Public may never learn the exact amount lost to fraudulent grants given out by King Co. department
Audit uncovers potential fraud in King County DCHS
A recent audit of King County's Department of Community and Human Services shows the agency gave out a ton of grant money to organizations that may have committed fraud and abuse, and that DCHS is in part to blame for not having guardrails and oversight in place.
KING COUNTY, Wash. - The lack of documentation and disregard for the grant contract process was so bad the public may never find out how much was lost to potential fraud at the Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS).
On Friday, King County Auditor Kymber Waltmunson confirmed to FOX 13 that DCHS continues to investigate potentially fraudulent grant contracts she uncovered, but says we will never know an exact amount that was lost.
This week, former King County council member Kathy Lambert blasted current council members and King County leaders who she says failed to do their job, allowing fraud to happen.
"This audit jack hammers open the ability to get to accountability and give citizens the right to have a tool to find out the truth," Lambert said.
The backstory:
Waltmunson’s audit looked at four youth programs: Family Intervention and Restorative services, Liberation and Healing from Systemic Racism, Restorative Community Pathways and Stopping the School-to-Prison Pipeline. Dozens of organizations tied to those four programs received grant money from DCHS.
The bombshell audit released in late August uncovered various issues, including instances of altered documents and unapproved subcontractors getting money.
Councilmember Reagan Dunn requested the audit around two years ago.
But Lambert says she asked for one year before that.
In December 2020, Lambert requested an audit which she says was brushed aside dismissively by the council.
"I was a chair of the committee that oversaw this, and I was meeting regularly with the head of DCHS, and other departments and a lot of new things were being implemented very rapidly," Lambert said.
What they're saying:
Lambert is predicting that more than tens of millions of dollars could have been lost to fraud tied to the four youth programs for many years.
Now, she is calling for an audit of all DCHS grant contracts numbering in the hundreds.
"This is the tip of the iceberg. This is just in a few of the contracts we are having this go on all through the country. When people start really understanding what was being hidden, they will begin to see that there are a lot of things that are happening that should not be happening," Lambert said.
Dig deeper:
This week, Waltmunson made a big revision to her initial audit.
The original audit highlighted the magnitude of growth in DCHS grant funding.
The audit said the department awarded $22 million in grant contracts in 2019-2020, skyrocketing to $1.5 billion by 2023-2024.
But this week, her office released a statement revising the figures, saying it was $922 million in 2019-2020, going up to more than $1.8 billion.
"The Auditor’s Office received a question via email from Amnon Shoenfeld, a former director of the department. The exchange led to the realization that the online county data set used to quantify the growth and volume of DCHS grants between 2019 and 2025 was incomplete. The data was not comprehensive because, as a point-in-time snapshot of active contracts, it excluded grants that had expired prior to the date that the data was pulled in April 2025. The comprehensive data used to revise these figures are for awarded amounts that appear in contracts, which often span multiple years. They differ from actual payments and are more akin to total allowable funds."
Despite the revision, the conclusion remains the same regarding the lack of oversight and mismanagement that lead to potential fraud.
Lambert says the contracts should be audited annually, with a third of them requiring a deep audit.
"Everyone one of them needs to send in a financial account statement, over half of them have not," Lambert said.
What's next:
New legislation has been introduced in council to put better parameters in place for DCHS.
But Lambert says new legislation is not necessary. She says the council should have regularly called for audits and followed the steps already required of them.
"These are basics. If they had stayed on the job the council should have been doing every single month, this wouldn’t have happened," Lambert said.
Lambert, however, is praising Waltmunson, calling the audit a thorough review.
"I have to give her credit for her integrity," Waltmunson said.
Lambert is also calling on the King County Prosecutor and the Sheriff to investigate and prosecute everyone involved.
"There was wanton disregard," Lambert said.
The full audit can be found on the King County website.
MORE NEWS FROM FOX 13 SEATTLE
Pierce County Sheriff talks about controversial social media posts
Waymo robotaxis spotted in Seattle, Bellevue ahead of service launch
Seattle residents call for pause on Capitol Hill crisis care center
DOJ requests Washington's voter registration database
FIFA World Cup 2026 ticket lottery underway: What you need to know
To get the best local news, weather and sports in Seattle for free, sign up for the daily FOX Seattle Newsletter.
Download the free FOX LOCAL app for mobile in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store for live Seattle news, top stories, weather updates and more local and national news.
The Source: