The EPA’s highest-paid employee and a leading expert on climate change was sentenced to 32 months in federal prison Wednesday for lying to his bosses and saying he was a CIA spy working in Pakistan so he could avoid doing his real job.
John C. Beale’s crimes were “inexplicable” and “unbelievably egregious,” said Judge Ellen Huvelle in imposing the sentence in a Washington. D.C. federal court. Beale has also agreed to pay $1.3 million in restitution and forfeiture to the government.
Another Grocery Chain Answers Trump’s Call, Cuts Prices on Over 300 Items to Help Americans Still Suffering from Bidenflation
Watch This Rising Dem Star Collapse When Asked if She’s Pro-Thanksgiving – Her Answer Makes Kamala Look Like a Genius
Virginia voters cement swing-district rematch after Dems’ redistricting fail
Virginia Senate race to battle top intel Dem takes shape after redistricting delays
Beloved NC gas station clerk allegedly killed by registered sex offender after vanishing from home: deputies
Alarming missile report draws forceful response from Trump as Iran war tests America’s arsenal
Former soldier indicted on charges of ‘calculated’ arson attack on federal Manhattan building
Iranian experts estimate economic losses from Operation Epic Fury at $280 billion
Pirro throws drops charges in three more Reflecting Pool vandalism cases amid Trump outrage
Trump admin trucking crackdown lands 51 immigration detentions, 36 English language proficiency violations
Rosie O’Donnell Announces She’s Returning to ‘The View’ Despite ‘Tense Time with Whoopi’
Washington wildfire arson suspect previously charged with first-degree murder, records show
A Behind the Scenes ‘War’ Is Underway Between Bernie Sanders Insiders: Report
Sheriff in Nancy Guthrie Investigation Hit With Eye-Watering 9-Figure Lawsuit Over Another Dept. Disaster
Todd Blanche’s Nomination Takes Major Step Forward After Clearing Senate Judiciary Committee Vote
Beale said he was ashamed of his lies about working for the CIA, a ruse that, according to court records, began in 2000 and continued until early this year.
“Why did I do this? Greed – simple greed – and I’m ashamed of that greed,” Beale told the court. He also said it was possible that he got a “rush” and a “sense of excitement” by telling people he was worked for the CIA. “It was something like an addiction,” he said.
Beale pled guilty in September to bilking the government out of nearly $1 million in salary and other benefits over a decade. He perpetrated his fraud largely by failing to show up at the EPA for months at a time, including one 18-month stretch starting in June 2011 when he did “absolutely no work,” as his lawyer acknowledged in a sentencing memo filed last week.
When Huvelle asked Beale what he was doing when he claimed he was working for the CIA, he said, “I spent time exercising. I spent a lot of time working on my house.”
He also said he used the time “trying to find ways to fine tune the capitalist system” to discourage companies from damaging the environment. “I spent a lot of time reading on that,” said Beale.
Another Grocery Chain Answers Trump’s Call, Cuts Prices on Over 300 Items to Help Americans Still Suffering from Bidenflation
Watch This Rising Dem Star Collapse When Asked if She’s Pro-Thanksgiving – Her Answer Makes Kamala Look Like a Genius
Virginia voters cement swing-district rematch after Dems’ redistricting fail
Virginia Senate race to battle top intel Dem takes shape after redistricting delays
Beloved NC gas station clerk allegedly killed by registered sex offender after vanishing from home: deputies
Alarming missile report draws forceful response from Trump as Iran war tests America’s arsenal
Former soldier indicted on charges of ‘calculated’ arson attack on federal Manhattan building
Iranian experts estimate economic losses from Operation Epic Fury at $280 billion
Pirro throws drops charges in three more Reflecting Pool vandalism cases amid Trump outrage
Trump admin trucking crackdown lands 51 immigration detentions, 36 English language proficiency violations
Rosie O’Donnell Announces She’s Returning to ‘The View’ Despite ‘Tense Time with Whoopi’
Washington wildfire arson suspect previously charged with first-degree murder, records show
A Behind the Scenes ‘War’ Is Underway Between Bernie Sanders Insiders: Report
Sheriff in Nancy Guthrie Investigation Hit With Eye-Watering 9-Figure Lawsuit Over Another Dept. Disaster
Todd Blanche’s Nomination Takes Major Step Forward After Clearing Senate Judiciary Committee Vote
Prosecutor Jim Smith said Beale’s crimes made him a “poster child for what is wrong with government.”
The sentence drew swift reaction from Capitol Hill, including demands from a top Republican for further investigation into the EPA to determine how Beale got away with his fraud for so long.
“The case this morning highlights a massive problem with the EPA,” said Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana, ranking Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. He said Beale had stolen taxpayer money under the nose of EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, who for years had been his immediate boss.
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D.-Calif.), chair of the committee, sought to defend McCarthy. “I commend the EPA administrator for taking steps to shine a light on the actions of this rogue employee, and her actions helped uncover his crimes,” she said.
Boxer also called Beale’s sentence “appropriate given [his] outrageous activities.”
Another Grocery Chain Answers Trump’s Call, Cuts Prices on Over 300 Items to Help Americans Still Suffering from Bidenflation
Watch This Rising Dem Star Collapse When Asked if She’s Pro-Thanksgiving – Her Answer Makes Kamala Look Like a Genius
Virginia voters cement swing-district rematch after Dems’ redistricting fail
Virginia Senate race to battle top intel Dem takes shape after redistricting delays
Beloved NC gas station clerk allegedly killed by registered sex offender after vanishing from home: deputies
Alarming missile report draws forceful response from Trump as Iran war tests America’s arsenal
Former soldier indicted on charges of ‘calculated’ arson attack on federal Manhattan building
Iranian experts estimate economic losses from Operation Epic Fury at $280 billion
Pirro throws drops charges in three more Reflecting Pool vandalism cases amid Trump outrage
Trump admin trucking crackdown lands 51 immigration detentions, 36 English language proficiency violations
Rosie O’Donnell Announces She’s Returning to ‘The View’ Despite ‘Tense Time with Whoopi’
Washington wildfire arson suspect previously charged with first-degree murder, records show
A Behind the Scenes ‘War’ Is Underway Between Bernie Sanders Insiders: Report
Sheriff in Nancy Guthrie Investigation Hit With Eye-Watering 9-Figure Lawsuit Over Another Dept. Disaster
Todd Blanche’s Nomination Takes Major Step Forward After Clearing Senate Judiciary Committee Vote
EPA inspector general Arthur Elkins, whose office investigated Beale’s case, said in a statement Wednesday that his office is “actively looking at the EPA’s sloppy internal controls and management actions that enabled Mr. Beale’s frauds to occur…Expect to see the results of more audits from us in the coming months.”
When he first began looking into Beale’s deceptions last February, said EPA Assistant Inspector General Patrick Sullivan, who spearheaded the Beale probe, “I thought, ‘Oh my God, How could this possibly have happened in this agency? … I’ve worked for the government for 35 years. I’ve never seen a situation like this.”
Until he retired in April after learning he was under federal investigation, Beale, an NYU grad with a masters from Princeton, was earning a salary and bonuses of $206,000 a year, making him the highest paid official at the EPA. He earned more money than the agency’s administrator, Gina McCarthy, according to agency documents.
Story cited here.
