Want a career where you can steal millions from your publicly funded employer and keep your job? Work for Amtrak.
In a scenario seemingly plucked from a Scorsese movie, at least 119 Amtrak employees were implicated in a complex insurance-fraud operation that persisted for three years — with most facing little to no consequences.
According to Amtrak’s Office of the Inspector General, the scheme was detailed last week: employees would collude with dubious healthcare providers to approve fake treatments, file fraudulent insurance claims, and then receive a portion of the payouts once the providers were compensated.
Some even allegedly resorted to mob tactics, threatening providers if they refused to cough up their share of the cash.
All told, the fraudsters stole $12 million from 2019 to 2022.
Worse is Amtrak’s feckless response: More than half of the employees are still on the company payroll.
While a dozen of the scammers face criminal charges, 28 got to retire or resign, while 30 left the company âfor other reasons,” per the IG.
A whopping 61 are still getting taxpayer-funded salaries.
An Amtrak representative stated that the company is now taking “swift action” — a full four years after the Inspector General began its investigation and two years following guilty pleas from two key organizers, Devon Burt and Hallum Gelzer, on charges linked to the fraud.
There’s only one acceptable action: Fire every single one of these thieves and press charges. Now.
