ATF Lost 420 Million Cigarettes Worth Over $100 Million According to Justice Department Audit

Agents from the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives conducted a series of unauthorized undercover investigations involving illegal cigarette sales and managed to lose track of at least 420 million cigarettes as well as misused a portion of the $162 million in profits they made according to a report from the Justice Department, the Associated Press reports.

After conducting a 7-year-long review Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that many of the undercover transactions were done without approval from the Undercover Review Committee; the report found that the ATF suffered from a "serious lack" of management, according to USA Today.

"Indeed, we were told that the ATF's Undercover Review Committee did not meet between February 2005 and January 2012," Horowitz said.

In one particularly egregious case ATF agents sold $15 million worth of cigarettes and gave $4.9 million in profits to a confidential informant without allowing the agency to account for the deal. Horowitz found that the ATF failed to "require the informant to provide adequate documentation to support or justify those expenses," reports the Associated Press.

"ATF's guidance regarding churning investigations lacked breadth and specificity, and managers at ATF headquarters as well as managers and special agents at ATF field offices often disregarded it," Horowitz wrote in the report.

The ATF has already been under scrutiny for losing roughly 1,400 weapons in Mexico during "Operation Fast and Furious." During the 15-month long operation the ATF ended up losing track of weapons that were later used in shootings, according to CNN.

The new audit only deepens doubts that people may have had about the organization and management within the bureau. ATF Director B. Todd Jones told USA Today that the bureau recognized the issues in 2011 and have altered their policies to correct the issues found within the audit.

"Under current policy, income generating undercover operations are subject to details and rigorous application, review, approval and oversight mechanisms," Jones said.

A lack of documentation allowed the ATF to misplace 2.1 million cartons of cigarettes from at least 20 sting operations. It is estimated that the lost cigarettes, 420 million in total, represent a retail value of roughly $127 million, according to the Associated Press.