Subject: GAO AIDS audit reveals problems
From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 03:23:09 EST

For Immediate Release
 March 15, 2000
 
 Contact: Wayne Turner
 ACT UP Washington, DC
 Phone: 202-547-9404  
 Email: [email-masked]
 Web:  <A HREF="http://www.actupdc.org/">ACT UP WASHINGTON DC</A> 
http://www.actupdc.org

 G.A.O. AIDS AUDIT REVEALS ABUSE OF FEDERAL FUNDS;
 
                  ACTIVISTS DEMAND AIDS GRAVY TRAIN OVERSIGHT
 
 Washington, DC - Federal taxpayer dollars intended to provide emergency 
relief to persons suffering from HIV/AIDS have instead been used to fund dog 
walking services, trips to Disney World, luxury cars and personal maids for 
AIDS administrators, even a Governor's election campaign, according to 
preliminary reports of an AIDS audit conducted by the General Accounting 
Office, which is due to be released next month.
   
 According to AIDS activists who have reviewed portions of the GAO report, 
the top executives of urban AIDS service organizations can make over $230,000 
a year, while many patients, particularly those in small towns and rural 
areas, continue to languish on waiting lists for medications and other vital 
needs.
 
 "The victims of AIDS industry abuses must raise their voices now that 
Congress is examining funding for AIDS programs," said ACT UP Washington, DC 
member Wayne Turner.  "How can AIDS executives begin to explain why their 
six-figure salaries are always taken care of, while people with AIDS across 
the nation go without essential services?  The AIDS gravy train shouldn't be 
allowed to continue without changes in accountability rules."
 
 The Ryan White CARE Act, which provides nearly $1 billion for the treatment 
and care of HIV/AIDS patients, is up for Congressional reauthorization this 
year. 
 
 Turner noted "AIDS has become like any multimillion dollar industry, 
complete with high-priced lobbyists demanding public money with no questions 
asked.  It's time for Congress to ask tough accountability questions of AIDS 
groups.  ACT UP Washington,DC works for increase federal and community 
oversight to end the epidemic of misused public funds by AIDS careerists."
 
 For more information about problems with AIDS charities visit our website at 
<A HREF="http://www.actupdc.org/">ACT UP WASHINGTON DC</A> . Data about 
six-figure salaries of AIDS executives is posted at  <A 
HREF="http://www.accountabilityproject.com/">The AIDS Service Provider 
Accountability Proj...</A>  , which contains detailed information from AIDS 
service organizations' IRS 990 tax returns.
  
 The following is a summary of some of the key finding of GAO's investigation 
into federal HIV/AIDS programs.  The report will be made available by 
Congress to the American public on April 1, 2000.
 
 "It remains to be seen if this will be one more AIDS report that just 
collects dust on a shelf in the bowels of the Beltway," concluded Turner.  
"Exactly how much federal funding has to be diverted before Congress realizes 
the general face of AIDS is a now a well paid HIV negative heterosexual 
executive director desperately in need of increased oversight?" 

*****************************************************
 
 AIDS INDUSTRY SALARIES
 
  * One organization (of the 15 GAO examined) that provided services 
exclusively to HIV/AIDS clients paid its administrator $197,014.  Of the 24 
organizations that served HIV/AIDS and other clients, nine administrators 
earned $100,000 or more in compensation, with one receiving $223,804. (GAO, 
33- 34)
 
  * The median compensation for administrators for all organizations that 
received CARE Act or CDC funds was $78,000, and the median at organizations 
that serve only HIV/AIDS clients was $64,878.  The median for all other 
nonprofit organizations was $74,203. (GAO, 26)
 
  * Organizations that received CARE Act or CDC funds and served only 
HIV/AIDS clients compensated their administrators $72,871 on average, while 
organizations that served persons with HIV/AIDS and other clients paid their 
administrators on average of $104,751.  However, the average compensation at 
all organizations that received either CARE Act or CDC funds was $92,490. 
This compares with an average compensation of $89,996 for other nonprofit 
organizations that did not receive CARE Act or CDC funds. (GAO, 27)

 FUNDING DISPARITIES:  BIG CITIES VS. TOWNS AND RURAL AREAS
 
  * States with EMAs, Eligible Metropolitan Area, spend proportionately less 
on medications. ... One state did not use any of its CARE Act funds for 
health care services. (GAO, 13)
 
  * States without EMAs spend 79.5% of CARE Act fund on health care related 
services (medications, health care and health insurance) compared to 63.8% by 
states with EMAs.  States with EMAs spend nearly twice as much of CARE Act 
fund on non-health care (administration, planning, evaluation, case 
management and support services) as non-EMA states-  36.2 percent  by EMA 
states and 19.6 percent by non-EMA states.  (GAO chart, 14)
  
  * Metropolitan areas designated EMAs and therefore receiving Title I funds 
receive more money per person living with AIDS than non-EMA areas. (GAO, 19)

 RECENT PROSECUTIONS OF AIDS FRAUD AND EMBEZZLEMENT
 
  * In Puerto Rico alone,  at least $2.2 million of federal AIDS funds were 
found to be defrauded.  Five AIDS administrators have been convicted in this 
case already, and the investigation is ongoing. This money - intended for 
those living with HIV/AIDS - was instead spent on political campaigns, bribes 
and for personal uses.  
 
  * A bookkeeper in Florida was accused of stealing more than a half a 
million dollars intended for AIDS patients and their families, which she 
instead used to pay her credit card bills, buy Disney World tickets and pay 
for hotels and restaurants.  The AIDS employee pleaded guilty for 
embezzlement.
  
  * The director a North Carolina agency which received $1.2 million in 
federal money has been found to have used the money to write himself generous 
personal checks.  He also funneled thousands of dollars to his family.
 
  * In December, another federal jury convicted two men in Texas for stealing 
federal money intended for HIV patients.  According to the Assistant U.S. 
Attorney, these men were "stealing from the poor and taking this money and 
doing whatever they wanted to do."

Michael Petrelis
 <A HREF="http://www.aids-statistics.com/">Welcome to AIDS-STATISTICS</A>
www.AIDS-statistics.com 
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San Francisco, CA 94114