SIGTARP says state housing agencies unnecessarily charged $3M to Hardest Hit Fund

This story appeared in Bank Digest.                                  

The Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program has determined that state housing agencies have charged $3 million in unnecessary expenses to the Troubled Asset Relief Program's Hardest Hit Fund, which is intended as a temporary safety net to save the homes of unemployed or underemployed Americans and demolish blighted homes. SIGTARP said it conducted an audit that found that state agencies lumped unnecessary expenses into permitted expense categories, elevating the risk of fraud, waste, abuse, and overpayment throughout the program.                                  

According to Special Inspector General Christy Goldsmith Romero, "Congress did not authorize TARP dollars for barbeques, steak and seafood dinners, gift cards, flowers, gym memberships, employee bonuses, litigation, celebrations, cars, and other unnecessary expenses of state housing agencies, but those are some of the charges SIGTARP's forensic analysis uncovered.                                   

SIGTARP said these state agencies must pay back their "ill-gotten gains" for TARP and taxpayers to be made whole, and it recommended a series of controls to prevent future waste.