Pentagon Employees Reportedly Use Govt Credit Cards for Gambling and Escorts

A Department of Defense audit has reportedly found that Pentagon employees bill their gambling and “adult entertainment” charges to their government credit card, continuing the unsurprising trend of government officials using their stature to engage in debauchery on the taxpayer dime.

Politico reported Thursday that the Department of Defense’s Inspector General office found that “both civilian and military employees used the credit cards at casinos and for escort services and other adult activities — in Las Vegas and Atlantic City.”

More details:

A Pentagon official briefed on some of the findings stressed that the federal government did not necessarily pay the charges; holders of the cards pay their own bills and then submit receipts to be reimbursed for expenses related to their government business.

The official said that the employees may have used the government cards for gambling and escort services in order to shield the charges from spouses.

Because the review was an audit of the credit card system and not an investigation of particular individuals, the official said the likely result will be that the agencies and military branches most affected will be compelled to remind employees that the practice violates policy — and possibly the law.

Politico noted that, in the past, it has been estimated that “prohibited purchases cost the government hundreds of millions of dollars a year.”

Read the full report here.

[Image via Shutterstock.com]

— —

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!