It's Not Just Waste: Fraud Rampant at GSA

The General Services Administration's Vegas shindig was just the tip of the iceberg. The GSA is so loaded with cash that it's a magnet for fraud and abuse, the Los Angeles Times reports. From October 2010 to September 2011 alone, the agency prosecuted 64 cases in which people inflated costs, accepted kickbacks, or just plain stole from it. "GSA handles a lot of money," the agency's inspector general told Congress last week. "There's a lot of temptation."

In the past fiscal year alone his office has clawed back $376 million, though he says it's impossible to know how much more he's missing; "fraud, by its very nature, is hidden." Most of the scams are smaller than the Vegas shindig. One couple, for instance, pilfered credit cards from the GSA motor pool, then stood outside a gas station, offering to fill up people's cars at a discount for cash. They wound up making $300,000 over two years, before being caught and jailed. (More GSA stories.)