Pentagon Employees Use Government Cards for Gambling, Adult Entertainment

Independent audit finds Pentagon employees using government cards for gambling and escort services.

A host of Pentagon employees could find themselves in all sorts of problems after an audit conducted by the Defense Department revealed that they had used government issued credit cards for gambling and adult entertainment.

The investigation of “Government Travel Charge Transactions” will be made available to the public in the coming weeks, but the latest reports suggest that a number of government officials have used the credit cards in Las Vegas and Atlantic City casinos, while also visiting adult establishments in said gambling hubs.

It is believed that Pentagon employees used government cards to pay for aforementioned services so as not to have the charges appear on their personal bank statements.

The US taxpayers will be glad to hear that the federal government may not pay the charges given that card holders are required to cover their own bills before submitting receipts for reimbursement with regards to travel expenses.

The culprits are expected to avoid public embarrassment due to the fact that the audit was not meant to investigate individual employees, but rather the credit card system as such.

2012 Law Yet to Produce Desired Results

A 2012 regulation called the Government Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act was designed to prevent similar unauthorized purchases, but these periodic reviews have produced mixed results so far.

The federal government is believed to lose hundreds of millions of dollars each year because of prohibited credit card charges and they are determined to put an end to this growing trend.

Job Corps employees were recently found to have splashed out almost $100,000 on clothing, hair cuts and personal cell phone bills, whilst Coast Guard personnel racked up over $12,000 in bills at one California cafe.

A total of five Bureau of Land Management employees were either fired or resigned after they were found to have spent staggering $800,000 on gift cards using their government issued credit cards last year.

The recent audits are clearly showing that a number of government officials continue to abuse the perks and benefits they are entitled to, but taxpayers will want these reviews to become more frequent and ensure government employees start behaving more responsibly in years to come.