Add one more major D.C. government corruption scandal to the list. NBC4 is reporting that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington is set to announce a major public corruption investigation involving District city workers and the theft of about $16 million in property tax money.
The Washington Post has the details on the indictments, which accuse two D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue employees — Harriette Walters and Diane Gustus — of fabricating tax refund checks and then cashing them for themselves through a money laundering scheme based in suburban Maryland.
Count on this story to get bigger and badder as the week progresses. It looks like these two women had spending habits on par with the infamous Barbara Bullock. It’s been reported that D.C. Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi has asked for and received the resignation of Office of Tax and Revenue Director Sheryl Hobbs Newman and several other tax office employees — and it seems hard to believe that Gandhi himself, who supervises the office, will emerge totally unscathed. A news conference with the U.S. Attorney’s Office is scheduled for 3:45 p.m.
