DC AIDS Scandal Spurs AHF to Call for Congressional Investigation

As also reported in the newspaper Sunday, “In a two-part series last month, The Post found that the city—with the highest rate of AIDS cases in the nation—had paid millions in recent years to nonprofit groups that couldn't account for their spending or services for people with AIDS. An examination of the Beale Inc. contract shows that problems also extended to consultants, hired for everything from HIV studies to computer support.”

“In a city with incredible need for such crucial lifesaving AIDS services, it is truly disheartening to learn of the widespread mismanagement, fraud and corruption in the District’s AIDS programs,” said Michael Weinstein, President of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “We are grateful to the Washington Post and its staff for their ongoing and thorough investigative reporting on this. The underlying corruption and mismanagement of millions of dollars in AIDS services in Washington has spurred AHF to call on Congress today for a full congressional investigation into this scandal.”

Among the Post’s other findings regarding misspent or unaccounted AIDS funds in Washington outlined in earlier articles include:

• $1.1 million awarded to a housing group whose ailing boarders struggled at times without electricity, gas, or food.
• $530,000 awarded to an AIDS housing program where city inspectors found no business being conducted.
• $400,000 awarded to a nonprofit, launched by a man who once ran one of the District's largest cocaine operations, for a job-training center that has never opened.

About AHF

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is the nation’s largest non-profit HIV/AIDS organization. AHF currently provides medical care and/or services to more than 120,000 individuals in 22 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. Additional information is available at www.aidshealth.org.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation
Media Contact: Ged Kenslea
Telephone: (323) 860-5225
Mobile: (323) 791-5526
E-Mail: gedk@aidshealth.org
or
Alternate Media Contact: Lori Yeghiayan
Telephone: (323) 860-5227
Mobile: (323) 377-4312
E-Mail: lori.yeghiayan@aidshealth.org