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A couple of days ago, the control body of the Department of Justice revealed that a regional director of the DEA had been discovered doing misuse of agency funds to purchase items for your birthday partyas well as “items not allowed” during trips of the “maximum manager of the agency”.
The Office of the Inspector General officially indicated that the director was “removed from the DEA” following a second investigation, but did not reveal the name of the director, leaving endless questions about identity in the air.
Nevertheless, the former regional director of the DEA in Mexico, Nick Palmeri, revealed to The Washington Post that the statement, which omitted the name of that person, referred to him and made a notation “erroneously states that I was removed from the DEA.”
He also added to the aforementioned medium that His departure “should be considered a forced retirement” and that the investigation into his spending was used as “part of an ill-conceived narrative to remove me from my position” over an internal dispute at the agency.
“The DEA holds its 10,000 employees to the highest standards of conduct and professionalism. When an employee is found not to have lived up to those standards, the DEA takes decisive action, including removal from the agency,” the agency said at the time.
This scandal comes at one of the worst moments for the DEA who has been embroiled in corruption scandals, as well as the recent jailing of a Miami, Florida-based agency agent who pleaded guilty in 2020 to diverting more than $9 million in undercover operations to finance sports cars, luxury trips and high-level parties.
Nick Palmeri started as regional director in Mexico City at the beginning of 2020, Prior to this position, he served as a New York police officer and was recognized as a talented investigator.