In a maneuver some would call “writing your own ticket,” a top National Weather Service executive announced his retirement and then set himself up to perform the same work as a consultant, raising his pay by $43,000, according to the Commerce Department inspector general.

Before his contract was terminated in 2012, the official also collected a $50,000 housing allowance and allegedly pressed for the agency to hire a relative, according to a summary of the investigation. The total cost to the government: $471,875.34.

The Commerce IG did not name the “senior official,” but The Washington Post recently identified him as former deputy chief financial officer P. Donald Jiron. His lawyer, Matthew Kaiser, said, “Mr. Jiron has not done anything wrong” because he acted “at the direction of and with the approval of his supervisor at all times.”

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