Hundreds of Millions of Dollars in Corruption at the ATF

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OPM’s audit report found that the ATF’s illegal misclassification scheme hampered the agency’s ability to carry out its law enforcement mission by relocating approximately 100 law enforcement officers from the field to administrative positions at ATF headquarters in Washington, D.C., while continuing to pay them enhanced salaries and benefits. Further, many experienced administrative employees were passed over for promotions as ATF assigned unqualified special agents to senior administrative roles.

OPM estimates the illegal enhancement of ATF bureaucrats’ salaries and benefits cost taxpayers at least $20 million during the five-year period it reviewed. However, whistleblowers allege the scheme has been decades-long and the actual taxpayer cost is in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary
May 12, 2025
Grassley, Ernst Expose Biden-Era Bureauc…

This reinforces my belief that the majority of high-level government officials need to be prosecuted. I am nearly certain over 90% of the elected officials at the Federal level have committed felonies. And I would not be surprised if 99% of the top bureaucrats could be successfully prosecuted.

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7 thoughts on “Hundreds of Millions of Dollars in Corruption at the ATF”

  1. The real outrage, of course, is not that these people are in overhead jobs at the wrong pay, but rather that they have a job at all. The real outrage is that the agency has no right to exist under the clear words of the US Constitution, Article 1 Section 8 (never mind of course the reinforcing text of the 2nd Amendment)

  2. I thought DC was the king of the premium pay locations. Unclear to me how a transfer would have led to a reduction in pay that was short-circuited by skullduggery. Is there an LE enhancement in the pay scale or did the individuals also get a promotion.

    • They could be on a very long-term “temporary” assignment to DC enabling them to collect both salary and per diem (which is probably in the neighborhood of $200 a day – seven days a week).

      • LEAP (Law enforcement Availability Pay) is substantial – I’ve heard claims in the region of 25%.
        It is supposed to cover the higher risk, but the ATF considers it to be in lieu of overtime, unlike other agencies.

        Many agencies also give agents a bump over non agents for the same work, so they often get even more extra pay.

        In many agencies, badged LE get special treatment above everybody else – it infuriates the people they have to work with. Oddly enough, other agencies pay them them at low grades and wonder why they have trouble getting and keeping agents…

  3. When I was working at State in DC, the cost-of-living adjustment(COLA) differential there was just under 20%. The only place in the country with a higher COLA at that time was New York city. So smart people tried to spend their last years of service in DC to bump up their pension calculation.

  4. The whistleblower allegations are especially troubling—if this scheme has really been ongoing for decades, it raises serious questions about what else might be buried in agency operations. It’s not just about wasted taxpayer money—it’s about the broader breakdown of accountability in federal institutions.

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