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Senate Votes To Protect Federal Retirees From Fraud
Bipartisan bill would give U.S. attorneys authority to prosecute financial scammers who misuse federal retiree funds.
The Senate on Wednesday passed a bipartisan bill that aims to better protect federal retirees from nefarious financial representatives seeking to steal their benefits.
The 2015 Representative Payee Fraud Prevention Act, which Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., introduced in June, would give U.S. attorneys the statutory authority to prosecute retiree representatives who misuse funds from the Federal Employees Retirement System and the Civil Service Retirement System. The bill classifies misuse of such benefits as a felony, and provides the same protections that veterans and Social Security recipients receive. Under the representative payee program, a person or an organization manages benefits for recipients who are unable to do so for themselves.
“I’m pleased the Senate has passed this bill to protect the retirement and annuities of federal employees all across America from caretaker misuse and fraud,” said Lankford in a statement. “We must fight against the embezzlement of federal government civil worker benefits to ensure a stable retirement for them and their families.”
Lankford is chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management and Heitkamp is the ranking member.
In a 2013 Retirement Planning column in Government Executive, Tammy Flanagan pointed out that agencies are supposed to assist employees with retirement information to avoid scams:
“Agencies are responsible for providing retirement counseling for federal employees, including assistance with deposits, redeposits and creditable service information; retirement estimates for specific retirement dates; specific retirement date selection support; help with completing the retirement application; and information to assist employees who are seeking sound financial planning information to help them avoid scams and fraud. (See Chapter 40, Planning and Applying for Retirement, CSRS and FERS Handbook, and Fact Sheets on Retirement Scams, Benefits Administration Letter, Aug. 16, 2011).”
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