A mysterious nonprofit known as Northridge National Laboratory, based in a Milwaukee suburb, for years used the government's excess property disposal program to acquire computer hard drives, laptops, microscopes, medical beds, a seismograph and even vehicles.
The problem?
Northridge doesn't appear to be the ongoing scientific enterprise it claims to be, according to affidavits filed by a federal investigator. The organization's skeletal website contains little in the way of specifics about its activities, and nothing about the principals involved. A query sent through the website's contact page was not returned.
Northridge allegedly targeted multiple federal agencies in an effort to arrange delivery of excess equipment according to affidavits submitted in connection with applications for search warrants, one of which is included in a
TechDirt post based on a
series of tweets by Seamus Hughes of George Washington University. The applications, submitted under oath to the U.S. District Court for Eastern Wisconsin by a special agent with the Veterans Affairs Department inspector general's office, allege there is probable cause to believe Patrick R. Budic, a principal with Northridge National Laboratory, committed wire fraud and made false statements to investigators. If proved true, the allegations also would expose lapses in interagency communication, security precautions and fraud prevention due diligence.
