Michael E. Mann Under Investigation for Fraud

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Some readers thought I was a little over the top a few days ago when I posted the following:

"The word for all of this is fraud. Global warming scientists such as James Hansen of NASA GISS, Michael E. Mann of Pennsylvania State (the inventor of the now-discredited "hockey stick" chart used by Al Gore), and Phil Jones of East Anglia University (UK) should be indicted for fraudulent misuse of government funds and sent to prison."

Well, in the case of Michael E. Mann, the fraud investigation is now underway.  Mann used to ply his con game at the University of Virginia.  On September 29th, 2010, a Civil Investigative Demand (CID) from the Attorney General of Virginia was served on the Rector of the University of Virginia, alleging a violation of the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act (FATA).

The CID requires that pretty much every document, note, or correspondence relating to Michael E. Mann's work from January 1st, 1999 through December 31st, 2006, including both paper and electronic archives such as email, be delivered to the Attorney General.

It is alleged that Mann fraudulently applied for and received a grant in 2003, knowing that his previous works, upon which it was based, "contained false information, unsubstantiated claims and/or were otherwise misleading."

"Specifically, but without limitation, some of the conclusions of the papers demonstrate a complete lack of rigor regarding the statistical analysis of the alleged data....To the extent that Dr. Mann did reference or rely on his past work in these papers (or others like them) to aid in the winning of the grant when he knew or should have known of the potential of the papers (or others like them) to mislead the grantor, such actions would subject him to potential FATA liability....Further, if the work on the grant built on any prior work that suffered from the same or a similar flaw, Dr. Mann would also be subject to liability."

Stuff like this is almost incredible:

"Any and all e-mails or pieces of correspondence from or to Dr. Michael Mann since he left the University of Virginia that are in your possession, including but not limited to, those stored on any computer, hard drive, floppy drive, tape drive, optical drive, desktop, laptop, file server, database server, email servers or any other systems, and all backup copies used for archive, continuity or disaster recovery purposes, where data was transmitted or stored on purpose, or captured as a result of transient use of a system or application in the course of day to day research or to produce any work product or result.  Include messages that may have been kept by individuals who interacted on the grant."

I am amazed by the scope of the investigation.  The Attorney General is requiring any and all records whatsoever, and requires documentation of any removal or destruction of any records in the past.  In the appendix, there is a large list of people with whom Mann may have corresponded that includes all the "guiding lights" of world climate science.

They should all go to prison for fraud.
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