Government Watchdogs Investigate Allegations of Fraud Involving Treasury Payments and Elon Musk's Associates
Two government watchdogs have opened inquiries related to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s decision to allow associates of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team to access the federal government’s systems that control trillions of dollars of payments.
Loren Sciurba, Treasury’s acting inspector general, said in a letter to lawmakers on Thursday that the watchdog had started an audit of the “adequacy of controls” over sensitive payment systems over the past several months.
The IG will also examine “any allegations of improper or fraudulent payments” made by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. Musk has claimed, without offering any evidence, that Treasury employees have knowingly approved payments to fraudulent organizations and terrorist groups. Sciurba said that the review of any alleged fraudulent payments would cover the two most recent fiscal years.
“Given the breadth of this effort, the audit will likely not be completed until August; however, we recognize the danger that improper access or inadequate controls can pose to the integrity of sensitive payment systems,” Sciurba wrote in the letter to a group of Senate Democrats who requested the probe. “As such, if critical issues come to light before that time, we will issue interim updates and reports.”
The Government Accountability Office also notified lawmakers this week that the agency would examine the reports that Treasury granted DOGE employees “unprecedented access” to the federal payment system last month.
A GAO official wrote in a letter, dated Wednesday, to Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) that the congressional watchdog had accepted their request to launch an inquiry into the matter. “We plan to conduct one body of audit work and issue multiple reports, if needed,” the GAO official wrote in the letter to lawmakers, which was obtained by POLITICO.
A GAO spokesperson confirmed that the agency was “starting the process of staffing the job” but did not have any timeline for the inquiry.
A Treasury Department spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on the two inquiries.
Democrats have assailed DOGE’s access to the payments system as political meddling into sensitive systems that manage vital payments and confidential data. A federal judge in New York has temporarily blocked Treasury from allowing DOGE or other political officials from accessing the system.
Bessent and Treasury officials have said that the agency’s DOGE team, led by Silicon Valley executive Tom Krause, is conducting a serious and comprehensive study of the federal government’s payment system and find ways to improve efficiency and reduce fraud. They’ve said that DOGE officials had “read-only” access to Treasury’s payment system.
In court filings this week, Treasury officials disclosed for the first time that a second DOGE Treasury employee, Marko Elez, was “mistakenly” and “briefly” given the power to alter federal payment systems by career Treasury employees last week. The officials said the error was quickly reversed and their initial forensic investigation did not find that Elez used the privileges he was mistakenly given.
Elez resigned last week after The Wall Street Journal surfaced racist social media posts tied to his account. Treasury has not rehired him and Krause said in a court declaration this week that the agency was looking to fill Elez’s role. Krause is now also performing the duties of Treasury’s fiscal assistant secretary, which oversees the Bureau of the Fiscal Service.
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