Taxpayers financed Justice official’s romantic travel

‘The taxpayer’s dime’

Mr. Grassley said OIG investigators were not able to document “countless other occasions” when Mr. Foster was alleged to have “extended his travel to other places on the taxpayer’s dime.” He also said Justice Department employees reported that Mr. Foster took his files with him when he was transferred, “thus carrying out of [the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section] the only way to document the full extent of his egregious misuse of travel funds.”

“I have received no indication from the OIG that the department required Foster to repay the funds he abused,” wrote Mr. Grassley. “He was apparently not demoted.”

Documents attached to the Grassley letter list Mr. Foster’s government credit card charges through February of this year, months after the OIG investigation concluded and he was transferred. Notations on the document for the vast majority of the charges indicate, “I can offer no justification.”

The charges include hotel rooms in Florida and the District, cash advances, gasoline and other charges apparently unrelated to his work.

“The fact that he was apparently being asked to justify the charges suggests that his supervisors were aware this was taking place, as I understand such an accounting is not a standard practice for employees with department charge cards,” Mr. Grassley said. “Even if Foster was making the payments on the card from his own pocket, this would essentially constitute an interest-free personal loan.”

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