The New York State Museum improperly collected about $600,000 in federal funding, according to a report from the Inspector General's Office for the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The museum was working on three projects with the U.S. Geological Survey from 2020 through 2022, and as a part of those projects, the museum received one-to-one matching funds for work done on the project from the federal government.
The report accuses the museum of instructing its employees to lie on their timesheets to get more federal funding for work that wasn't related to this project.
The report also found that the museum charged the salaries of two employees who did not work under the grant, and they couldn't account for another employee's federally funded salary. The museum also made personnel and budget changes without federal approval.
The state addressed this issue, but only worked to get back $40,500 of the improper collections.
The museum changed how staff accounted for and reported their time on the project after the probe, and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York declined prosecution in favor of letting the Department of the Interior get its money back.
A state spokesperson said that they are "prepared to reimburse any grant funding ultimately determined not to have been supported by the required state match."
