Michael Neibauer reports:
A mentally ill woman exploited a loophole in D.C. tax office online systems to gain unauthorized access to taxpayer accounts, establish herself as the owner of dozens of businesses and file returns on their behalf.
Details of the online trespass, by a woman who law enforcement sources say believed herself to be the guardian of large corporations, were laid out in an independent auditor’s review of the District’s fiscal 2009 books and financial systems. BDO Seidman, D.C.’s outside auditor, found automated and manual tax processes in the Office of Tax and Revenue to be “significant deficiencies” in internal controls.
OTR was home to the largest theft in D.C. government history. In that case, tax office manager Harriette Walters exploited failings in the agency’s tax refund process to steal $50 million over two decades.
Law enforcement sources confirmed to The Examiner that the latest caper was performed by a mentally ill woman. She was not a D.C. employee. A review by the U.S. attorney is ongoing.
Read more in The Examiner.
H/T, Privacy Lives.