Ghost grant rolling by COD Treasure Thomas Glaser?

DuPage Co. (ECWd) –

How is it right for a Foundation, that is forbidden from spending their money to hire an attorney to perform a project, to send those very funds to another public body with instructions that they are to hire the attorney for the project they want performed, and for being the middleman who facilitates the money transfer they will pay 10%?

 Is this a form of money laundering?

M.R. Bauer Foundation out of Chicago wanted a specific project to be performed by James ORourke, a lawyer in Chicago. They can’t legally hire him so they give College Of DuPage a Grant with instructions to hire him to do the project in which they admit they can’t spend the money on.

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I asked for the budgets, progress reports, and final report.  As the fiscal agent for this “grant” that would be the responsibility of COD, especially since the agreement specifically points to those matters and provided COD $2,500 to carry out the foundation’s mission.

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The response from the College of DuPage is rather amazing.  No budgets were provided, no progress reports were provided, and they can’t even find a copy of the study!

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As if that is not troubling enough, even the law firm is silent on the information.  I contacted them via e-mail for a copy of the study and have not heard back from them.

I find it very troubling that in the contracted attorney’s letter to COD, he specifically spells out that he will provide “monthly” progress reports as well as the full report at the completion of the study.

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He also spells out that he agrees to adopt the identical project description used by the Foundation, which again, can’t hire this person under the rules of their Foundation.

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How is it that Thomas Glaser has no records that are specifically pointed to as part of the grant project?  Was Glaser simply a Ghost Grant agent who did nothing more than accept a payment to COD in exchange for funneling money to another entity?  Considering there are no records of any budgets, progress reports, or even a final report, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say something really stinks.

To top off all the irregularities in this ghost grant rolling, the payments to James O’Rourke were handled through the famous Imprest account, even though the total was $22,500.00.  Glaser broke that up into three payments even though the contract total was over the limit for payment from the Imprest, thus the board never saw these matters!

I believe Thomas Glaser needs to answer some questions and produce the reports that were required under the grant requirements.  This is yet another example of a complete failure of internal controls.  Maybe Glaser needs to be the next person to face a criminal investigation, as it is clear we once again have a misapplication of funds.

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