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L.A. Controller Roots Out City Fraud, Waste and Abuse

Posted on 02/26/2020
Gavel and Magnifying glass with business documents.

L.A. Controller Ron Galperin released his annual report on fraud, waste and abuse complaints involving City resources. The Controller’s office is responsible for investigating the alleged misuse of resources by employees, contractors and others, such as stealing City assets, payroll fraud, contract bid rigging, bribes, kickbacks and gross mismanagement. In 2019, Galperin’s Fraud, Waste and Abuse (FWA) Unit received 543 new complaints, an increase of 58 percent over the previous year and the highest amount over a 10-year period. The spike is attributable to the Controller’s newly enhanced, bi-annual fraud awareness training for City employees, which 33,670 employees completed last year.

Ninety-four percent of all complaints last year came through the Controller’s web intake form and 24-hour telephone hotline, and two-thirds were submitted anonymously. When the FWA Unit receives a complaint, it does an initial review and then either launches an investigation, refers the case to a City department, or sends it to the appropriate law enforcement or outside government agency. 

City employees, contractors and anyone with information can submit a complaint through the Controller's 24-hour fraud, waste and abuse telephone hotline at 866-428-1514 or online at https://controller.lacity.gov/fwa