FederalDaily - April 12, 2005
New TSP Option Announced
On April 12, Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., chairman of the House Subcommittee on
the Federal Workforce and Agency Organization, Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.,
and Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., chairman of the House Government Reform Committee,
plan to introduce the "REITS” Act, which would add a real estate
investment trust (REIT) fund option to the five existing funds in the Thrift
Savings Plan (TSP). The goal of the legislation is to improve the retirement
benefit available to federal employees. It will give TSP participants the choice
to diversify their TSP portfolio with a real estate option to improve their
long-term investment outlook for retirement.
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Millions Stolen from Retirement Trust Fund
A former Office of Personnel Management (OPM) employee, Anita Cary, 53, of
Capitol Heights, Maryland, was sentenced last week to five years in jail and
then three years of supervised released for her connection to a theft and bribery
scheme that caused approximately $3.7 million in fraudulent payments by the
Civil Service Retirement Trust Fund. Cary was also ordered to pay $2 million
in restitution to OPM. Cary was convicted of demanding bribes from individuals
who received fraudulent federal benefits. She was a retirement benefits specialist
at OPM. She and another OPM employee, Agatha Malloy, arranged for individuals
to receive non-recurring payments from the OPM Retirement Trust Fund, according
to announcement by the Department of Justice. For more on this, see the upcoming
April 18, 2005, issue of Federal Employees News Digest. To subscribe, click
here.
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U.S. Visas for Sale
A State Department employee who was stationed in Lithuania between 1999 and
2001 was arrested on April 4 on federal charges for allegedly conspiring to
provide non-immigrant visas to nearly a dozen people in exchange for cash bribes
totaling more than $40,000 and a vintage motorcycle, officials of the Justice
and State Departments announced. Matthew Christ, a Foreign Service officer,
was among 10 defendants charged. He was charged with two counts of conspiracy
to commit fraud, eight counts of visa fraud and one count of bribery. According
to the indictment, between August 1999 and July 2001, Christ was assigned as
a political-economics officer at the U.S. Embassy in Vilnius. He and others
allegedly charged individuals amounts ranging from $3,000 to $14,000 to acquire
nonimmigrant visas to the United States. The indictment also seeks forfeiture
of $42,500 and a vintage BMW motorcycle.
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$1 Billion Urged for Military Mental Health
In testimony before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Quality
of Life and Veterans Affairs last week, the American Psychiatric Association
(APA) urged Congress to give the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) $1 billion
in additional funds above the president’s request for FY 2006 to ensure
that veterans with mental illnesses and substance use disorders are protected. “There
is increasing need both in the number of servicemembers returning from combat
and in the severity of mental health diagnoses,” said Dr. Joseph English,
former APA president. English has practiced psychiatry for more than 25 years
and has a son in the Marine Corps.
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