We audited the City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Budget and Fiscal Services’ and Department of Community Services’ (City) fraud risk management practices for its Emergency Solutions Grants Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (ESG CARES Act) program with the objective of assessing the maturity of the City’s fraud risk management framework that encompasses control activities to prevent, detect, and respond to fraud. …

We audited Luther Towers II because it was a high-risk multifamily project that received low inspection and financial assessment scores on our multifamily risk assessment for projects within our region and we had never audited it.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the owner managed the project in accordance with its regulatory agreement and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements. The owner of Luther…

We audited the City and County of Honolulu’s (City) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program.  We conducted the audit because the City was the largest Pacific island recipient of CDBG funds, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) had identified problems with the City’s CDBG program, and the Office of Inspector General had never audited the City.  Our objective was to determine whether the City administered…

We audited the Maine State Housing Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher program pertaining to its housing quality standard inspections, and other expenditures and procurements using U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds.  Our review was initiated based on a congressional request from Senator Susan Collins.  The objectives of the audit were to determine whether (1) the Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher program…

We audited the Wilmington Housing Authority's administration of its Public Housing Capital Fund Recovery Act-Funded Formula and Competitive Grants that it received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). We selected the Authority for audit because it received a $5.2 million Public Housing Capital Fund Formula (Recovery Act-Funded) grant and two Public Housing Capital Fund Competitive (Recovery Act-Funded)…

We audited the Avesta Housing Management Corporation (Avesta), located in Portland, ME, in response to a request from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Manchester, NH, Office of Housing field office. The request came after the completion of an Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit of the Orchard Court project. Avesta was the previous manager of Orchard Court and is the current manager of 30 other HUD projects.…

As part of the Office of Inspector General’s annual audit plan, we completed a capacity review of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands’ (Department) American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) funding. Our objective was to determine whether the Department had sufficient capacity to manage and administer its Recovery Act funding. Specifically, we reviewed and assessed the Department’s capacity in the following areas:…

In accordance with our goal to review and ensure the proper administration of Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) funds provided under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) and/or the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), we conducted a capacity review of the operations of the State of Maine’s (State) Department of Economic and Community Development, Office of Community Development (Department). The…

We audited the Wilmington Housing Authority’s (Authority) administration of its housing quality standards inspection program for its Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program as part of our fiscal year 2009 audit plan. The audit objective was to determine whether the Authority adequately administered its Section 8 housing quality standards inspection program to ensure that its program units met housing quality standards in accordance with U.S.…

We audited the Newark, Delaware, branch office (branch office) of J.P. Morgan Chase bank (J.P. Morgan Chase), a supervised direct endorsement lender approved to originate Federal Housing Administration (FHA) single-family mortgage loans. We selected the branch office because its default rate was above the state’s average default rate. Our objective was to determine whether J.P. Morgan Chase complied with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban…

We performed an audit of the Orchard Court project, a Section 236 multifamily property, located in Bath, Maine. As part of our audit, we reviewed subsidy payments made to Orchard Court from Bath and Brunswick, Maine, Housing Authorities (Authorities). Our objective was to determine whether Section 8 voucher program subsidies paid to Orchard Court from the Authorities were for basic rent, rather than market rent. Basic rent is the minimum rent a…

We audited the Orchard Court project, located in Bath, Maine, in response to a referral received by the Office of Inspector General's (OIG) Office of Investigation (Region 1). The referral indicated a potential inappropriate use of project funds by the Orchard Court Housing Corporation (project owner) and/or the management agent. Our overall objective was to determine whether the project owner and/or management agents operated the project…

We audited the Newark, Delaware, branch office (branch office) of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage (Wells Fargo). The branch office is mainly responsible for underwriting loans for 22 Wells Fargo sales branch offices in Pennsylvania. We selected the branch office because of its relatively high default rate, compared with the average default rate for the state of Pennsylvania. Our objective was to determine whether the branch office complied with U.S.…

We audited the HOME Investment Partnerships program (HOME) administered by the Maine State Housing Authority, Augusta, Maine (Authority), as part of our annual audit plan. The Authority received more than $21 million in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funding for its federal HOME program from 2005 to 2007. Our audit objective was to determine whether the Authority administered its HOME program in compliance with HUD…

Kelly Ballinger wrote her name on rent payments, altered renters’ incomes to steal fundsPORTLAND, Maine: A Glenburn woman pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Portland to embezzling from an organization receiving federal funds and conspiring to alter money orders.According to court records, Kelly Ballinger, 57, was a former property manager for a Portland apartment complex with residences funded by the Department of Housing and Urban…

BOSTON – A Maine woman pleaded guilty yesterday to stealing federal housing benefits from at least December 2004 through February 2020.  Rebecca Amelia Cranford, 63, pleaded guilty to one count of theft of government funds. U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV scheduled sentencing for Aug. 17, 2023. Cranford was arrested and charged in September 2021.   In the early 2000s, Cranford was engaged by the owners of a…

PORTLAND, Maine: A Berwick woman was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Portland for Social Security fraud and theft of public money. Chief U.S. District Judge Jon D. Levy sentenced Andreanna Politano, 60, to three years of probation. She was also ordered to pay $49,976.38 in restitution to the Social Security Administration (SSA) and $9,164.00 in restitution to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).…

PORTLAND, Maine: A Berwick woman pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Portland to Social Security fraud and theft of public money, U.S. Attorney Darcie N. McElwee announced. According to court records, from about March 2009 to February 2020, Andreanna Politano, 59, concealed the presence of her husband in her household to maintain her eligibility to receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments. SSI benefits are paid…

WILMINGTON, Del. – U.S. Attorney David C. Weiss announced today that landlords Goodfish Enterprises, LLC; Reliant Property Management Company; and Christopher Lukacs have agreed to pay $430,000 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act during their participation in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP), commonly known as “Section 8.”  The HCVP is the federal…

HONOLULU, Hawaii – Raelene Rodrigues, 62, of Honolulu, Hawaii was sentenced today. Rodrigues was the last of four defendants convicted and sentenced in connection with charges involving a scheme to defraud federally funded local housing programs for over $100,000 from approximately April 2015 to August 2017. Co-defendants Leopoldo Bitte, Jr., 38, of Hilo Hawaii, Gregory Lau, 40, of San Leandro, California, and separately-charged defendant Kalani…