So-Called Stimulus Leads to More Fraud

Here's a dog-bites-man story. Politicians in Washington decide to squander $787 billion of other people's money, and it turns out that a lot of the money is being diverted by crooks. USA Today reports:

Federal prosecutors are investigating a dozen cases of possible fraud involving the $787 billion economic stimulus package, a USA TODAY review of government records shows. There are an additional 88 active investigations of potential misuse of that money, according to reports filed by internal watchdogs at 29 federal agencies managing stimulus funds and the congressional Government Accountability Office. Separately, GAO criminal investigators are reviewing nine cases, acting GAO head Gene Dodaro has said. ...Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board Chairman Earl Devaney said the allegations involve contract and grant fraud and include filing false statements and attempts by ineligible firms to get funding. "This is a pretty tempting pot of money for people to go after," Devaney said of stimulus funds.