Obama Official Racks Up Bill, Makes Taxpayers Pay for His Commute to Work
There’s an old joke that goes, “It’s so cold, the politicians have their hands in their own pockets.” Apparently it wasn’t cold enough in D.C. for one Obama official.
According to a recent report, former President Barack Obama’s top official in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Vikrum Aiyer, used a taxi to commute to his work more than 100 times in two years.
From 2014 to 2016, Aiyer, a then-chief of staff for the office, used a cab at least 130 times to go from his home in Washington, D.C. to the agency headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.
On the surface, taking a cab to work isn’t anything to fuss about. The problem with Aiyer’s commutes, however, is that that he billed the government for the unauthorized rides.
“The investigation found Aiyer concealed his misuse of the agency’s account with the taxi company by using names of current and former employees or made up names when ordering the cabs,” the Washington Examiner reported.
Additionally, he was caught writing false locations and names on the receipts.
So how much did he rack up? A grand total of $4,000 was eventually totaled in expenses with most of it being from January to April of 2016.
Aiyer was eventually interviewed by an investigator in December of 2016, and a senior department official was told of the investigation soon after. Luckily, Aiyer realized his days were numbered, so he resigned from his position soon after.
But the story doesn’t end there, folks.
Aiyer was also found racking up a grand total of $15,000 in expenses “on a government-issued credit card during a 4-year period.”
The Washington Post reported that Aiyer eventually paid back the expenses in full. But had he not been caught, you can rest assured that he would have kept on charging the American people.
Aiyer insists he didn’t do anything intentionally wrong. In fact, he calls it a “misunderstanding.”
“This misunderstanding of agency taxi rules was brought to my attention two years ago. At the time, I immediately offered to repay the agency, and stand by that offer to actively work with an agency I deeply respect to resolve this matter,” he said according to the Washington Examiner.
Sure.
This isn’t the first time a government official has been caught with his hands in other people’s pockets, so to speak, and sadly, it won’t be the last.
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