IRS Under Investigation Over $500M in Sweetheart Contracts

Procurement department official has a personal relationship with computer company owner

The House Oversight Committee is investigating whether a personal relationship between an Internal Revenue Service employee and the owner of a computer company produced a series of government contracts worth about $500 million.

In a letter obtained by The Associated Press from the committee's chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., to acting Treasury Secretary Neal S. Wolin, Issa writes that he recently has learned about a personal relationship between an IRS employee and Braulio Castillo, the owner of Signet Computers Inc. Signet Computers' website lists company addresses in Virginia and Washington, D.C.

The name of the IRS employee, who works in the agency's procurement department, is blacked out in the letter obtained by the AP. The IRS operates within the Treasury Department.