Friday, April 29, 2011
Justice League: SEC whistleblower Linda Almonte's lawsuit dismisse...
Justice League: SEC whistleblower Linda Almonte's lawsuit dismisse...: "Written by Biloxi It looks like SEC whistleblower and former JP Morgan Chase employee Linda Almonte's case is being dismissed with prejudi..."
Monday, April 11, 2011
ONE WHISTLEBLOWER STANDS UP AGAINST CORRUPTION-SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS-THE BATTLE IS NOT OVER!
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FEDS DIGGING INTO EHC
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San Jose Mercury News (CA)-October 17, 2008
Author/Byline: Karen de Sa
Mercury News
Edition: Valley Final
A routine inquiry begun a year ago at a youth shelter run by Santa Clara County's most prominent homeless-services agency has now progressed into an investigation of possible fraud.
Concerns first arose in October 2007, when a federal official monitoring millions of dollars in government spending on shelters for runaway youths paid a visit to EHC LifeBuilders in downtown San Jose. Alarmed that children and teens fleeing the streets were being cared for in an unlicensed facility, she alerted the state's community care division, and the shelter known as Our House was forced to shut its doors the next day.
Now the agency is receiving more unexpected federal scrutiny -- this time, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Inspector General, which is responsible for digging out fraud, waste and abuse of public funds. The new investigation comes as EHC has abandoned long-held plans to reopen the 14-year-old shelter; the group announced last week that it is shifting its youth shelter program to serve young adults, for whom licensing is not required.
The Office of the Inspector General does not comment on open investigations, and EHC managers downplayed last week's surprise visit, saying they don't believe the interviews amount to an investigation.
Yet Sparky Harlan, director of the Bill Wilson Center -- which now runs the county's only licensed runaway youth shelter -- was among those questioned last week by the inspector general's office and said the inspector was "responding to a complaint of possible fraud at another agency." Because of confidentiality requirements, Harlan did not disclose the name of that agency, but others familiar with the investigation have confirmed EHC is the focus and that the questions center on fraud.
The allegations appear to include whether EHC tried to pass off phony licensing documents for the shelter, and whether the unlicensed facility was even eligible for the decade-plus of federal funding it had previously received.
When Health and Human Services program officer Evelynn Brown last October asked EHC for proof of a license at the shelter, she instead received a 1993 waiver with a different address on it -- for a building that had been demolished. Brown also reported finding children, including a pregnant teen and a boy who had spent 11 months at the temporary shelter, mixing among homeless adults. And because the facility was unlicensed, employees were unlawfully dispensing medication and providing counseling.
What's more, although federal grantees are required to screen staff through fingerprinting and background checks, Brown said those safety measures were lacking.
EHC officials said this week that they have always fingerprinted their employees but that their personnel files were organized incorrectly until this year and they were unable to provide documentation of the fingerprinting; they thought the license-exempt document they produced applied to different locations; and although they were mixing children and adults in a drop-in center, they did not house them together in the shelter.
Under its charismatic founder, Barry Del Buono, the non-profit EHC has grown through government grants and private donations into an organization with a $10 million operating budget that serves more than 10,000 men, women and children each year through a variety of programs.
Over the past year, however, EHC has been in tumult, including the resignation of Del Buono and widespread layoffs after the revelation of funding and management irregularities. EHC's own auditors revealed "significant deficiencies" affecting the agency's ability to administer federal programs, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development is currently conducting a review of $7 million in spending.
Last week, as news of the latest inquiry surfaced, EHC announced its decision not to reopen the runaway shelter, which still had not met state licensing requirements that ensure safe conditions at a new location on South Third Street. Agency managers described the shift in plans as an effort to serve another overlooked population -- young people ages 18 to 21 who are barred from youth shelters but feel out of place mingling with homeless adults. Beginning this month, these "transition-age youth" are being housed for as many as 90 days in EHC's new, multiuse Sobrato House not far from the former Our House site.
The new shelter fills a widely acknowledged gap in care for troubled young adults, many of whom have left the foster care system destitute; there are only four such shelters in the state. "These are the youth who the system has already failed," said EHC program manager Hilary Barroga. "We can't continue to fail them anymore."
But the celebration is colored by uncertainty surrounding the unusual visit from the Inspector General's office.
"They were asking about services to youth," Barroga said, stopping short of characterizing the visit an investigation. "There's no reason we would be under investigation with the Inspector General."
Barroga said EHC has received approximately $200,000 in federal funds each year since 1991 to run its drop-in center and shelter for homeless youths. But in recent weeks, the agency withdrew its pending application for additional funds provided through the federal Runaway and Homeless Youth Act.
Observers familiar with local homeless programs say the withdrawal may reflect the agency's nervousness about continuing to accept federal funds for a shelter that had not reopened for more than a year.
Brown, the program officer with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, was the first to formally lodge concerns about EHC's youth shelter. EHC was far from the only agency Brown found problems with when she arrived in California last year; she reported violations at as many as a dozen agencies from Santa Cruz to Southern California, including employees housing youths at their homes and funds being used to run phantom shelters.
After some grantees, including EHC, complained that she was overly aggressive and difficult to work with, Brown was recently placed on administrative leave. But her former boss praises her approach as just what's needed to protect vulnerable children.
"Everything she found was proven to be true, and nothing has been trivial," said Karen Morison, a former associate commissioner for the federal Family and Youth Services Bureau.
Santa Clara County Supervisor Liz Kniss said she was unaware of the investigation launched by Brown but noted her own ongoing concerns about EHC. Kniss abstained from an August supervisors' vote to give the agency more than $1 million for a no-bid contract, citing its history of poor fiscal control.
"I frequently felt we weren't getting good information from them," Kniss said, "and that the financial situation was obfuscated."
Contact Karen de Sá at kdesa@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5781.
FEDS DIGGING INTO EHC
--------------------------------------------------
San Jose Mercury News (CA)-October 17, 2008
Author/Byline: Karen de Sa
Mercury News
Edition: Valley Final
A routine inquiry begun a year ago at a youth shelter run by Santa Clara County's most prominent homeless-services agency has now progressed into an investigation of possible fraud.
Concerns first arose in October 2007, when a federal official monitoring millions of dollars in government spending on shelters for runaway youths paid a visit to EHC LifeBuilders in downtown San Jose. Alarmed that children and teens fleeing the streets were being cared for in an unlicensed facility, she alerted the state's community care division, and the shelter known as Our House was forced to shut its doors the next day.
Now the agency is receiving more unexpected federal scrutiny -- this time, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Inspector General, which is responsible for digging out fraud, waste and abuse of public funds. The new investigation comes as EHC has abandoned long-held plans to reopen the 14-year-old shelter; the group announced last week that it is shifting its youth shelter program to serve young adults, for whom licensing is not required.
The Office of the Inspector General does not comment on open investigations, and EHC managers downplayed last week's surprise visit, saying they don't believe the interviews amount to an investigation.
Yet Sparky Harlan, director of the Bill Wilson Center -- which now runs the county's only licensed runaway youth shelter -- was among those questioned last week by the inspector general's office and said the inspector was "responding to a complaint of possible fraud at another agency." Because of confidentiality requirements, Harlan did not disclose the name of that agency, but others familiar with the investigation have confirmed EHC is the focus and that the questions center on fraud.
The allegations appear to include whether EHC tried to pass off phony licensing documents for the shelter, and whether the unlicensed facility was even eligible for the decade-plus of federal funding it had previously received.
When Health and Human Services program officer Evelynn Brown last October asked EHC for proof of a license at the shelter, she instead received a 1993 waiver with a different address on it -- for a building that had been demolished. Brown also reported finding children, including a pregnant teen and a boy who had spent 11 months at the temporary shelter, mixing among homeless adults. And because the facility was unlicensed, employees were unlawfully dispensing medication and providing counseling.
What's more, although federal grantees are required to screen staff through fingerprinting and background checks, Brown said those safety measures were lacking.
EHC officials said this week that they have always fingerprinted their employees but that their personnel files were organized incorrectly until this year and they were unable to provide documentation of the fingerprinting; they thought the license-exempt document they produced applied to different locations; and although they were mixing children and adults in a drop-in center, they did not house them together in the shelter.
Under its charismatic founder, Barry Del Buono, the non-profit EHC has grown through government grants and private donations into an organization with a $10 million operating budget that serves more than 10,000 men, women and children each year through a variety of programs.
Over the past year, however, EHC has been in tumult, including the resignation of Del Buono and widespread layoffs after the revelation of funding and management irregularities. EHC's own auditors revealed "significant deficiencies" affecting the agency's ability to administer federal programs, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development is currently conducting a review of $7 million in spending.
Last week, as news of the latest inquiry surfaced, EHC announced its decision not to reopen the runaway shelter, which still had not met state licensing requirements that ensure safe conditions at a new location on South Third Street. Agency managers described the shift in plans as an effort to serve another overlooked population -- young people ages 18 to 21 who are barred from youth shelters but feel out of place mingling with homeless adults. Beginning this month, these "transition-age youth" are being housed for as many as 90 days in EHC's new, multiuse Sobrato House not far from the former Our House site.
The new shelter fills a widely acknowledged gap in care for troubled young adults, many of whom have left the foster care system destitute; there are only four such shelters in the state. "These are the youth who the system has already failed," said EHC program manager Hilary Barroga. "We can't continue to fail them anymore."
But the celebration is colored by uncertainty surrounding the unusual visit from the Inspector General's office.
"They were asking about services to youth," Barroga said, stopping short of characterizing the visit an investigation. "There's no reason we would be under investigation with the Inspector General."
Barroga said EHC has received approximately $200,000 in federal funds each year since 1991 to run its drop-in center and shelter for homeless youths. But in recent weeks, the agency withdrew its pending application for additional funds provided through the federal Runaway and Homeless Youth Act.
Observers familiar with local homeless programs say the withdrawal may reflect the agency's nervousness about continuing to accept federal funds for a shelter that had not reopened for more than a year.
Brown, the program officer with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, was the first to formally lodge concerns about EHC's youth shelter. EHC was far from the only agency Brown found problems with when she arrived in California last year; she reported violations at as many as a dozen agencies from Santa Cruz to Southern California, including employees housing youths at their homes and funds being used to run phantom shelters.
After some grantees, including EHC, complained that she was overly aggressive and difficult to work with, Brown was recently placed on administrative leave. But her former boss praises her approach as just what's needed to protect vulnerable children.
"Everything she found was proven to be true, and nothing has been trivial," said Karen Morison, a former associate commissioner for the federal Family and Youth Services Bureau.
Santa Clara County Supervisor Liz Kniss said she was unaware of the investigation launched by Brown but noted her own ongoing concerns about EHC. Kniss abstained from an August supervisors' vote to give the agency more than $1 million for a no-bid contract, citing its history of poor fiscal control.
"I frequently felt we weren't getting good information from them," Kniss said, "and that the financial situation was obfuscated."
Contact Karen de Sá at kdesa@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5781.
Monday, March 28, 2011
THE BROWN CENTER FOR PUBLIC POLICY
THINK TANK MISSION STATEMENT
MARCH 2011
After consultation with a mentor on how to create much needed change for corporations, government and businesses to welcome reports of risk management, noncompliance, fraud, unethical behavior and wrongdoing, a new concept sprang forth. Rather than shoot the messenger (whistleblower) leaders can step to the other side finding common ground in order to advance business growth and prosperity.
In the bottom line analysis we all want organizations to build the best, most profitable, competitive company. One smart way to do this is by advancing global corporate integrity and transparency. In other words, turn good behavior into a competitive edge. More than 70% of respondents in a recent poll said they "preferred to" or "would only" do business with a company that shared their values. Everybody values integrity.
It is clear that organizations which welcome and seek out problem identifiers and solution providing innovative thinking are protecting the company assets and reputation. Many organizations will be impacted by the new compliance federal and state legislation. As new technologies emerge, more questions and concerns about ethical behaviors will arise.
In order to keep pace, companies will have to think differently --- and they will need the help of those who have been paying attention and giving serious consideration on how to flourish in these changing times in a global economy. Let us all seek out and reward ethical behavior.
To this end, I'm seeking a core group of individuals from all walks of life for a new think tank to help build on this theme and goal. It’s time to put our best thinking to work and teach a new breed of leaders how to shape a better future.
MARCH 2011
After consultation with a mentor on how to create much needed change for corporations, government and businesses to welcome reports of risk management, noncompliance, fraud, unethical behavior and wrongdoing, a new concept sprang forth. Rather than shoot the messenger (whistleblower) leaders can step to the other side finding common ground in order to advance business growth and prosperity.
In the bottom line analysis we all want organizations to build the best, most profitable, competitive company. One smart way to do this is by advancing global corporate integrity and transparency. In other words, turn good behavior into a competitive edge. More than 70% of respondents in a recent poll said they "preferred to" or "would only" do business with a company that shared their values. Everybody values integrity.
It is clear that organizations which welcome and seek out problem identifiers and solution providing innovative thinking are protecting the company assets and reputation. Many organizations will be impacted by the new compliance federal and state legislation. As new technologies emerge, more questions and concerns about ethical behaviors will arise.
In order to keep pace, companies will have to think differently --- and they will need the help of those who have been paying attention and giving serious consideration on how to flourish in these changing times in a global economy. Let us all seek out and reward ethical behavior.
To this end, I'm seeking a core group of individuals from all walks of life for a new think tank to help build on this theme and goal. It’s time to put our best thinking to work and teach a new breed of leaders how to shape a better future.
It is time for whistleblowers to be seen as innovators and part of corporate integrity.
In the wake of the Renault scandal, a new view of whistleblowing is fast emerging. Whistleblowers should be considered dedicated, ethical employees seeking to improve and protect a company. Those that retaliate against whistleblowers should be seen for what they are; enemies of corporate integrity, high risk management and a great loss to an organizations assets and reputation.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703327404576194913231712904.html?KEYWORDS=renault
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703327404576194913231712904.html?KEYWORDS=renault
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
THE RULE OF LAW...AN INTERNATIONAL CRISIS OF EHTICS.
Judges Under Fire: Human Rights, Independent Judges, and the Rule of Law
ABA Book Announcement.
"A compilation of inspiring and true stories on the importance of an independent judiciary and the rule of law."
Judges Under Fire: Human Rights, Independent Judges, and the Rule of Law
By Harold Baer, Jr.
Judge Baer sits in the Federal Court in Manhattan. He has written a book whose message deserves our attention. He has provided a rarely seen but vital perspective on the rule of law. Through a series of true and fascinating stories from around the world Judge Baer spells out how necessary it is that each of us exercise vigilance to assure that the rule of law is preserved.
--- Rudolph Giuliani, Former New York City Mayor
ABA Book Announcement."A compilation of inspiring and true stories on the importance of an independent judiciary and the rule of law."
Judges Under Fire: Human Rights, Independent Judges, and the Rule of Law
By Harold Baer, Jr.
Judge Baer sits in the Federal Court in Manhattan. He has written a book whose message deserves our attention. He has provided a rarely seen but vital perspective on the rule of law. Through a series of true and fascinating stories from around the world Judge Baer spells out how necessary it is that each of us exercise vigilance to assure that the rule of law is preserved.
--- Rudolph Giuliani, Former New York City Mayor
FINALLY A JUDGE THAT ADVOCATES FOR THE TRUTH AT THE SEC AND WALL STREET.
"Judge Rakoff’s written opinion in the case included an overview of the history of regulatory settlement practices focusing on language that Wall Street firms prefer in shareholder lawsuits where they “neither admit nor deny any wrongdoing.” He contends that the result is “a stew of confusion and hypocrisy unworthy of such a proud agency as the SEC,...”
"In the final analysis the Judge believes that “all this is done at the expense, not only of the shareholders, but also of the truth.” In February 2010, the judge approved a revised $150 million settlement with the bank."
http://compliancesearch.com/compliancex/securities-and-exchange-commission-sec/federal-judge-questions-sec-settlements/
"In the final analysis the Judge believes that “all this is done at the expense, not only of the shareholders, but also of the truth.” In February 2010, the judge approved a revised $150 million settlement with the bank."
http://compliancesearch.com/compliancex/securities-and-exchange-commission-sec/federal-judge-questions-sec-settlements/
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
FORMER OFFICE OF SPECIAL COUNSEL HEAD WANTS TO WITHDRAW GUILTY PLEA
OSC is the federal agency chartered with the duty of protecting federal whistleblowers. Now Bloch wants to withdraw that guilty plea! Bloch has the nerve to believe that he is a victim of injustice because he thought by pleading guilty he would not have to do any time in jail? What about all the federal whistleblowers Bloch's office failed to protect who have been sentenced to a lifetime of longlasting retaliation?
http://www.dailynews-update.net/4177/scott-bloch-lawyer-it-would-be-manifest-injustice-not-to-consider-withdraw-of-guilty-plea/
"Bloch previously admitted that he unlawfully and willfully withheld pertinent information from a committee of the House of Representatives when he “refused and failed to state fully and completely the nature and extent of his instructions that Geeks On Call perform ’seven level wipes’ on his OSC computers as well as the two OSC-issued computers of two non-career OSC staff members in December of 2006,” as a DOJ press release put it last spring."
As a federal whistleblower seeking protection from retaliation, I filed 2 confidential complaints with OSC during Bloch's time. My complaints included whistleblowing on numerous nonprofit agencies defrauding the federal government by submitting false reports for phantom homeless shelter programs, operating in prohibition of state licensure laws placing runaway and homeless children at risk of child molestation and failing to comply with RHY Act law. Bloch's office gave the confidential reports to management at the Dept. of Health and Human Services.
OSC then stood idly by while HHS management continued the retaliation against in earnest. HHS puppet management also barred me from speaking to members of Congress, high up officials at HHS and the press. Bloch's office refused to assist me with a stay from prohibited personnel actions under 5 U.S.C. 2302. All the while vulnerable homeless children were victims of sex trafficking and drug overdoses that I fought to protect.
Unlike Bloch, I refused to be complicate in criminal activity including conspiracy to defraud the federal and state tax payers.
Mr. Bloch you deserve far more than one month in jail. You deserve years.
http://www.dailynews-update.net/4177/scott-bloch-lawyer-it-would-be-manifest-injustice-not-to-consider-withdraw-of-guilty-plea/
"Bloch previously admitted that he unlawfully and willfully withheld pertinent information from a committee of the House of Representatives when he “refused and failed to state fully and completely the nature and extent of his instructions that Geeks On Call perform ’seven level wipes’ on his OSC computers as well as the two OSC-issued computers of two non-career OSC staff members in December of 2006,” as a DOJ press release put it last spring."
As a federal whistleblower seeking protection from retaliation, I filed 2 confidential complaints with OSC during Bloch's time. My complaints included whistleblowing on numerous nonprofit agencies defrauding the federal government by submitting false reports for phantom homeless shelter programs, operating in prohibition of state licensure laws placing runaway and homeless children at risk of child molestation and failing to comply with RHY Act law. Bloch's office gave the confidential reports to management at the Dept. of Health and Human Services.
OSC then stood idly by while HHS management continued the retaliation against in earnest. HHS puppet management also barred me from speaking to members of Congress, high up officials at HHS and the press. Bloch's office refused to assist me with a stay from prohibited personnel actions under 5 U.S.C. 2302. All the while vulnerable homeless children were victims of sex trafficking and drug overdoses that I fought to protect.
Unlike Bloch, I refused to be complicate in criminal activity including conspiracy to defraud the federal and state tax payers.
Mr. Bloch you deserve far more than one month in jail. You deserve years.
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