FiscalRangers Alert: Bogus Miami area "non-profit" agency & grantee obtained over $1.2-million fraudulently from HUD and other grants over SIX years.

FloridaWatchdog.org reports that a "non-profit" grantee in the Miami area
received improper and undocumented $1.2-million from HUD CDRG grants, CRA
grants, city grants, and even
( <<<< click to read article )
a FL State grant from the Division of Blind services..

"Hall-Dennis submitted "fraudulent, phony and fake documents
to obtain funds," according to a Miami-Dade County Inspector General's
statement
."
<<< click to read report.

Her non-profit status was revoked by the IRS but no local grant managers
verified her IRS non-profit status for two years.

Hall-Dennis received $948,353 in total CBRG funding, which
passed through a local government agency called the Miami-Dade County
Department of Public Housing and Community Development.
Another $234,500 came from the Homestead CRA
, which also subsidized
the Business Technology Development Corporation's office rent to the tune of
$158,775. Officially, BTDC paid $1 a year in rent.

"Records show Hall-Dennis allegedly used fraudulent
information to bill government agencies for employee salaries. She also
allegedly used a double-billing scheme to obtain funds from multiple
government agencies for the same salary - BTDC operated with an average of
five employees. She was further accused by investigators of failing to pay
her employees' salaries and two different payroll companies all while
submitting false and counterfeit receipts.
Not to be outdone, the joint IG and state attorney's
investigation showed the community business incubator received additional
funding from Florida's Division of Blind Services in exchange for hiring a
visually impaired worker. But investigators said Hall-Dennis failed to fully
compensate the blind employee.
"Bank records revealed that these illegally gotten gains
were deposited into bank accounts controlled exclusively by (Hall-Dennis),"
states the affidavit."

I suggest you read the above article about these grant frauds that went on
for SIX years due to lack of checking on the grantee, and determine if any
of your grant recipients need closer verification.

Remember Ronald Reagan's advice: Trust but Verify

Vance