News
Comp claimant in Calif. charged with defrauding feds
March 15, 2010, Vacaville, CA -- A Vacaville resident is in hot water after a federal grand jury charged him with falsely denying he had outside employment and income.
Michael Howell, 59, is charged with committing fraud in order to receive approximately $305,000 in workers' compensation benefits.
United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced Friday that a federal grand jury returned an 11-count indictment against Howell.
The case is the product of an extensive investigation by the United States Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
Assistant United States Attorney Michael D. Anderson, who is prosecuting the case, said Howell defrauded the Department of the Navy by falsely denying he had outside
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UK woman uses identity of dead baby for benefits
March 12, 2010, UK, -- A WOMAN has been accused of stealing a dead baby’s identity to get a false passport and claim benefits.
Georgina Sharon Murphy, 52, is alleged to have taken on the identity of Gail Jones, who died nearly 60 years ago.
Ms Murphy, of Pen y Waun, Chirk, heard that there were nine charges against her, stretching over three-and-a-half years, when she appeared has appeared before magistrates yesterday.
It was alleged that on August 21 2006 she “falsified accounting documents, namely a National Insurance number, that showed she was Gail Jones, date of birth 10 May 1957, who was in fact deceased”.
Ms Murphy, dressed
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Tenn. group probed for fake health insurance in N.J.
March 12, 2010, Nashville, TN -- A Tennessee-based trade association that's promising affordable health insurance to New Jersey residents is under scrutiny for failing to provide benefits to members in other states across the nation.
In fact, more than 20 states have either obtained court orders barring the American Trade Association and several similar groups from signing people up or are actively investigating them. Federal authorities are also probing the groups, according to regulators in several states.
"It's a very complicated series of interconnections among these groups," said Marc Young, spokesman for the Oklahoma Insurance Commission. "This is a unique scam."
Among the associations barred from issuing health insurance
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Chiros arrested in Calif. for $550,000 staged accident
March 12, 2010, Los Angeles, CA -- An attorney and three chiropractors were among several arrested Thursday in connection with a large-scale auto insurance fraud ring.
The group is accused of defrauding 19 insurance companies by allegedly filing false claims for staged accidents, with the loss estimated at nearly $550,000. The case stems from an investigation dubbed "Operation Big Fish," in which 63 people have been charged and 27 have already pleaded guilty or no contest.
Prosecutors said the defendants were part of a larger conspiracy involving more than 300 suspects.
Deputy District Attorney Gregory Alker of the Automobile Insurance Fraud Division said investigators of the District Attorney's Bureau of
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Obama goes after $100B in Medicare/Medicaid fraud
March 12, 2010, Washington, DC -- President Barack Obama is out and abroad stumping like mad for his embattled health insurance “reform” plan, claiming now that his administration will “crack down” on $100 billion in annual “waste and fraud” in the Medicare and Medicaid systems.
This new tough rhetoric is meant to win over some of the conservative opposition that sees all government programs as inherently wasteful, inefficient and corrupt.
But the claim itself is bogus.
The figure comes from a study done annually by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and that study makes it clear that it is not looking at fraud, but at errors.
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N.Y. man arrested for setting fire to mobile home
March 12, 2010, New York, NY -- A Schoharie County man who claimed he was thrown 35 feet out of his mobile home by the force of a propane explosion that set fire to the structure was arrested Tuesday, the New York State Insurance Department reported.
State police at Cobleskill arrested James E. Papas, 48, of Gilboa, following an investigation by the Insurance Department's Frauds Bureau and the state Office of Fire Prevention and Control. He was being held in lieu of $25,000 bail following his arraignment in Schoharie Town Court.
Papas claimed he was thrown out of a bedroom window by the explosion which occurred in the early
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UK singer accused of murdering husband for life policy
March 12, 2010, UK, -- Police believe that Waltraud Hill, a 55-year-old soprano, killed her husband Hermann, then used a man to impersonate him to sign over to her his properties, stocks, bonds, cash and life insurance policy.
Detectives suspect that she approached up to 10 people to play the part of the "fake" husband, and once she had found a willing candidate, used a make-up artist to make him look like Mr Hill.
The 71-year-old victim, a wealthy fish farmer, was reported missing from his home in the village of Kappel-Grafenhausen, near Freiburg, in October. He and Mrs Hill lived apart.
It was treated as a missing
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WA. man on home monitor after disability fraud conviction
March 11, 2010, Seattle, WA -- A West Seattle man has been sentenced to six months of electronic home monitoring and must pay more than $26,000 in restitution for first degree theft in an insurance case, the state Office of the Insurance Commissioner announced.
According to the OIC, Edward Charles Bailey reported an on-the-job back injury to his employer in 2006. He was placed on temporary total disability and received disability pay from his employer's insurer, Alaska National Insurance. Doctors subsequently ruled him unable to return to work.
Five weeks after the injury, investigators working for the insurance company videotaped Bailey working vigorously on his sailboat at a
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W.V. woman accused of claiming benefits while working
March 11, 2010, Clarksburg, WV -- A Clarksburg woman pleaded guilty to charges of grand theft and Medicaid fraud Tuesday in front of Common Pleas Judge Scott Nusbaum.
Amanda White, of 10790 Water St., is scheduled to be sentenced on May 5.
Ross County Prosecutor Michael Ater said the fraud occurred from September 2006 to April 2008. White applied for and received $9,171 in food stamps and $9,213 in Medicaid benefits. It was later determined that White was not reporting her income as a self-employed home health care provider working with CareStar.
She falsified three applications for assistance, failing to reveal that she was working.
"We would leave sentencing to
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Kan. "candyman" receives 13 years for church arson
March 11, 2010, Kansas City, MO -- Itinerant preacher Carva White entered the courtroom with a cane in his hand and his ankles in bracelets, equipment that indicated both his frailty and taste for crime.
White, 46, was working as the music director at a church in Leavenworth when he devised an arson scheme. He set fire to Sunflower Missionary Baptist Church on Halloween in 2008. White started the blaze with the intention of scamming an insurance company. A week before setting the fire, White informed the church's minister of a plan to collect kickbacks from contractors who would submit inflated bids for the repair work.
White made two
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Chicago chiro linked to $1M in false claims fraud
March 11, 2010, Chicago, IL -- A doctor, a chiropractor and an employee of a Maywood clinic have been indicted on federal health care fraud charges for allegedly filing more than $1 million in false or inflated claims for workers compensation and other insurance payments.
Chiropractor Darwin Minnis, 54, of West Chicago, who owned and operated the Spine and Joint Rehabilitation Center in Maywood from 1998 through 2009, was charged with 18 counts of health care fraud, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney's office.
Dr. Jacob Salomon, 63, who worked at the clinic from July 2004 to September 2007, and clinic employee Gary Strauss, 31, who
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Detroit doctor convicted of $18M Medicare fraud
March 11, 2010, Detroit, MI -- A federal jury today convicted an Oakland County doctor of an $18 million health care fraud and a judge ordered the doctor -- suspected of faking his own medical ailments at trial -- locked up.
Jose Castro-Ramirez, 62, of Farmington who was indicted last year, was found guilty of all 13 Medicare fraud and money-laundering charges he faced. A jury in Detroit had deliberated about 10 hours over three days.
Castro-Ramirez was accused of working with others to bill Medicare for millions of dollars worth of physical therapy and rehabilitation services that were never provided.
"This case was really just about pure greed,"
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Pa. man allegedly reported his car stolen hours before crash
March 11, 2010, Wilkes-Barre, PA -- A Wilkes-Barre man who reported his car stolen from a South Scranton diner about 10 hours after it was involved in a Christmas Eve crash on Interstate 81 faces charges of insurance fraud and false reports to police, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Insurance Fraud/Auto Theft Task Force said Thursday.
Jeffrey Chell, 29, of 27 Mill St., was arrested Wednesday after an investigation by city Patrolman Michael P. Carachilo, who is assigned to the task force. He was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Robert Russell and released on $25,000 bail.
Mr. Chell told police he left his 1999 Nissan Maxima parked outside Chick's Diner
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Former UK police chief torches car for ins. money
March 10, 2010, UK, -- Former West Berkshire police chief Jim Trotman has been arrested over an alleged insurance scam.
A national newspaper said the ex-West Berkshire superintendent, who left the area in 2005, set fire to his car and then alleged arsonists had started the blaze to claim on insurance money.
Thames Valley Police spokesman David Staines said: “A senior police officer from Thames Valley Police was arrested on Thursday, February 11, on suspicion of misconduct in a public office, insurance fraud and perverting the course of justice.
“He has been suspended from duty and bailed pending further enquiries until Thursday, April 8.
“The arrest was made by
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N.J. tech bills for HIV/AIDS meds never dispensed
March 10, 2010, Orange County, NJ -- Two pharmacy technicians received sentences including three years of probation for their role in a scheme to defraud Medicaid by billing for expensive HIV/AIDS prescriptions that were never dispensed.
Jannah Rasheedah Amatul Muid, 26, of East Orange, N.J., and Alicia Stephens, 29, of Newark, N.J., also were barred from working for any Medicaid provider for five years, according to New Jersey Attorney General Paula T. Dow. Muid must also perform 150 hours of community service and Stephens, 100 hours.
The two pleaded guilty Jan. 20 to third-degree Medicaid fraud after their indictment last year by a state grand jury. Through the plea,
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Chicago's medical center agrees to pay $1.5M for fraud
March 10, 2010, Chicago, IL -- Chicago's Rush University Medical Center has agreed to a $1.5 million settlement to resolve allegations it defrauded the federal Medicare program.
The Justice Department accused Rush of submitting false claims to Medicare from 2000 to 2007. The government claims the medical center entered into improper lease agreements with two doctors and three group practices in violation of the so-called "Stark Law."
Stark prohibits a hospital from making money off patient referrals made by a doctor "with whom the hospital has an improper financial arrangement."
The Justice Department learned of Rush's actions after two doctors sued the hospital under the federal False Claims Act,
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Ind. doc accused of issuing fake prescriptions
March 10, 2010, Russiaville, IN -- A Howard County doctor is out of jail on bond after getting arrested on charges she issued fake prescriptions.
Carolyn Greer of Russiaville became the focus of an investigation after a local pharmacy contacted the state.
Investigators say Greer would telephone in prescriptions using the names of co-workers, family and patients and then have the drugs delivered to her.
Prosecutors charged Greer with possession of a controlled substance, obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and insurance fraud.
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President Obama signs order to combat Medicare/Medicaid fraud
March 10, 2010, Jefferson City, MO -- President Barack Obama pays a trip to Missouri to announce a new plan that will be implemented to go after fraud within the Medical and Medicaid Programs. The White House said the president signed an Executive Order Wednesday to implement this program.
President Barack Obama is using a stop in Missouri Wednesday morning to announce a new plan to aggressively go after fraud in Medicare and Medicaid programs. The White House said the President will announce a plan to offer auditors a financial incentive to double-check what is known as medical payments from Washington. These checks will be
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Everyone feels the effects when a few commit insurance fraud
March 10, 2010, Columbus, OH -- For many Central Ohioans, the struggling economy has meant hard times.
According to insurance investigators, more and more people are trying to make up lost ground by defrauding insurance companies out of money.
“We’re seeing significant increases across the board in all types, particularly in opportunist fraud situations where people are turned around on their car loans, and it’s easier to give it up than pay the loans,“ says Vickie Neal, director of Area Eight of the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a not-for-profit organization that partners with insurers and enforcement agencies.
She says cases of fraud involving homeowner’s insurance are up as well.
“Ohio
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Maryland whistleblower bill is win-win for state, insurers and consumers
March 10, 2010, Annapolis, MD -- False claims acts empower and reward citizens who blow the whistle on government fraud and uncover schemes that likely would go undetected, the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud said in testimony supporting a state whistleblower bill being debated before a key Maryland House of Delegates committee.
“Without the knowledge and assistance of people on the inside of corporate schemes, the government has little chance of recovering stolen health-insurance money,” Goldblatt told the House Judiciary Committee, which is debating HB 525.
HB 525 allows the state to partner with whistleblowers in bringing bogus health-insurance claims and other scams to light. The proposal is well-crafted,
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Kans. music director torches church for ins. money
March 10, 2010, Kansas City, KS -- A federal judge in Kansas today sentenced a former church music director to more than 12 years for setting fire to a Leavenworth church.
Carva Lee White, 46, of Kansas City, pleaded guilty to mail fraud and arson in an attempt to commit mail fraud.
He admitted that on Oct. 31, 2008, he set fire to the Sunflower Missionary Baptist Church as part of a plan to collect kickbacks from contractors who would submit repair bids.
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N.C. woman arrested for staging robbery for ins. money
March 10, 2010, Wilson, NC -- North Carolina officials report that a Wilson woman has been arrested for allegedly staging a robbery to collect insurance money.
Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin announced the arrest of Leslie Michelle Nowell.
Department investigators allege that Nowell filed a police report with the Wilson Police Department stating she was robbed of assorted jewelry, pocket books and cash while working at her store, Divine Decor & Gift. Investigators further allege that Nowell staged the robbery.
According to the arrest warrants, Nowell received two checks from Nationwide Insurance Co. totaling $6,693 for false insurance claims stemming from a robbery that did not occur. The Department of
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GMA: how to protect yourself against medical ID theft
March 09, 2010, Washington, DC -- The phone call was terrifying -- a child protection services worker accused Anndorie Sachs of giving birth to a child that had tested positive for methamphetamine.
Authorities say medical identity theft is becoming more sophisticated.
"Panic, absolute panic," Sachs said.
And then, confusion. Sachs hadn't given birth in more than two years. After investigating the phone call, the Salt Lake City mother of four realized she had been the victim of medical identity theft. Someone gave birth using Sachs' name and her medical insurance to pay for it.
Authorities say that as Americans continue to struggle to pay their bills, more sophisticated thieves are
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N.Y. woman receives workers comp while employed
March 09, 2010, New York, NY -- A New York City woman was sentenced to pay $36,000 in restitution and serve five years probation on Friday for collecting workers' compensation benefits while she was employed as a home health aide.
Alice Jean-Michel, 53, was sentenced in Ulster County Court. She earlier pleaded guilty to third degree insurance fraud and workers' compensation fraud following an investigation by the New York State Insurance Department's Frauds Bureau.
Jean-Michel started collecting benefits from the New York State Insurance Fund in 2004 after suffering a job-related injury. She subsequently reported to the Insurance Fund that she was not working while, in fact, she was
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Colo. House passes bill to limit surveillance
March 09, 2010, Denver, CO -- The House passed a bill on Monday that would tighten the rules on insurance companies that conduct surveillance on workers' compensation claimants.
Sponsored by state Rep. Sal Pace, D-Pueblo, HB1012 passed by a vote of 34-28, with three representatives excused.
"I think it's a simple choice when you're choosing between the people who are covered by an insurer and an insurance company," Pace said. "I choose people every time.
Pace's bill originally aimed to limit spying on workers who claimed they were injured on the job to instances when fraud was suspected and to impose a $1,000 fine compounded daily against insurers who
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