An undercover video released by the O’Keefe Media Group confirmed that the state is plagued by widespread fraud.
According to Bismarck Obando, the press secretary for State Controller Malia Cohen, California has cut auditing teams.
When asked about action being taken to audit programs, Obando noted that no state agencies “want us to go in there and audit them.” He later confirmed that the presence of fraud is nearly guaranteed. “I mean, we’re like the fourth-biggest economy in the entire world,” he said. “So yes, there’s money to be found.”
O’Keefe said of the undercover reveal: “They can’t conduct the audits because they don’t have the resources. Well, they have a lot of resources. Fraud is happening. Fraud is very real. Overspending is happening. We’ve just shown you. We’ve taken you through the homeless industrial complex, which is the snowflake on top of the iceberg. Money is not being properly accounted for, and the audits meant to expose it are by the State Controller’s own admission.”
First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli said in January that the state has failed to track billions in public dollars. “California has spent $24 billion in the last five years on homelessness, and no one can account for where that money has really gone.”
O’Keefe released a separate undercover video in March showing individuals offering cash and other items in exchange for petition signatures and voter registrations in Los Angeles, California. He explained that many of the petitioners did not appear to understand the purpose of the petitions, but signed anyway, with the circulators instructing, “Oh, you can just fake an address.”
A petitioner is later seen passing money to an individual upon signing a ballot initiative and registering to vote, a federal felony.
