Whistleblower alleges ESD errors opened its own systems to fraud, left jobless in the lurch
A whistleblower has alleged that a senior Employment Security Department official "promoted and permitted" changes to state computer systems that left thousands of taxpayers' accounts unsecured and allowed fraudsters to loot $576 million in unemployment insurance benefits.
These system changes also caused UI benefits to be delayed to thousands of recently unemployed residents across Washington because they were locked out of the systems needed to apply for them, according to a copy of the whistleblower report that the Business Journal obtained under the Washington State Public Records Act.
The whistleblower shared concerns with the Washington State Auditor's Office (SAO) in a June 11 letter of complaint, but the SAO hadn't disclosed details in the complaint until late July when it responded to the Business Journal's records request.
The complainant alleged that two actions taken by a senior state official on April 4 and April 5 exposed the state to massive fraud and represented "gross mismanagement, gross waste of public funds, and substantial and specific danger to the public health and safety."
https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2020/08/10/washington-state-auditor-esd-fraud-whistleblower.html
