[RealJustme]

The Environmental Protection Agency was warned as early as July 2010 that a senior executive who claimed to be a CIA agent was collecting pay and bonuses not allowed by law but took no action for years, according to a new report from the agency’s inspector general.

Auditors warned EPA administrators several times that continuing “retention bonuses” for John C. Beale, which were not authorized, according to the report, obtained Tuesday by The Washington Post.

The approver of the unauthorized bonuses was the head of Beale’s departments Gina McCarthy, who is now the head of the EPA. On Jan. 12, 2011, the EPA’s Office of General Counsel warned McCarthy to “stop retention bonus pay,” and McCarthy was asked to inform Beale, according to the report. But on April 2, 2012, McCarthy “confirmed no actions will be taken to stop bonuses" and the unauthorized bonuses continued.

Beale, who pleaded guilty in September to stealing nearly $900,000 in government pay and bonuses, is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court Dec. 18. In court papers filed this week, his attorney, John W. Kern, asked for jail time at the “low end” of the 30 to 37 months that Beale faces under federal sentencing guidelines. Beale has agreed to pay more than $1.3 million in restitution and forfeiture as part of the plea deal. Beale will receive $164,000 a year pension as part of the deal.

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), who has been pressing the investigation, said of the report: “I don’t care how manipulative the individual was, the agency had to approve and sign off on leave, travel, salary and the unauthorized bonuses. Management ignored their own auditors who pointed out several times the bonuses were not be authorized. This clearly shows severe mismanagement problems at the EPA, and my guess is that it’s just the tip of the iceberg.”