatti was arrested on suspicion of violating his pre-trial release. * * * Avenatti was supposed to travel to New York...

For years, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings ran a charity so closely intertwined with her for-profit consulting firm that they shared the same employees, the same office space and the same director - her. The private firm carried out the charity's mission of promoting public health and addressing racial and economic inequity under a cost-sharing agreement that gave the firm a 5 percent management fee. Rockeymoore Cummings signed a contract on behalf of both parties to set up the unusual relationship. She disclosed the arrangement to the Internal Revenue Service initially, but in subsequent years she checked "no" on 990 tax forms...

Joe Biden once again took the germ of a good idea — and botched it by reductioing his own absurdum. ABC News correspondent Linsey Davis challenged Biden on his criminal justice reform plans to release inmates convicted of drug use, referring to criticisms from Cory Booker that Biden’s plan won’t go far enough. Oh yeah, Biden seemed to say? He began expanding his vision of reform until it reached the stage where “nobody should be in jail for a nonviolent crime.”