Thread: Whistleblower site posts Fast and Furious manager’s OK to work for JPMorgan

ATF whistleblower site posts Fast and Furious manager’s OK to work for JPMorgan

• FAST AND FURIOUS
• OCTOBER 13, 2012
• BY: DAVID CODREA

would ATF management let a 'Gunwalker' figure cited as vulnerable for prosecution do this?

A question asked almost two months ago in this column was answered yesterday by a post on CleanUpATF, the website established by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives whistleblowers to expose agency waste, abuse, corruption and fraud: Who approved “double-dip” employment for former Assistant Director William McMahon, a central Operation Fast and Furious “gunwalking’ figure, going on paid leave while accepting private employment and an overseas assignment with financial giant JPMorgan?

The approval document, posted as a pdf file on CUATF, reveals the approving authorities were Assistant Director Julie Torres, Deputy Director Thomas Brandon and Deputy Chief Counsel Melanie S. Stinnett. Gun Rights Examiner posted an exclusive report in September presenting allegations that theChief Counsel’s Office is still running the show at ATF, organizational appearances notwithstanding, and was later informed by an insider source that report raised hackles.

“Word I heard was Brandon and Julie Torres signed off on it,” whistleblower Vince Cefalu posted in September, demonstrating the reliability of his sources and insights for accuracy. Cefalu was unceremoniously canned after over 25 years of service in a Denny’s restaurant parking lot this week, a story reported Wednesday in this column, a day before Fox News picked it up. A related exclusive story, featuring a secret video recording of the termination was published in this column on Thursday, again a story then picked up by other news sites.

The McMahon employment arrangement was significant for several reasons, including the fact that the financial services conglomerate is the credit card provider for ATF. But more alarming, particularly considering his assignment would take him out of the country, is a statement House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa made to Greta Van Susteren of Fox News in August.

“This is somebody who our reports said perjured himself before the Congress,” Issa charged. “We don’t understand why JPMorgan would hire somebody who’s lied to Congress, that will probably be referred for criminal prosecution.”

One adviser perceives that there are billions of potential reasons why the bankers might be inclined to be helpful to the feds. Upon reviewing the approval form, attorney David T. Hardycalled the approval “Extraordinary” and offered the opinion that the authorization was “meant to facilitate McMahon hiding out overseas,” and allowing him to return “when things cool down.
“If he meant to leave ATF and go to work for JPMorgan, he'd simply have resigned from ATF and started his new job.” Hardy surmised. “But this refers to him being on ‘extended leave, while filing annual reports. That must be leave without pay (LWOP). In federal employ, you can only carry over 30 days of paid leave time into the next year, whereas this envisions a much longer period.

“I can't see any other reason for doing it this way,” he observed.

As the file posted on CUATF appears to require authorization to access, a copy has been posted to this correspondent’s Scribd account for wider public access.

ATF whistleblower site posts Fast and Furious manager

McMahon not only one favored with ATF ‘sweetheart deal’


'PROJECT GUNWALKER'
AUGUST 22, 2012
BY: DAVID CODREA

today’s letter from Rep. Darrell Issa and Sen. Charles Grassley to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Acting Director B. Todd Jones raised serious questions about the propriety of allowing ATFofficial William McMahon, named as responsible for Operation Fast and Furiousdecision-making in a July 31 joint staff report, to “double-dip” and work for J.P.Morgan while on paid leave from the government as he awaits retirement. Whistleblower sources within the Bureau tell Gun Rights Examiner it invites further scrutiny of ATF dealings with the financial services conglomerate, and one embattled agent at legal odds with management alleges it provides yet another example of an official double standard.

“J.P.Morgan has ATF's credit card account,” one source contacting this correspondent volunteered. “No big surprise that McMahon landed in a cushy job there.

“Ask any current agent what their credit card says,” the source replied when asked to elaborate.

“In June 2007, the Office of Charge Card Management awarded the GSA SmartPay® 2 master contracts to Citibank, JP Morgan Chase, and U.S. Bank,” the General Services Administration website confirmed.

“Yes, J.P.Morgan is our cc provider,” another agent confirmed, adding colorful expletives that can’t be repeated here.

“I am looking at my card right now,” another source replied. “On the back, ‘The use of this card is governed by the cardholder agreement. This card is issued by JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. pursuant to a license by MasterCard International.’”

Whether this apparent sweetheart relationship between government managers and vendors will factor in to Congressional inquiries about the appropriateness of this particular unusual accommodation remains to be seen, but one whistleblower charges it is symptomatic of a corrupt and abusive double-standard that rewards cronies while whistleblowers suffer retaliation.

“Wait a minute,” whistle-blowing agent and author of “No Angel, My Harrowing Undercover Journey to the Inner Circle of the Hells Angels” Jay Dobyns wrote to ATF and Department of Justice lawyers and managers in an email this morning, referencing the McMahon report. “ATF and DOJ are suing me for over a half million dollars for an alleged violation of ATF’s media policy and alleged violations of my outside employment agreement while at the same time sanctioning McMahon to work full time outside of ATF?

“The charges against me a fabricated, embellished are nothing more than a retaliatory prosecution, and McMahon gets greased?” Dobyns continued. “Bill McMahon? Are you serious?

“This is a double standard demonstration of the current ATF administration and blows up every single ChangeCast ‘pep talk’ that we have been presented,” Dobyns complained, referencing internal management communication videos like the one discussed in this earlier Gun Rights Examiner column.

“This is fraud, waste and abuse, public corruption, etc., etc., etc. and ATF is sanctioning it to the highest levels of the agency while doing everything within their power to wreck me financially?” Dobyns charged. “I don’t think so.

“ATF and DOJ think they can pull this off behind everyone’s back, sue me, and then intentionally withhold from me the documents in ATF’s possession that would defeat the lawsuit against me?” Dobyns asked. “This is government corruption! This is disgusting! And, while telling me their hands are tied on my matters while they take care of the very guy in the chain-of-command that allowed Fast and Furious to take place and then lied to Congress about it? Ain’t happening while I sit here and get my head beat in every day. No way, no how do I take this one.

“Who approved his double-dip employment while he pulls SES pay?” he demanded. “It absolutely goes above the DAD level.

“Who is validating his time sheets? Whoever is signing his time sheets is knowingly falsifying government documents,” Dobyns charged.

“I ain’t going away on this one,” he pledged. “Trust me on this. I am going to pursue this one with everything I have. ATF doesn’t get to prosecute me while they try to sneak favors to McMahon behind everyone’s back. I demand some answers and I’m not waiting. You better get back to me quick and I don’t want to hear about the ‘process.’ The 'process' is a joke. Stall me on this one more day. Deny me one more day the documents and evidence that ATF is withholding from and see what happens.

“And, in adherence with ChangeCast #8, I consider this message to be my reporting this corruption to ATF internally.”

Prudently deciding this required further oversight cognizance to head off further retaliation, Dobyns forwarded his concerns to Congressional staffers, the Office of Inspector General Hotline and Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who has been a leader in aggressively pursuing the truth in the Fast and Furious “gunwalking” investigation.

“Please see my…message to ATF reporting corruption,” Dobyns advised. “Also be aware that while Mr. McMahon has been double-employed at ATF and J.P. Morgan that J.P. Morgan holds the government credit card contracts that ATF uses.

“ATF and DOJ are suing me civilly, a government employee, and doing so while withholding the documents that defeat their counterclaim against me,” he informed them. “In addition to public corruption their conduct is also a perversion of our justice system.”

“Much like the conspiratorial withholding of documents that you have experienced in your investigation of Fast and Furious, ATF and DOJ are knowingly, willingly and intentionally withholding documents from me that would defeat their counterclaim lawsuit against me and strategically doing so on the eve a decision before a Federal Judge on motions on the matter,” Dobyns charged. “They are intentionally denying me due process and fairness by withholding evidence in violation of the discovery and disclosure rules of our justice system. Make no mistake.

“This is not an accident or oversight, he concluded. “It is intentional and malicious and done so against every fiber of our legal system.”

UPDATE: Bob Owen makes another curious connection:

... J.P. Morgan was one of the Obama campaign’s top contributors in 2008 to the tune of more than $800,000. They are literally invested in this Presidency. J.P. Morgan’s contribution in 2008 (and we can be sure, 2012) to the Obama campaign . I’m sure all the money flowing from the bank into the Obama campaign’s coffers had nothing to do with Obama’s recent proclamation that “J.P. Morgan is one of the best-managed banks” even after they blew $2 billion in trading. Obama has done a lot to “help” J.P. Morgan, and holds a personal account valued at between $500-$1 million Obama holds with them.

McMahon not only one favored with ATF