IRD

The largest nonprofit contractor working for the U.S. Agency for International Development during the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan billed the government $1.1 million for staff parties and pricey retreats. International Relief and Development collected hundreds of millions of dollars to work in the war zones and help impoverished nations around the world. At the same time—between 2007 and 2010—its executives were using IRD’s government overhead account to fund the parties and retreats, according to financial records provided by IRD to The Washington Post.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced Monday that it has suspended one of its largest nonprofit contractors, International Relief and Development (IRD), from federal work after investigators found “serious misconduct” in the nonprofit’s performance and management of taxpayer money. The suspension comes after months of internal USAID reviews of IRD’s performance in the field and reports from the agency’s inspector general that the nonprofit allegedly mischarged millions of dollars in overhead costs.