The Woman Who (Allegedly) Scammed The U.S. Army For $100 Million Has Me Thinking About Ukraine
By the time the U.S. government caught up to Texas woman Janet Mello, she had (Disclaimer: *allegedly* & according to U.S. federal prosecutors) ripped off $100 million from the U.S. Army and had purchased an astounding 31 homes and 78 luxury cars.
Mello, 57, was a civilian financial program manager at Fort Sam Army Base in Texas where she moved money from the military to a shell company which then became her piggybank for a crazy number of purchases over six years, the U.S. government alleges.
"According to court documents, Janet Yamanaka Mello, 57, allegedly stole more than $100 million in Army funds by regularly submitting fraudulent paperwork that indicated an entity she controlled, Child Health and Youth Lifelong Development (CHYLD), was entitled to receive funds from the Army. Mello claimed that CHYLD provided services to military members and their families, when, in reality, CHYLD did not provide any services," the U.S. government announced in December.
"The indictment alleges that Mello instead used the funds to buy millions of dollars in jewelry, clothing, vehicles, and real estate. Additionally, Mello is alleged to have falsified the digital signature of one of her supervisors on multiple occasions."
(via U.S. government court documents / MLS)
Here are just some of the items Janet is alleged to have purchased with her fraudulent proceeds:
Vehicles included: a Mercedes-Benz, a $250,000 Land Rover Corvette, Aston Martin, Tesla, a Harley-Davidson, a 1955 Ferrari Fratelli motorcycle and a 1935 Plymouth sedan.
She bought homes in Texas, Maryland, Colorado, Washington and New Mexico. Her mansions totaled over $3 million in value. She had ranches, a bunch of farmland and high-rise apartments and condos. Janet also had six Bank of America accounts with $32,000 in each (minimum).
One of her mansions – with a price tag of $3.1 million – has eight bedrooms, 16 bathrooms and a nice lake.
Mello's yearly salary for her civilian job: $130,000. She has pleaded not guilty.
Now, do you trust the U.S. government and Ukraine with your money? According to the U.S. State Department, our government has given Ukraine $44.2 BILLION in military assistance since February 24, 2022.
The government went six years without figuring out some lady in Texas had moved $100 million into a shell company and bought 31 houses. How do you think things are going with our tax dollars in Ukraine?
I have time this afternoon, let's take a quick look at how things are going. Well, look what we have here from back in January:
Oh yeah, trust the government, they know all about this corruption. No way they'll let it go on like in Afghanistan – LOLOLOLOL:
Will I be tracking what the U.S. government is doing in terms of accounting for our tax dollars in Ukraine? No, I'll be blogging about Instagram models and the Super Bowl, but the minute I read a story about some random lady hooking herself up with $100 million is the minute I start wondering about the rest of our money around the world.
The IRS will bust your ass in a second for not reporting some gambling profits while Janet is off buying 31 houses. The government even admits it wasn't watching Janet until she'd ripped off so much she made Ukrainian scumbags look weak on corruption.
"Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Simmons said the Army hadn't conducted proper audits of her program, while others close to the investigation say that the Army just worked on the assumption of goodwill of its employees," the Daily Mail reported.
And with that, I'll go back to writing about pop culture and trying to forget all about the scumbags who rip us off on a daily basis.
Tell me I'm an idiot. Tell me I'm great. Tell me to find a new career. Send me a story tip:
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com