State and federal officials repeatedly lied on applications and progress reports to obtain federal funding for a Mortgage Fraud Task Force, falsely telling the Justice Department they distributed $15 million in restitution to victims, when no restitution was ever forwarded to any victims named in restitution orders, see Bureau of Justice Assistance Grant # 2009-SC-B9-0080.

Documents obtained from victims confirm they never received any funds prosecutors claim they distributed to these victims, while a check registry of disbursements of restitution confirms prosecutors used money collected from criminal defendants to buy airline tickets, hotel rooms and laptop computers.  Regardless, former Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason signed grant applications claiming that federal funds were being used for Task Force operations to collect and distribute restitution to victims.  Federal prosecutor Mark Bennett and state prosecutor Dan Kasaris also made materially false representations concerning the collection and distribution of restitution by the Task Force while the Task Force's Director, Arvin Clar, just submitted a false affidavit in federal court.  Mr. Clar's affidavit says that "no federal funding, including but not limited to federal grants or loans, was utilized to create or maintain [the] task force ... Any assertation that the federal government or any federal agency had anything to do with funding [the] task force is false."

To view Mr. Clar's false affidavit, or other false statements made in grant applications or reports, please visit the Pacer system, Viola v. Department of Justice, case 15-cv-242, Western District of Pennsylvania.