An independent public accountant performed audits of the Willow Run (FHA no. 092-44100) and Willow Run II (FHA no. 092-35650) multifamily properties for the years 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 under the name of The Blackwing Group, LLC.  According to the Minnesota Board of Accountancy, neither the independent public accountant nor The Blackwing Group, LLC, had ever been licensed to perform public accounting engagements in the State of…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), assisted the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota in a civil investigation of Willow Run Partners L.P. and Willow Run II Partners L.P.  Willow Run Partners L.P. was the owner of Willow Run I Apartments, and Willow Run II Partners L.P. was the owner of Willow Run II Apartments.  Our investigation began as a result of a…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited the City of Minot, ND’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Disaster Recovery program because the City was awarded more than $67 million in CDBG Disaster Recovery funds in April 2012 and an additional $35 million in May 2013.  Before our audit, the City had spent more than $26 million and $1.3 million, respectively.  In addition, we…

he U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited Gruening Park Apartments, a 96-unit apartment complex in Juneau, AK, owned and operated by Alaska Housing Development Corporation, Inc., to determine whether the owner administered the project and its programs in compliance with the regulatory agreement and other HUD requirements. We selected this project primarily due to its having a significantly…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, audited Five Star based upon a request from the HUD Denver Office of Multifamily Housing. The objective of our audit was to determine whether Five Star submitted the required monthly accounting and Section 236 excess income reports to HUD. Five Star did not submit required monthly accounting reports and Section 236 excess income reports to HUD. It…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited the Section 8 Performance Based Contract Administration (PBCA) program of the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation (Corporation). We wanted to determine whether the Corporation fulfilled its contractual responsibilities as a performance-based contract administrator (contract administrator) of project-based Section 8 housing assistance payments…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program of the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC). We wanted to determine whether AHFC admitted and housed tenants properly, calculated tenant rents correctly, and maintained an effective quality control program. We also wanted to determine whether AHFC properly administered its HUD Veterans Affairs…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited the Public Housing Agency of the City of Saint Paul’s (Agency) Section 8 Project-Based Voucher program (program). The audit was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2009 annual audit plan. We selected the Agency’s program based upon our internal audit survey of HUD’s oversight of the program and our analysis of risk factors relating to the…

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Two Nigerian nationals have been sentenced to prison, probation, and owe over $500,000 in restitution for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from victims in romance fraud schemes, announced United States Attorney Andrew M. Luger. According to court documents, beginning in 2016 through 2019, Charles Emeka Obije, 41, used fictitious identities to contact victims throughout the United States, including Minnesota, via email…

MINNEAPOLIS – An Albert Lea woman has been sentenced to a year and one day in prison, three years of supervised release, and is required to pay $213,217 in restitution for stealing public housing rent payments, announced U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger. According to court documents, between January 2010 and July 18, 2018, Marcie Marie Thumann, 45, worked as a bookkeeper for the Albert Lea Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA), a government…

MINNEAPOLIS – The Justice Department today announced that it has obtained a consent decree with Reese Pfeiffer and several other defendants to resolve allegations that Pfeiffer violated the Fair Housing Act (FHA) by subjecting 23 women to severe and repeated sexual harassment and retaliation at residential properties defendants own or manage in and around Minneapolis. Under the consent decree, the defendants must pay a total of $736,000 in…