Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
Bad news continues to follow ATF.
This time, the federal agency lost 420 million cigarettes, misused $162 million in profits from stings and conducted dozens of unauthorized investigations of illegal tobacco sales, the inspector general said, according to the Associated Press.
Investigators were unable to locate 2.1 million cartons because of shoddy documentation and poor oversight over the span of 20 tobacco stings, according to the AP.
The audit also found that the ATF gave a confidential informant $4.9 million from the sale of $15 million in cigarettes.
“ATF’s guidance regarding churning investigations lacked breadth and specificity, and managers at ATF headquarters as well as managers and special agents at ATF field offices often disregarded it,” Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz wrote in the 53-page audit.
