2013 CIGIE Award for Excellence in Multiple Disciplines

The Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) is composed of each of the 73 Federal Inspectors General (IGs) as well as several other government ethics and law enforcement officials. Every year, in recognition of excellence in the pursuit of the IG communities’ mission to combat fraud, waste, abuse, and to improve the economy and efficiency of federal program operations, CIGIE recognizes outstanding accomplishments of the IG Community. On January 7, 2014 Civil Division AUSAs Dorothy Schouten and Geoffrey Wilson, together with their HUD OIG investigation team, were recipients of the 2013 CIGIE Award for Excellence in Multiple Disciplines for their work on the Terrill Meisinger Foreclosure Rescue and Rent Skimming Scheme. Terrill Meisinger was the mastermind behind a massive rent-skimming scheme involving hundreds of properties and the collection of hundreds of thousands of dollars in illicit rents. Over the years, his scheme ruined the credit of many distressed homeowners and even led some scam victims to become homeless. Meisinger had eluded prosecution for more than a decade while the colossal scope of his scheme earned him the moniker, the “Skimming King.” However, the “Skimming King” was finally brought to justice when AUSAs Schouten and Wilson obtained a $5,000,000.00 judgment against him, one of the nation’s largest Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act, 12 U.S.C. §1833a (“FIRREA”) civil penalty judgments against an individual to date. Kim Randall, Director of HUD OIG’s Joint Civil Fraud Division (JFCD), and Mike Powell, Special Agent in Charge of HUD OIG’s JCFD presented the award to AUSAs Schouten and Wilson on behalf of CIGIE at a ceremony held in Los Angeles.