We all share a commitment to preventing waste in the use of Legal Services Corporation (LSC) funds. Waste occurs when an organization expends resources carelessly, extravagantly, or without adequate purpose. Waste can be different from fraud in that waste does not necessarily involve violations of law. While the Office of Inspector General (OIG) and other external auditors serve as independent checks on LSC-funded programming, the LSC Board, LSC Management, and grantees’ managers and boards of directors are ultimately responsible for ensuring that effective policies, procedures, and controls…
Positive Pay is an automated cash-management service used by banks to prevent check fraud. Positive Pay allows banks to match issued checks with checks presented for payment. Checks identified by the bank as potentially fraudulent are sent back to the issuer for review.
We are making you aware of new guidance that could help your organization avoid being the victim of cyber-attacks. The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Agency (CISA) has recently released guidance on mitigating cyber threats that is specific to civil society organizations, which include nonprofit and advocacy organizations.
On June 18, 2024, the LSC OIG provided a live webinar to the Management Information Exchange (MIE) on preventing and detecting fraud in legal aid organizations.
The OIG announces the recently released 2024-2026 Strategic Plan. This new Plan presents the OIG’s goals and objectives and how they align with our mission, core values, and the Inspector General’s new management direction. With this plan, the OIG aims to drive positive change at LSC and its grantees through impactful and agile oversight work that promotes effective program operations and prevents fraud, waste, and abuse.
Ransomware and other cyberattacks pose significant threats to the LSC grantee community. To assist LSC grantees and subgrantees in detecting and preventing these threats, the OIG encourages grantee IT departments to subscribe to CISA’s email updates. CISA’s notifications provide information about the most up-to-date security threats and solutions, such as recommended security patches.
The OIG is implementing a “Cyber After Incident Report Form” to gather more information on reported cyberattacks. The information will be used to better assist grantees with their response and recovery in the event of an attack.
Since March 2020, the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) OIG has received approximately 20 hotline complaints involving the outside practice of law or outside employment. Due to the notable increase in complaints, this advisory includes links to past OIG work on outside employment, outside practice of law, and outside employment during remote work. As you know, Part 1604 regulates the outside practice of law by full-time grantee attorneys1 and LSC has provided information related to the inherent risks associated with an employee’s outside employment.
We are issuing the linked Advisory which summarizes common findings and recommendations from Quality Control Reviews of grantee financial statement audits for fiscal years ending 2022 and 2021. We strongly encourage you to use this notice to ensure independent public accounting firms conduct rigorous annual audits that meet applicable standards and Office of Inspector General audit guidance—and to better ensure the audits advance the ultimate aim of promoting program integrity, transparency, and accountability in the expenditure of federal funds.
This Legal Services Corporation (LSC) Office of Inspector General (OIG) advisory highlights (1) common fraud schemes and abusive practices committed by landlords, or individuals posing as landlords (impostor landlords), who are seeking to target current or prospective renters, (2) tips to prevent renter-related fraud, and (3) information on how victims should report fraud. We also cite useful guidance issued by our colleagues in the OIG community with significant expertise in housing and rental fraud.