[The lawsuit] says that assets were sold without public notice or competitive bidding, and that Mr. Briskman assessed the value of certain assets, found buyers through his “business contacts,” and kept a secret bank account to which government auditors had no access.
Aryai claims when he reported the fraud to FSA and the Marshals Service, they retaliated by firing him. The lawsuit doesn't name Briskman, just Morales, who allegedly got mad at Aryai for taking his complaint to the U.S. Attorney's office, which referred the matter to the Inspector General's office, instead of to him and keeping it within the Marshal's Service.
According to Aryai's complaint(available on PACER), he discovered that Briskman had his own company dealing with forfeited assets, and that some of the properties his company listed as examples of its experience in the field "appeared shockingly similar" to assets that had been entrusted to the Asset Forfeiture Program, which he says is a clear conflict of interest. He also alleges that Briskman didn't use the open market to secure multiple bids on certain complex assets and just randomly assigned values to them and then sold them to selected business contacts. When he asked Briskman about it, Briskman said there is no public notice mechanism in the Complex Asset Group for selling minority ownership interests in privately held companies.
His point seems to be that without an independent evaluation by someone like him, and clear rules as to how the properties are to be marketed and to whom, it's possible Briskman undersold the assets, which would mean crime victims didn't get as much as they should have. He doesn't allege Briskman pocketed any money, only that there's some bank account out there held by Briskman in his official capacity to which the Asset Fofeiture Program's external auditors do not have access. He alleges that "upon information and belief" the account contains transactions "that have not been subjected to scrutiny and analysis."
Aryai began working for the contractor in October, 2009 as a senior forfeiture financial specialist. He was assigned to the Marshals Service office in Manhattan. From the Times article linked above:
His job was to provide financial expertise for the forfeiture program on complex assets and help improve internal controls...the group handled tens of millions of dollars in assets forfeited in a number of high-profile criminal cases, including that of Marc S. Drier, a lawyer; Samuel Israel III, the Bayou hedge fund founder; and Hassan Nemazee, the Democratic fund-raiser.
It also handled the sale of the Delta Fund held by Ruth Madoff.
“During the sale, it became evident that the sale price did not have a corresponding valuation by an independent qualified professional, and that it was patently discounted sharply below fair market value,” the lawsuit alleged. “Upon discussion, it also became clear that Briskman had not sought multiple prospective buyers in the open market for this asset.”
Aryai got transferred to Newark, which he says was inconvenient, and then got fired, even though he says his work was exemplary.
The fraud allegations involving Briskman seem pretty thin to me, and it doesn't seem like there's any greater issue pertaining to systemic misconduct in the Asset Forfeiture Program. It's really about whether Aryai was improperly terminated for voicing his concerns about Briskman's potential conflict of interest.
Here's what the Marshals are currently listing for sale. If you'd like to bid at an auction, go here.
