The chief of Amtrak's police division, Polly Hanson, is under investigation for violating conflict of interest rules and committing fraud in hiring her boyfriend's firm for a government-funded counterterrorism contract. For a million-dollar contract on the railroad's RAILSAFE program, she chose ABS Consulting, where her live-in boyfriend Kerry Thomas works as homeland security director—all without disclosing their close relationship. Hanson and Thomas, while unmarried, are not just romantically linked but financially intertwined as well, sharing a mortgage on a co-owned condo.

The Washington Post reported on the ongoing investigation Wednesday night:

Amtrak Police Chief Polly Hanson, who oversees 500 sworn officers and other personnel across the country, was deeply involved in preparing a contract that was awarded to ABS Consulting in May 2014, according to a statement from the inspector general filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Hanson — who also has served as chief of Metro Transit Police and executive director of the Strategic Services Bureau of the D.C. police force — failed to disclose the nature of her relationship with Kerry Thomas, senior director for Homeland Security Support Programs for ABS, the documents allege. A statement from a senior special agent with the inspector general's office said an investigation was initiated in December 2015, based on allegations about Hanson and Thomas's relationship. The allegations included that Hanson and Thomas have been romantically involved for a "substantial period of time, that they cohabitate in Arlington, Va., and own a residence together in Delaware, and that, consequently, their actions regarding the procurement of the contract . . . were unethical and illegal."

Read more at the Post.