The story of John Beale who worked as a high-ranking official at the EPA while lying for years about being a CIA agent, has been written about extensively. You can see one story on it by clicking HERE. He referred to his tendency of lying as “something like an addiction”. He was able to fraudulently get $900,000 and other benefits from our government while working for it. Mr. Beale was deposed by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in December of 2013. There is a lot that you can learn about fraud by reading the transcript of the fraudster’s deposition. Here are some of the highlights from that 263 page deposition:
After a quick check-in to ensure that Mr. Beale understood that knowingly providing false testimony could subject him to criminal prosecution (PG 10), he went on to confirm that he had been able to take advantage of flaws in management at the EPA (PG 41).
He reported that people didn’t ask him to provide verification because they blindly trusted him.
He went on to say that “..you think you know them and you think you can trust them..” (PG 42)
It was refreshing to see him honestly report that he “..abused that trust and.. betrayed that trust..”.
Paperwork that would have verified information given/reported wasn’t demanded by the immediate supervisor who in fact was Beale’s buddy. (nice to have friends at work who will cover for you)
He profited from that lie, at the expense of the Federal government and taxpayers.
He self-surrendered, which undoubtedly led to him being sentenced with the time that he did (32 months), as opposed to what could have happened had they had to chase him down and unravel false statements and doctored documents attempting to provide false alibis. His liquidation of his assets in order to immediately repay the government a substantial amount of his fraudulently received money, helped him also in the end. He also liquidated all of his retirement funds, including his Thrift Savings Plan and mutual fund accounts.
He also received handicapped parking based on his fraudulent claim of being a Vietnam veteran with malaria. He DIDN’T have malaria, and he didn’t even serve in Vietnam. That lie of his cost the EPA (and the taxpayers) about $8000 per year. They also found that he had abused his travel vouchers (remember, where there is smoke, there is fire).
His deposition is definitely a good read. The Oversight folks got a lot of material to work with as they try to unravel the puzzle of who did what and who knew what. Weeds need a fertile environment in order to grow, so you have to learn what makes the environment fertile if you want to kill them. He did the best thing he could when he said the following: “You see a pattern here of me lying to and deceiving people who trusted me, and in hindsight, I can’t see a good purpose other than, you know, manipulating them.” (PG 150) That was the TRUTH.
The whole deposition can be found by clicking HERE