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uilty Plea
Results in
Confinement
and $71,156 Recovery
for CSRS

The three case narratives that follow illustrate the various types of retirement fraud our OIG can expect to encounter. These investigations were closed during this reporting period.

CSRS Annuity Overpayment Linked to Former Spouse

The investigation, pursued jointly with the FBI, disclosed that James T. Bond of Fort Walton Beach, Florida, misappropriated his former spouse's CSRS annuity funds following her death in 1996. Mr. Bond gained access to the funds, located in the deceased annuitant's checking account, by using her ATM card. 

Our office entered into this investigation after receiving a referral from the FBI office in Jacksonville, Florida. After being interviewed by federal authorities, Mr. Bond admitted to illegally taking money out of his former spouse's checking account, including her government annuity funds. Loss to the government was $82,780.

After pleading guilty to theft of government funds, Mr. Bond appeared in U.S. District Court in Jacksonville, Florida, on April 26, 2001, for sentencing. Mr. Bond received a sentence of eight months in prison, followed by three years. supervised probation. He also was ordered to make restitution to our agency in the amount of $59,055, which represented a major portion of his former wife's federal annuity he had accessed illegally. Our OIG also recovered another $12,101 that had remained in the checking account after Mr. Bond's arrest.

Annuitant's Son Admits to Retirement Fraud

On July 27, 2001, in U's. District Court, in Pensacola, Florida, Michael S. Hurst, a resident of the city, was sentenced to eight months. imprisonment, five years of supervised probation and ordered to make restitution in the amount of $32,262 to the federal government for theft of government funds.