IRS and Congressional Insider Trading?

Testimony on Congressman Collins Insider Trading

This blog post is an extract from a NY Post story by John Crudele.  

We've made a few edits to keep it short, but the basics are all included.  

We highly recommend you read the entire story at the link below.  

Crudele advises he was able to vet the Whistle-blower, 

and is satisfied the story is accurate.

For full story, click here
New York Post,  John Crudele [15AUG2018] 

Ever wonder how a Congressman or Senator [or IRS official]

who earns less than $200,000 per year, 

can have an annual income of several million dollars, 

and retire into a lifetime of extraordinary wealth?

John Crudele explains below:

The IRS reportedly tipped off members of Congress to corporate takeovers and other pending actions so the elected officials could profit from Insider Trading.  Allegedly, higher-level employees of the IRS also used that information to enrich themselves.

[Congressman Christopher Collins testified that an indicted Congressman talked others into buying a pharmaceutical stock and pushed legislation to help it; his son's girlfriend was just nailed on Insider Trading charges.]

Until a few years ago Members of Congress were not barred from trading stock based on information they got while performing their public duties. However, following scandalous headlines in 2012
[you remember, when the News Media was credible], the practice was officially banned.

Mrs Peter Strzok -
Deputy Director -  SEC Enforcement

Interestingly, a page left unturned in this scandal is the one in which the wife of Peter Strzok [Melissa Hodgman] is the Deputy Director of the Securities & Exchange Commission Enforcement Division.

One might guess that in addition to blocking investigations into Hillary Clinton's money laundering schemes, Melissa might also have blocked inquiries into Congressional Insider Trading in exchange for Congress supporting Strzok's illegal activities and ignoring the criminal activities of senior officials at the DOJ and FBI.

It was assumed that Members of Congress were just profiting from what they happened to learn while working on their Committees — e.g., perhaps a drug about to be turned down by the FDA,  or that a company was exploring to see how regulators would feel about a merger.

However, what the Whistleblower alleges goes well beyond that.
[ The Chris Collins story provides further details on Congressional Insider trading ]

Did the Whistleblower report his findings to "authorities"?
He did, but was told to "get lost".  Apparently Congress was making too much personal profit to have some reported blow their illegal enterprises.

[Ever wonder why no criminal charges were brought against Lois Lerner?]

Chief IRS Scoundrel
Unprosecuted Sacrificial Lamb

According to the the Whistleblower, the IRS made their own illegal operation "legal".
“In 2003-05 an official Memo was created within the IRS  noting who was permitted to participate in ‘insider trading’. The memo noted that all IRS employees in the executive branch and those one step below (territory managers, etc.) were permitted to participate. I was below that rank by one step, i.e., a large-case manager at the IRS.  However, as my evaluation showed, I was expected to inform my manager of any and all mergers.” 

In fact, the Whistleblower says he was fired for not doing so and was later the subject of retaliation. That was a lot of years ago. And the only people who could properly look into something like this — and hopefully determine that it couldn’t possibly be true — would be in the IRS Inspector General’s  [TIG] Office of the IRS. That’s who is supposed to investigate allegations of wrongdoing.

So, Crudele called the IRS Inspector General’s media contact, planning to give them the information, and perhaps the IG could convince the Whistleblower to come forward or obtain more details in exchange for Crudele's getting an exclusive on the story if the allegations were verified.

Crudele's exchange with the IG’s spokeswoman was unexpected:.

IG Spokeswoman:  “Concerning..?”

Crudele: "A tip from a reader of mine about IRS wrongdoing”

IG Spokeswoman: “We get those on a regular basis; tell the tipster to contact the IRS Hotline.

Crudele:  "The tipster doesn't wish to do that"

IG Spokeswoman:   “All complaints are taken very seriously.” 

Crudele:  “Is there an insider trading exemption for officials in the IRS?” 

IG Spokeswoman: [Crudele advised] she said there wasn’t such an exemption and sent him a brochure.
“Once again, thank you for contacting us. Let me know if we can help further”

Crudele:  “I’m amazed at the lack of cooperation I am getting from you” commented, criticizing her laziness before finishing with “have a nice weekend".

IG Spokeswoman: “On background, we sorry you feel that way. We are not lazy…just careful”

Mergers & Acquisitions
Insider Information = Big Bucks

Crudele continued the Whistle-blower's story [details were excluded to protect his identity]:

“So then one day I was informed of a merger between (two big companies), I was the Case Manager on that audit; I refused to inform my manager.  Well, that was a sad day for my career.  He (the manager) first produced a memo and then suspended me for failing to inform him of the merger so he could tell his supervisor.  It seemed that the supervisor had planned to pay off his home mortgage with the merger information to the tune of $1 million plus.” 

"There’s something you need to understand. The IRS places its workers permanently inside many companies where they continually receive privileged information while doing audits. So there’s plenty of money-making tips to go around.  In addition my supervisor had planned on informing his manager who then could contact members of Congress so they could invest and profit from this information,.  It was a way of securing a comfortable job on one of the boards like the Smithsonian once they retired.”

Crudele advises: 
Consider how many individuals could have had access to this information and profited while the average American is told that it is “illegal.” The Whistleblower says he was pushed out of the IRS in 2004 and charges — trumped-up ones, he says — were brought against him. But he wouldn’t be surprised if this insider trading continued.

According to the Whistle-blower:
“Unfortunately I doubt that this has stopped. One cannot allow this to take place and then suddenly end it.  These individuals had planned and budgeted for these events to fund their lifestyle. That type of income generator just does not end.  It’s always hard to take away perks from employees. Just try stopping the free coffee at your office."

“On a final note, which you may find of interest, my previous manager had assigned another manager to [a highly prized international] office for two years because she gave him numerous inside information tips."

Assuming Mr Crudele's story of IRS corruption alarms you, you will appreciate his parallel tale of Congressional Insider Trading based on confidential information presented in Committee Hearings.

Mr Trump's "Draining of the Swamp" comes none too soon, and it will create some soon-to-be impoverished Congressfolk who have lived large off their corrupt practices -- but will likely face prosecution and substantial legal bills this Fall.

----

Editorial Note:

We concur with Mr Crudele's story since we are somewhat aware that the IRS has not been pure as the driven snow; so, his tale of corruption comes as no surprise.   

We are also gratified for confirmation on just how corrupt our bureaucrats, and politicians [of both Parties] are, and how they've gotten wealthy through their corruption; it might also explain why we so much inaction on their part in pursuing the corruption of government bureaucrats and law enforcement officials.

During our post-IC career, one contractor told much the same story based on his consulting time with the IRS.  Among his lurid tales were IRS rooms full of tax returns which employees dutifully were flushing down toilets; and, then there was a unique scam the IRS operated in which they sent out a computerized letter advising taxpayers in the upper-six figure income range that they had underpaid by $800 to $1,800, correctly assuming that the victims would simply pay the extra rather than waste time reviewing their taxes or fighting the penalty. 
[We were one of those unsuspecting victims in 1997, and we paid the extra $800.]

We were also targeted by Lois Lerner's team, apparently purely out of spite since we have not been involved in a PAC, although we do admit to being a bit Conservative.  We fought back, threatening to bring the case public and to Congress during the Lerner hearings, and the IRS relented.

Finally, recognize that the IRS [and FBI] places their officers in US Embassies around the world, as part of the Country Team [Ambassador, CIA Station Chief, Defense, Political/Commercial, Economic, Agricultural Attache's] - each privy to sensitive Intelligence briefings on country and regional political and financial issues.  Officially, the IRS Advisor role is to ensure US citizens and companies operating abroad pay their taxes.  However, passing along sensitive Intelligence information to friends and supervisors is likely part of the abuse of the access the Whistleblower above has reported.

Draining the VA Swamp

Draining the VA Swamp

Click here for full story

President Trump signed a new EO [Executive Order] entitled 

"Improving Accountability and Whistleblower Protection"

at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

This EO addresses a portion of the myriad of bureaucratic issues, and particularly the widespread and embedded corruption documented and reported on for the past eight years, and historically, with no action taken by Congress to reform these problems.

The EO addresses endemic problems in the 150+ VA hospitals throughout the country, many of which have been cited for corruption, incompetent or belligerent staffs, and generally, a failure to provide treatment and support for Veterans.  It also addresses the unwieldy and seemingly ineffective VA bureaucracy which routinely delays and denies legitimate claims because the claims reps simply don't feel like doing their job.  It appears it is much more fun for bureaucrats denying these claims and frustrating Veterans than actually doing their job

VA Waiting List Scandal

One of the biggest opponents of reform in this process has been Senator McCain, but we'll address that issue in a separate blog post as his position on Congressional Committees impacts the Active Military, and importantly, his blocking of data on countless US POWs reportedly alive and officially abandoned in Vietnam.






This EO, to be employed and enforced by the VA Secretary, Dr David Shulkin, will consist of three primary issues:

1)  Creates an office at VA dedicated to "accountability and whistleblower protection", reporting directly to the Director to identify barriers that are "... preventing us from removing employees and people we have identified that should no longer be working at VA".

-- In effect, it's a "You're Fired policy" which would reverse the embedded hatred policy evident in a number of VA regional offices, and at the VA Hospital in Washington, DC where we have witnessed outright hostility by administrative personnel driving Veterans into a rage to force them out of the system -- based on the Veteran's "instability".

    a)  It will also terminate the endless bureaucratic delays by which the VA administrators have created countless barriers to a Veteran claiming benefits.  A personal example involves the VA's demand that we show "documentation of 'BOOTS ON THE GROUND" to claim benefits for Agent Orange, in spite of a four year tour "on the ground" which included a variety of combat medals as well as Vietnam Service medals, and deployment medals.

    b)  Since our Officer Efficiency Reports did not specifically state that we engaged in classified Special Operations in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, VA administrators initially denied benefits.  We requested they obtain our records, and they then sent us a five page document  with the entire content, including VA document number and date redacted.

    c)  Eventually, we overcame much of this bureaucracy, but noted that fellow Veterans without our persistence were left high and dry.  In this process, we spoke with a VA shrink who described a homeless Vet who was denied treatment judged to be crazy because he claimed to have operated in Cambodia; we provided the shrink with a full description of the individual and the classified operation that he worked under -- and he now receives benefits.

    d)  Basically unresolved is the issue of how to guarantee benefits for all combat Vets who operated in covert or classified status since their records do not specifically state [for a reason] where they were operating or when [e.g., Laos, Cambodia, various places in the Middle East and Africa, and on special assignment to deal with Special Weaponry].

22 Suicides per day

   e)  Also yet to be addressed is the massive death toll among Veterans committing suicide, an issue essentially dismissed by the VA, which should be held accountable.

   f)  A footnote, as yet unreported in any detail is the issue of the overworked, understaffed psychiatric doctors and specialists who suffer from overwhelming depression when they are unable to
address the needs of their suicidal patients.
The issue here is that there is a large number of these psychiatrists who themselves commit
suicide when beaten down by an uncaring VA bureaucracy.

  g)  A final issue to examine is what appears to be a VA DEATH PANEL, in which treatment  Veterans is denied or not recommended based on age or severity of illness/injury.  These decisions are made via private contractor consultants who are hired by VA to "... establish claims eligibility"; the "physician" conducting these evaluations are often foreign and have no concept whatever of the Veteran's ailments, and their contract is for simply filling out a VA form.  Among these contractors are Quest and LHI, with which we have had personal experience in this process.

2)    Effective 28 April 2017, the VA will partner with the Department of Health and Human Services to supplement VA medical personnel with medical professionals drawn from the Public Health Service.

3)  An initiative to detect and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse in the VA Department.  

Demoted, but not fired

This initiative follows an 18 month Comey-led FBI investigation which produced no progress in the face of blatant fraud in the VA.

It will be employed and enforced by professionals brought in from both the Private Sector and other components of the government to examine -- with a fine-tooth comb -- major construction contracts, pharmaceutical contracts, track records of questionable health care providers, and administrative delivery of benefits to Veterans.

These professionals will examine the fraudulent contracts which enriched regional directors and hospital administrators, leaving operational equipment and facilities severely lacking.
Some examples found by the new Inspector General so far:

   a)  VA Medical Center in Washington, DC put the 98,000 Veterans it serves at risk stemming from the use of Dirty Equipment, lack of necessary medical supplies, and the possible use of recalled equipment.

   b)  Since 2014, the DC VA had 194 Patient Safety Reports regarding "the unavailability of equipment or supplies."

   c) In June, 2016, surgical staff used expired equipment during a procedure because of "...the lack of an inventory management program".

   d) More than 27,000 items purchased by the facility -- at a cost of more than $150 million -- were unaccounted for as of March, 2017.

e)  The Carl T Hyden VA Medical Center in Phoenix reportedly allowed patients to die while awaiting appointments, while bureaucrats falsified "wait-time" data to collect performance bonuses.  The director of that Center was Sharon Helman, who admitted taking at least $50,000 in contractors' gifts [aka: bribes], was tried, convicted, and placed on two years probation.

Helman accepted these "gifts" from Dennis Lewis, a former VA executive who retired and became a lobbyist, securing millions of dollars in VA contracts from Helman.  Although charged with falsified appointment data, whistleblower retaliation, and falsified conflict-of-interest statements, the Merit System judge dismissed the criminal charges, leaving the US District Judge, Steven Logan, only able to convict/sentence her on the administrative charge.

   f)  In a variety of cases, to include Wisconsin and Texas, administrator violations and corruption have been tied to the deaths of a number of Veterans.


4)  The long range target of this EO is the capacity to hold the three million VA employees and administrators accountable for criminal actions, to include corruption, fraud, negligence, and incompetence -- and to perhaps reform the Civil Service system which provides shelter for these criminals.

We encourage President Trump to fully implement his EO and to pursue all his options.  We quote Jarrett Stepman's American Legislative Exchange Council policy paper.

"By stripping the bureaucratic class of their special protections that few 

other americans enjoy through comprehensive Civil Service reform, 

Trump can fulfill his Inaugural promise, and ensure that when 

the People speak, Washington has to listen!"