Officials Now Looking for Evidence of Fraud in Military Housing Scandal

[nitpicker]

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/03/15/officials-now-looking-evidence-fraud-military-housing-scandal.html

Officials Now Looking for Evidence of Fraud in Military Housing Scandal

15 Mar 2019

Military.com | By Patricia Kime

Military families went years with no one in leadership paying attention to their complaints of unhealthy and dangerous living conditions in on-base housing.

The top brass is listening now.

In the past several weeks, the secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force have visited military bases, viewing substandard homes and speaking with families. Lawmakers have traveled to installations in their districts for a first-hand look at living conditions. Staff members of influential congressional committees have flown far and wide to understand the scope of the issue.

And in these visits, they may be building cases against the eight major companies that hold the contracts to manage base housing.

According to Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, lawmakers and Pentagon leaders have seen evidence shared by families -- photos, videos and more -- of conditions that are not only "disgraceful," but may also show criminal fraud.
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Added Army Secretary Mark Esper, "In a couple of cases, where it looks like, sounds like, smells like fraud, I want to investigate these and, if there is real evidence here, we want to pursue it."

During the past two years, multiple reports -- including years-long investigations by Reuters -- have surfaced regarding squalid conditions at military houses run by private management companies, including faulty wiring and exposed plumbing, poor water quality, vermin infestations, mold and lead contamination.

One military spouse, Warner said, nearly died from carbon monoxide poisoning from a faulty HVAC unit, and the housing management company tried to force the family back into the home.
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