Officials at the General Services Administration invented fake awards as an excuse to hold taxpayer-funded dinner events at conferences, according to an interview transcript obtained by Roll Call.

At one such event, GSA bestowed the “jackass award” on an employee, a GSA employee told the agency’s Office of Inspector General, according to the transcript.

The GSA is under fire because the inspector general revealed in an April 2 report that the agency spent almost $823,000 on an October 2010 Las Vegas conference for about 300 people. The inspector general also said officials violated scores of rules and regulations governing spending of taxpayer dollars.

In the wake of the report, GSA Administrator Martha Johnson resigned, two of her top aides were fired and four other managers were placed on leave.

House Republicans say the “jackass award” and other revelations in interviews conducted by the inspector general show that the problem is deeper than the Las Vegas conference.