Month: December 2019

New Americans Sent to Slammer over Massive Health Care Fraud Scheme

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 3 Comments

“[A]fter arriving in the United States from Cuba on a raft seeking refuge and a better life…they proceeded to build a vast empire of fraud.”

I could not find a photo of the Cuban crooks.

 

Here is the news directly from the US Justice Department, and I must say this is one of the better press releases I’ve seen from the feds especially for its mention of the fact that the Cuban crooks were refugees who then took advantage of us. (Immigration history is rarely mentioned.)

(Thanks to one of my many readers who share tips with me.)

We gave them an opportunity for a good life, they ripped us off and now we must pay for their incarceration!

Husband and Wife Sentenced to Prison for Roles in $38 Million Health Care Fraud and Wire Fraud Scheme

Rodolfo Pichardo, 71, of Hialeah, Florida was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison for masterminding a $38 million health care fraud and wire fraud scheme. His wife Marta Pichardo, 66, was sentenced to 8 years in prison for her role in the scheme.

[….]

Rodolfo Pichardo and Marta Pichardo previously pled guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud. On December 4, 2019, Rodolfo Pichardo, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Rodolfo A. Ruiz to 188 months in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. He was ordered to pay $33,841,576 in restitution. Today, Marta Pichardo was sentenced by Judge Ruiz to 96 months in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. She was ordered to pay $10,482,178 in restitution.

According to court documents, after arriving in the United States from Cuba on a raft seeking refuge and a better life, the Rodolfo Pichardo and his wife Marta Pichardo settled in Miami-Dade County, Florida where they proceeded to build a vast empire of fraud, consisting of at least six fraudulent home health agencies, three fraudulent therapy staffing companies, and two fraudulent pharmacies. Each of these entities purportedly provided home health services, therapy services, and prescription drugs, respectively, to qualified Medicare beneficiaries, though in fact and as both Rodolfo and Marta Pichardo knew, they did not.

From May 2010 through September 2016, the Pichardos and their co-conspirators used this empire to submit more than $38 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare, for which the trust-based program then paid out more than $33 million.

Fueled their lavish lifestyle with your money!

The Pichardos then used this money to purchase multiple properties, high-end vehicles, expensive jewelry, plane tickets, vacations, cosmetic procedures, and more, both for themselves and their family members.

As part of the scheme, Rodolfo Pichardo offered and paid kickbacks, both by cash and by check, to numerous patient recruiters, in exchange for the referral of Medicare beneficiaries to home health agencies that he owned. The conspirators also offered and paid cash kickbacks to owners and operators of multiple Miami-Dade medical clinics, in return for acquiring medically unnecessary home health prescriptions for the recruited Medicare beneficiaries. These prescriptions were then used by the Pichardos’ various home health agencies and pharmacies to bill Medicare for purported services and pharmaceutical drugs that were provided to allegedly qualified Medicare beneficiaries

During the long-running scheme, the Pichardos took several calculated steps to conceal the fraud and avoid detection, including using nominee owners, changing names and locations of their fraudulent entities, and creating shell companies to conceal the receipt of the fraud proceeds, hide assets and transactions, and divert proceeds for both personal use and to further the fraud.

There is a bit more here.

So much for Michael Bloomberg’s New American Economy built on immigrant entrepreneurs.

As I have said before, the President should work some of the fantastic fraud busts his Justice Department is exposing into each rally he attends.  He could direct his staff to find one or two relevant to whatever state he is visiting.

I think Florida fraudsters might outnumber Michigan schemers here at ‘Frauds and Crooks’, but I’ll check my archives tomorrow on this blogs first anniversary!

Don’t forget to check in at Refugee Resettlement Watch which has been taking most of my attention in recent weeks!

Happy New Year!

Diversity is Beautiful Alert! Man from Micronesia Grabs Girl at Her Florida Home

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 1 Comment

Lucky for the 11-year-old, her Dad was home and quickly chased the intruder away from their patio door.

Steven M. Hasugulgum, 21, was arrested a short time later.

Steven M. Hasugulgum, 21, a citizen of the Federated States of Micronesia.

Of course the big question for me and others of my readers is what the heck was a creepy man from Micronesia doing wandering around Daytona Beach?

We don’t take refugees from Micronesia, well except for those rejected asylum seekers who had been placed in detention by Australia on the island of Nauru.  Surely he couldn’t have been one of those we foolishly took to America as refugees when Australia didn’t want them. Could he?

We will likely never know unless some enterprising local reporter can pull his immigration status out of the local police.

There are many articles, mostly in Florida media, about the Christmas Eve attempted kidnapping.  Thanks to reader Janet for bringing it to my attention.

Here is Fox News:

Man chased from Florida home after grabbing girl, 11, in Christmas Eve break-in attempt

A man was arrested after forcing his way into a Florida home on Christmas Eve, nearly snatching an 11-year-old girl before he was chased off by her father, authorities said.

Steven M. Hasugulgum, 21, was standing outside an Ormond Beach-area home around 6 p.m. Tuesday when the girl opened a sliding door and walked outside, the Volusia Sheriff’s Office said. Hasugulgum advanced, putting his fingers to his lips and telling her to “shh” as he forced her back inside.

The family’s security camera caught the intrusion.

 

Hasugulgum followed her and grabbed her hand, trying to pull her toward him, but the girl’s father, Derek Kloepfer, was able to chase the intruder away, deputies said.

“If I would have grabbed him, I’m sure there would have been some consequences,” Kloepfer told FOX35 Orlando.

See the Fox35 video here.

The incident was caught on home surveillance video, and deputies immediately began tracking the suspect.

But just 40 minutes after fleeing, Hasugulgum tried to break into another home in the area, deputies said.

A woman told authorities he tried to turn the knob on her front door, which was locked. She said she opened the door and saw Hasugulgum “acting erratic and holding a hammer.” He then tried to break into her SUV but was scared off after the woman hit the vehicle’s panic alarm, according to the sheriff’s office.

Deputies eventually arrested the 21-year-old when he reappeared near the first house less than an hour later.

Hasugulgum lives in Daytona Beach, but is a citizen of the Federated States of Micronesia, a country comprising more than 600 islands in the western Pacific Ocean, the sheriff’s office said.

If any of you learn more about this man from Micronesia and how he came to be in America in the first place, please let me know!

Michigan Mayor Indicted! Committed Bribery and Wire Fraud, Say the Feds

~ Ann Corcoran

“Public corruption at any level undermines the community’s faith in their elected officials and does long-term damage to government institutions.”

(Steven D’Antuono, Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit Field Office of the FBI)

 

The Mayor, along with his pals, allegedly used his elected office and campaign funds to enrich himself.

From the US Justice Department just before Christmas:

MAYOR OF TAYLOR AND TWO OTHERS INDICTED FOR BRIBERY AND FRAUD

A thirty-three count Indictment unsealed today charges City of Taylor Mayor Richard “Rick” Sollars, businessman Shady Awad, and Taylor Community Development Manager Jeffrey Baum with conspiracy to commit bribery in a scheme spanning from 2015 to 2019, United States Attorney Matthew Schneider announced. The Indictment also charges Sollars and Awad with seven counts of bribery each, and charges Sollars and Baum with 18 counts of Wire Fraud.

According to the Indictment, Sollars helped Awad’s real estate development company Realty Transition LLC obtain scores of tax-foreclosed properties owned by the City of Taylor. In return, Awad lavished Sollars with thousands of dollars in cash and over $30,000 in renovations to Sollars’s home, over $11,000 in renovations to Sollars’s lake house, and over $12,000 in new household appliances.

Alleged co-conspirator Shady Awad chit-chatting with Democrat Mayor Sollars. https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/wayne-county/2019/12/19/feds-indict-taylor-mayor-sollars-bribery-scandal/2698426001/

 

The appliances included a refrigerator, stove, microwave, dishwasher, a $1,600 cigar humidor, a vacuum cleaner, and a clothes washer and dryer. The free renovations provided to Sollars by Awad include hardwood floors on every level of Sollars’s Taylor residence, hardwood floors at the lake house, a garage door, a new front door, cabinets, and a refurbished lake house deck.

The Indictment also alleges that Jeffrey Baum received bribes from Awad and another developer, in exchange for Baum’s help in obtaining tax-foreclosed properties from the City.

Sollar’s vacation home!

Text messages between Sollars, Awad, and Baum cited throughout the Indictment document the bribe scheme. In one text, Awad states as follows: “My relationship with Rick is worth $1 million so whatever it takes I’ll pay for it” in telling a contractor to do free work on Sollars’s lake house.

The Indictment also charges Sollars and Baum with 18 counts of Wire Fraud, alleging that Sollars and Baum defrauded donors to Sollars’s campaign fund in three ways. First, Sollars would take checks from his campaign account and write them payable to a particular market, purporting to pay for catering for one of Sollars’s events. Instead, the market owner would cash the campaign checks and give the cash back to Sollars, with no catering provided. Second, Sollars and Baum would direct Sollars’s supporters to write checks directly to the market for events that never occurred. Sollars would get cash and scratch-off lottery tickets from the market owner. Third, Sollars and Baum would solicit and accept thousands of dollars in cash contributions to Sollars’s campaign. Instead of depositing the funds into his campaign account, Sollars would simply keep the cash and use it for personal expenses.

The Indictment also seeks forfeiture of $205,993 in cash seized from Sollars’s home on February 10, 2019.

FBI provides readers with contact information if you suspect fraud or corruption with your local elected officials!

“Any time an allegation of corruption is brought to our attention, the FBI’s Detroit Area Public Corruption Task Force will investigate it thoroughly. Public corruption at any level undermines the community’s faith in their elected officials and does long-term damage to government institutions,” said SAC D’Antuono. “With that in mind, we encourage anyone who believes they have information about corruption to contact the FBI at 313-965-4545 or tips.fbi.gov.”

More details here.

I know I haven’t done a scientific analysis, but heck it sure seems that a very high percentage of my ‘Frauds and Crooks’ stories originate in Michigan!

 

For new readers:  If you are interested in the issue of Refugee Resettlement (Michigan is a leading state that ‘welcomes’ more impoverished people), visit my other blog Refugee Resettlement Watch where I have been spending a lot of time in recent weeks.

Texas: 20th Murder of a Senior Citizen Linked to the Kenyan Killer

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 7 Comments

The national media might be hiding when it comes to the serial killer case evolving in Texas, but the Dallas Morning News isn’t!

On Monday another victim was revealed by a reporter who is not letting the horrific story be swept under the rug.

Here is what investigative reporter Charles Scudder wrote:

Another family claims serial murder suspect Billy Chemirmir killed their loved one, the 20th in North Texas

Another family fears their mother was killed by Billy Chemirmir, the serial murder suspect who is accused of smothering older women before stealing jewelry and other items in Dallas and Collin counties.

Imagine the horror if this was your mother or beloved grandmother killed allegedly for a few rings.

Diane Delahunty, 79, died Dec. 3, 2017, at Preston Place Senior Living Apartments in Plano. At the time, though three rings were missing from her fingers, police told her family she had died of natural causes.

But the medical examiner changed her cause of death to “undetermined” in July, and her daughter, Lori Delahunty, said Monday police have told her Chemirmir killed her mother.

Her death is the 20th that has been linked publicly to Chemirmir. Two other women survived attacks in Frisco and Plano.

Chemirmir has been indicted on 12 counts of capital murder in Dallas and Collin counties, and two counts of attempted capital murder. Including Delahunty, eight more North Texas families have said police believe Chemirmir killed their loved ones.

There is much much more in this article (not behind a paywall), but I want you all to go read it and thus let the Dallas Morning News know that there are hundreds, hopefully thousands, of people all across the country following the case.

The article contains a great interactive timeline.  This is a screenshot of one date on the line.  You need to go to the article for the active version.

 

And, don’t miss this!  Station WFAA says the Kenyan Killer (of course they don’t call him that, I do) story is one of their top stories of the year:

This is a screenshot. You will have to open the link to see their report. https://www.wfaa.com/video/news/local/dallas-county/2019-in-review-billy-chemirmir/287-be1f35bd-7752-437d-a1f0-0e03c1f422ee

 

Why is the case being kept so hush-hush?

I think it is because the police and medical examiners may have really screwed-up by missing signs in early cases that might have saved many vulnerable seniors from a horrible death at the hands of a man who should not have been in the country in the first place.

See my previous post on the case, here.  In it I have linked all of my many posts on the case since it was made public in the spring.

Please help spread this story far and wide.

And, please keep a close eye on your loved ones that you think are safe in assisted living or nursing homes.

Mother of Islamic Terrorist Wants her Son’s Life Insurance—Whaaaa!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 5 Comments

That would be the mother of the San Bernardino Christmas party slaughterer.

She says she is entitled to the payola since she didn’t know what her son had planned (or so she says).  Tell that to the 14 families who lost their loved ones forever!

From Alpha News (Hat tip: Dragon’s Lair):

(The story was at the Daily Mail a couple of weeks ago, but I missed it.)

Mother of San Bernardino terrorist trying to get money from Minnesota Life Insurance

Rafia Farook, the mother of San Bernardino terrorist Syed Farook, is trying to cash in on her son’s $280,000 life insurance policy. Here’s the Daily Mail:

“Rafia is battling the Justice Department over Farook’s $280,000 life insurance policy of which she was the primary beneficiary. Insurers Minnesota Life Insurance paid out shortly after the attack but the funds were held by court after the Justice Department attempted to have the cash seized as proceeds of crime.”

New American Mama Farook bringing the joys of diversity to our land. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7776675/Mother-San-Bernardino-terrorist-seen-four-years-ISIS-loving-wife-massacred-14.html

Four years ago Rafia Farook’s son Syed, and her son’s wife Tashfeen Malik, shot up a Christmas party at the San Bernardino Department of Public Health, where Syed was an employee. As a result of the attack, 14 were killed and another 22 injured. Both Malik and Syed Farook were killed by police while they fled the scene.

It is unclear why Minnesota Life Insurance paid out money because of the death.*** However, it is possible that the money was paid out to reduce legal exposure for Minnesota Life Insurance, especially since the Justice Department would surely seize the money once it was paid. Minnesota Life Insurance is a subsidiary of Securian Financial, which is headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The Daily Mail continues: “Rafia is continuing to fight attempts by the federal government to retain the payout. She says that because she did not know her son was going to commit an act of terror, there is no reason for the money not to be paid.”

But Rafia Farook has other problems. Her other son Syed Raheel and his Russian wife are in trouble for immigration fraud.

That’s because Syed Raheel tried to get his wife’s sister into the country via a sham-marriage with Enrique Marquez Jr., who is currently serving 25 years in federal prison after admitting to purchasing guns that were used in the Farook-Malik terror attack.

*** Someone should see who runs the Minnesota Life Insurance Company!  Do you follow my meaning!