Secret A.T.F. Account Paid for $21,000 Nascar Suite and Las Vegas Trip

[Initech]

WASHINGTON — Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives used a secret, off-the-books bank account to rent a $21,000 suite at a Nascar race, take a trip to Las Vegas and donate money to the school of one of the agent’s children, according to records and interviews.

Agents also used the account to finance undercover operations around the country, despite laws prohibiting government officials from using private money to supplement their budgets, according to current and former government officials and others familiar with the account.

The revelations highlight the lax oversight at the A.T.F. that allowed agents and informants to spend millions while avoiding the normal accounting process. The Justice Department’s inspector general, who is investigating the secret account, criticized the A.T.F. recently for mismanagement and said the agency did not know how many informants it had or how much they were paid.

The New York Times revealed the existence of the bank account in February, prompting an investigation by the House oversight committee. The Justice Department, which oversees the A.T.F., has denied any wrongdoing, and the department has refused to say whether the bureau continues to operate such secret accounts, which the government called “management accounts.”

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/secret-atf-account-paid-for-dollar21000-nascar-suite-and-las-vegas-trip/ar-BBzHwxf?li=BBnb7Kz

Grifters gonna grift.

[annabanana]

1. .. another rogue federal office..

like ICE

I'm beginning to believe they're all run on the QT by Eric Prince...

[Lee-Lee]

2. My experience working with the BATFE was never positive

They as an agency seemed to have little or no interest in working in anything but big, sexy, high profile cases. If it wasn't something that could lead to a big high profile ending it wasn't worth their time.

I once handed them a perfectly formed case for a straw purchase where a woman bought a rifle for her boyfriend who she knew was under a protection order and couldn't buy or possess a firearm. With a written confession and taped confession. They interviewed her to see if they could use her as an informant against any larger cases, found she had no connections they wanted to exploit so they forgot about her and never charged her.

I always got the vibe they were suffering from some sort of youngest sibling syndrome wishing they were the FBI or DEA instead of more of a regulatory agency with police powers like they are- from the examples I listed above right down to always trying to ensure they were called "ATF" instead of BATF or BATFE because the "cool kids" were 3 letter agencies.

There was another case a few years back where they set up a fake storefront to try and bust people illegally selling guns and used a mentally disabled man as a pawn in the sting, "befriending" him then getting him to act as a go-between to get people to bring guns in and then arresting him as the operation ended.

I know the ideas of shutting down the BATFE usually come from the right, but at this point I think it's in the nations best interest to turn the taxation part of the agency over to the Treasury department, the firearms and arson parts over to the FBI and the tobacco part over to the FDA and disband the agency. It's a mess and it's a convoluted jumble of responsibilities that really make no sense as it's own agency.

[yagotme]

3. That's what bothers me about some here that call for more gun laws;

The BATF selectively enforces the ones on the books, allowing others to go free. What are more laws going to do, if the current ones aren't enforced???