I have having trouble focusing this week, and would love some guidence how on to sort this out and get my mind on track. Thank you

Assignment: You are the Assistant Inspector General for Investigation for the Interior OIG. You have briefed he United States Attorney's Office which has agreed to pursue criminal prosecution if your office can bring credible evidence of criminal activity: (1) Describe the potential frauds might be occurring and the potential violations of federal law which may be found in titles 18 and 41 of the United States Code. (2) Develop a work plan for investigating of the various allegations. You may use any of the investigative techniques and approaches covered in the first seven modules of this course. The plan should include the composition of your investigative team, the work assigned to each team member and the types of evidence that should be collected and how to collect it; (3) Identify any red flags that may have been present before the call to the Fraud Hotline; (4) Assuming some or all the allegations are true, what steps can the federal government take to reduce its potential fraud risk in the future?

Scenario 1: Federal Landfill (Worth 50 Points)

Facts: John retired from his position with the federal government as the Administrative Officer for the Owings Mill Federal Landfill Facility in charge of finances for the federal landfill. Shortly before retiring, John made a presentation to the National Director of Federal Landfills recommending that they begin to use contractors in place of employees to operate the Owings Mill facility. On his last day of work, John named Bill to serve as the acting Administrative Officer knowing that it usually took the government more than a year to select a permanent Administrative Officer. After retirement, John immediately took a position as a consultant to the Stevenson Corp. A couple of months later Bill instructed the agency Contracting Officer to award of two separate $5 million contracts to the Stevenson Corp. to staff the Owings Mill entrance gate where each truck entering the landfill is recorded into a log, including the weight of the truck. Stevenson's contract with the government requires it to transmit monthly reports via email to Bill. Bill then forwards the reports to a finance officer who then bills each company monthly. Companies are charged per ton for garbage dumped in the Owings Mill facility. The per ton fee is significantly higher if a company brings in more than 50 tons per month. John's consulting contract with Stevenson contained a provision that he would receive $50,000 if Stevenson obtains a contract with the government. John has a separate consulting contract with the Greenspring Trash Company in which he will be paid $5000 each month that Greenspring is charged at the lower rate (less than less 50,000 tons per month). Greenspring Trash Company is one of the local companies whose trucks dump at the Owings Mill facility. Over the past year, records indicate that Greenspring averages 47 tons per month and has never dumped more than 49 tons in a single month.

Hotline Complaint: The U.S. Department of Interior Office of Inspector General Hotline has received several allegations (some of which are anonymous), including: (1) Bill, the contracting officer and finance officer received free trips and Super Bowl tickets courtesy of Bill's "good friend" John;(2) Bill signed a promissory note for $45,000 for a $45,000 check he received from John; (3) Federal procurement rules which require bidding on all contracts over $7.5 million are not being followed; (4) the owner of Greenspring is paying the Stevenson Corp. $10 for each delivery to the Owings Mill landfill; (5) some trucks are being permitted to dump without being required to weigh in at the Owings Mill facility; (6) the landfill truck scales are not functioning; and (7) Stevenson Corp. monthly tonnage is greater than 50 tons per month. Sally who works in the finance office is one of the complainants who want her name to be confidential because she is afraid that Bill will fire her. Sally also told the Hotline that she has a friend, Jerry, who is a Stevenson Corp. employee assigned to the Owings Mill facility.