VA Appointed "Fiduciaries" Putting Disabled Veterans At Risk of Theft?

Ailing veterans still at risk of theft from those appointed by VA 
Stars and Stripes
By Heath Druzin
Published: June 11, 2015

Indianapolis An Inspector General’s audit found that officials failed to investigate nearly 90 percent of allegations of fiduciary misuse of funds within 14 days as required, and that it took an average of 162 days instead.

Gary Abe, the VA's Deputy Assistant Inspector General for Audits and Evaluations, attends a House Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, June 11, 2015. Abe wrote in a prepared statement to the subcommittee that "significant challenges remain" in preventing thefts by unscrupulous individuals selected to handle the financial affairs of veterans deemed too infirm or incapacitated to handle the affairs themselves.
CARLOS BONGIOANNI/STARS AND STRIPES

WASHINGTON — Despite years of restructuring, a Department of Veterans Affairs financial management program still lacks enough oversight to prevent fiduciaries from stealing millions from vulnerable veterans, according to testimony Thursday in front of a Congressional committee. 

Through the program, the VA appoints and oversees fiduciaries to help veterans who are ill, injured or mentally incapacitated handle their benefits.

A VA Inspector General report in 2010 found that fiduciaries had stolen nearly $15 million from veterans between 1998 and 2010, and a more recent review found persistent problems with the program and millions more stolen.

The review found that the Veterans Benefits Administration failed to meet its own deadlines to conduct field examinations of fiduciaries in 42 percent of cases, putting more than $800 million in benefits and estate values at risk. read more here