The Tennessee Comptroller’s Division of Investigations has uncovered $25.8 million in fraud, waste, and abuse in Tennessee since 2016.
This, according to a press release that Comptrollers published on their website this week.
“The division has published 218 reports since January 2016. These reports have resulted in the indictments of 131 people on 819 separate counts,” the press release said.
“Comptroller investigators have investigated fraudulent activity in a variety of state and local government entities, and they have recently begun investigating the theft of private funds under certain circumstances. Many investigations are completed with the cooperation of the state’s 31 district attorneys general, and often in conjunction with TBI and other law enforcement agencies.”
Since 2016, the Comptroller’s Office has released investigative reports revealing fraud, waste, and abuse in 79 of the state’s 95 counties. The new Mapping Tennessee Comptroller Investigations webpage allows any Tennessean to quickly view data and information about fraud cases in their area.
As The Tennessee Star reported in September, Comptrollers revealed that members of two Memphis nonprofits committed fraud.
Comptrollers said in February that Columbia State Community College officials did not timely return Title IV funds for students who withdrew from classes before those classes ended. Comptrollers said they reviewed a sample of 60 students who received Title IV Student Financial Assistance during the 2017-2018 award year. Per law, school officials must return any unearned aid to the Department of Education within 45 days of the date the institution determined the student withdrew.
Also in February, Comptrollers reported that Williamson County taxpayers lost money due to fraud, according to a report Tennessee Comptrollers filed. The amount of money lost was small — only $2,000. The matter, however, was serious enough that county officials filed a police report and reported the matter to state Comptrollers.
As The Star reported in 2018, the former assistant adult sports coordinator for the Williamson County Parks and Recreation allegedly stole more than $7,600 from that department, according to a Comptroller’s report that year.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
This represents only the fraud waste and abuse that the public has been made aware of it by no means represents the actual amount. If we could eliminate the fraud waste and abuse of the public trust, we would never again need to raise taxes.