Anne Milgram, a former attorney general of New Jersey now serving as the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, is facing an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Inspector General for awarding no-bid contracts to people she knew personally and professionally, according to an Associated Press report.
The Justice Department is looking at $4.7 million in contracts the DEA allegedly awarded that exceeds the cost of government officials doing the same work.
The AP reported that” At least a dozen people have been hired under such contracts, including some in Milgram’s inner circle handling intelligence, data analytics, community outreach, and public relations — work often requiring security clearances and traditionally done by DEA’s own 9,000-person workforce.”
The DOJ Office of the Inspector General is also reviewing a $1.4 million contract to a Washington law firm with ties to a personal friend.
Among the recipients of a no-bid contract was Jose Cordero, who served on Milgram’s staff as director of gangs, guns and violent crime when she was Gov. Jon Corzine’s attorney general. Cordero, the report said, receive a $400,000 contract to conduct an analysis of crime statistics within weeks of Milgram taking office in 2021.
A former federal prosecutor and Justice Department official, Milgram served as counsel to Corzine while he was in the U.S. Senate, and then became attorney general after Stuart Rabner resigned to become chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court.
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