A HUD employee has pleaded responsible to creating false claims about her remote work exercise, costing the federal government over $200,000.
Crissy Monique Baker, 45, of Fairfax, Virginia, shall be sentenced in September to a single cost of fraud that allegedly occurred whereas she was employed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development between 2021 and this May. Prosecutors on Monday stated the ex-management and program analyst labored in human sources roles for different federal companies with out permission from HUD.
The former HUD staffer was a human sources assistant contractor for AmeriCorps between 2021 and 2023, and in 2022 labored for seven months in the same position for a National Institutes of Health contractor. The HUD Office of Inspector General claims Baker billed the federal government greater than 24 hours of work per day between the roles, all of which had been remote.
“Baker submitted timesheets to HUD certifying that she labored hours for the federal government company that she by no means really did,” the press launch stated.
In June 2022, Baker allegedly submitted timesheets indicating 26 hours labored per day on 13 of 21 workdays that month. Her actions value the federal government roughly $226,886.
Eleven federal companies took half within the investigation. The false claims cost carries a most sentence of 6 years imprisonment, a most high-quality of $250,000, and necessary restitution.
Counsel for Baker did not return a request for remark Monday morning.
The legal prosecution filed in early June was signed by interim Washington D.C. U.S. Attorney General Jeanine Pirro, a former choose, prosecutor and Fox News host who President Trump appointed in May. The administration has pledged to prioritize eliminating fraud, waste and abuse, and fellow regulator Bill Pulte has additionally emphasised rooting out mortgage fraud.
HUD itself has additionally come below scrutiny by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, which in April agreed to probe purported cuts to the division’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.