James O’Keefe is now claiming to have a tape from the Chicago branch of HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development), where employees knowingly gave him advice on how to defraud the government on the first time home buyers credit.
[quote=“Wired Magazine”]
Late last year, O’Keefe and fellow activist Joe Basel went into the Detroit and Chicago offices of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) with a hidden camera. They pretended to be scam artists, asking employees there to participate in a complex kickback scheme involving federal incentives for first-time home buyers. In the excerpted footage shown to me by O’Keefe, the staffers seemed only to happy to comply.
The law says that the tax credit maxes out at $8,000 for an $80,000 home. On the tape, O’Keefe asked a staffer, “What if I bought a place for $50,000, but the seller and I agreed to write down $80,000 as the purchase price?”
“Flip it any way you want,” the staffer replied.
What if the place is worth much less — like only $6,000?
“Yup, you can do that.”
I wish I could provide more details — like the names of the staffers, or the exact dates of the recordings. But O’Keefe showed me the tapes just once, and quickly. O’Keefe did mention, however, that he was surprised he was able to avoid the federal buildings’ security systems.
A HUD spokesman said he was unaware of the tapes — or of any ongoing investigations into fraud at the department’s Chicago or Detroit offices. “First I’ve heard of it,” said HUD’s Jerry Brown.
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