Editor: As you know I have been deep in the weeds of the President’s offer to local elected officials and state governors to determine if they want to receive refugees later in 2020. It is frankly a bureaucratic morass and I needed a break from it so I had a look at some ‘frauds and crooks’ news this morning.
Please visit Refugee Resettlement Watch because there are new posts there every day like this one:Appomattox County, Virginia says no thanks to refugees, likely first in the nation county to say NO!
For a change, this is really disturbing news for a whole host of reasons.
Before getting to the story that you may have seen because it was fairly widely reported, learn what a Brazilian butt lift entails.See here.
I sure hope our tax dollars in no way support this foolish (deadly!) medical procedure.
From theUK Daily Mail(where photos are always the best):
Botched cut-rate operations at plastic surgery clinics operated by FELONS in Florida cost 13 women their lives – but state law can do nothing to close down the lethal businesses
At least 13 women have died after undergoing plastic surgery at Florida clinics founded by felons, a new investigation reveals.
They came for discounted butt lifts and tummy tucks from surgeons in world-renowned South Beach, Florida.
But these women were left with complications that cost them their lives, after operations that were performed by surgeons hired by for felons, USA Today’s investigation revealed.
Dr Osakatukei Omulepu had failed his board exams multiple times, and had never been board certified in plastic surgery, says the Daily Mail.
It dug into the sordid histories of four clinics founded by people had been convicted of crimes – mostly financial ones – but were allowed to run cosmetic surgery shops that crowded patients in and cut corners to make more money more quickly.
The clinics, where women died of fat embolisms, deadly mixtures of sedatives and puncture wounds to organs, were cited for these deaths and for dirty operating rooms.
Yet they were never shut down. Blindspots in regulatory oversight and hamstrung lawmakers allowed these facilities to continue operating despite the littany of problems – in one case, even while the owner was waiting for his prison sentence to start.
[….]
Juan Hernandes was convicted in a $1.2 million Medicare billing fraud case while running Spectrum Aesthetics
Juan Hernandesco-founded Spectrum Aesthetics in 2012. He and his business partner, Evelyn Parrado werecharged with fraudulently billing $1.2 million to Medicare for drugs from the pharmacy they ran together.
Under the impression that Spectrum was staffed and run by board certified surgeons, the court allowed Hernandes to continue to operate the clinic.
He employed and oversaw the physicians there, including Dr Osakatukei Omulepu, who had failed his board exams multiple times, and never been board certified in plastic surgery.
Yet the unqualified surgeon performed Brazilian butt lifts, the most dangerous cosmetic operation.
During two such operations, he punctured or stabbed organs including the liver and small intestine.
A surgical sponge was left inside Porche Campbell, 40, when she had a procedure there.
Nicola Mason, 46, came to Spectrum from Maryland for a Brazilian butt lift.
But, a complaint she filed against Dr Omulepu claims he performed a tummy tuck – the wrong surgery – on her, instead.
And the unwanted tummy tuck she got left Mason with large scars on the side of her abdomen.
Dr Omulepu’s records claim that he determined that Mason wasn’t a good candidate for butt lift, according to USA TODAY, and that the two instead agreed upon her tummy tuck.
Last year, Adianet Galvan visited New Life Plastic Surgery for the same risky procedure: a Brazilian butt lift.
She suffered the same fate countless others have under the knife. Galvan died of a fat embolism, according to USA Today’s analysis of her autopsy records.
‘I never thought my daughter would come to this country and die at the age of 30,’ her mother, Arelys Gonzalez told USA Today. [Were these women in the country legally?—ed]
According to one article on the latest fraud bust involving Medicare, Florida is number one in the nation for such schemes.
And, every time I see a story like this I imagine the massive fraud we would have if Elizabeth Warren got her dream program—Medicare for all!
Some of the names of those ‘new Americans’ arrested include: Ingrid Perdomo, Stirlitz Pio Diaz, Luiba Rodriguez Leyva, Diana Cabrera, Katia Ramirez, Daymis Sanchez, and Yanelys Lozano. Cubans I’m guessing.
New American Economy?
When you hear from groups like Michael Bloomberg’s New American Economyabout the entrepreneurial spirit and economic benefits ‘new Americans’ contribute to our country think about this bunch! And, don’t forget, Bloomberg is a leading advocate for more immigration!
There are actually two separate busts…
Here is the first story from Tuesday that explains how the scam works from NBC Miami:
Nearly 20 Suspects Charged in Multi-Million Dollar Medicare Fraud Across 2 Miami Pharmacies
Nearly two dozen people have been charged by Florida’s Office of Statewide Prosecution for their involvement in a multi-million dollar Medicare fraud scheme that took place at two Miami pharmacies over the course of several years.
A total of 19 suspects are facing charges including organized fraud, racketeering, grand theft and money laundering, according to arrest warrants released Tuesday.
The scheme made use of professional beneficiaries, which are people who allow their Medicare benefits to be exploited by fraudsters in exchange for monetary compensation, the warrants said.
In this case, the professional beneficiaries involved were receiving up to 30 percent of the profits from each medication that was fraudulently billed by either Santander Pharmacy or Wynwood Family Pharmacy Corporation, the warrants said.
The beneficiaries would visit doctors in order to acquire prescriptions for medications they did not need. The prescriptions would be taken to Santander or Wynwood pharmacies, where the drugs would be charged to Medicare even though the drugs would never actually be dispensed or received.
The drugs that were fraudulently billed tended to be highly expensive, such as anti-psychotic drugs, according to the arrest warrants.
Since the operation began in Santander Pharmacy in 2015, more than $4 million in federal funds has been stolen using this method.
According to the arrest warrants, South Florida leads the country in this kind of Medicare fraud, particularly Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
Individuals establish a pharmacy by submitting corporate documents and obtaining a pharmacy license from the Florida Department of Health, and then commit fraud by submitting claims to Medicare for services that are never actually rendered or needed.
At least 30 people have been charged in connection with a string of South Florida pharmacies state authorities say fraudulently billed Medicare — a scam that continues to be one of Miami’s most lucrative illegal industries.
Police officers on Tuesday began arresting dozens associated with Tata Pharmacy Discount, Lozano Health Care, and in a separate case, Wynwood Family Pharmacy and Santander Pharmacy.
Those arrested in the sprawling case are facing charges of racketeering, organized scheme to defraud and money laundering.
The investigation was spearheaded by the Statewide Prosecutor’s Office, Miami-Dade police and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Medicare fraud has long been rampant in South Florida, costing taxpayers billions. Over the past decade, pharmacies have become particular cash cows, with owners and middlemen scouring nursing homes, paying kickbacks to elderly patients in exchange for allowing them to bill for unnecessary medicines in their names.
Because so many readers sent the news about a Pakistani doctor in Virginia under arrest for performing unwanted and unneeded medical procedures on women in his care, I need to post the news.
Even if there weren’t questions about why some women were unknowingly (allegedly) made infertile, Dr Perwaiz would have come to our attention, joining a growing list of ‘new American’ doctors who are busy committing Medicaid/Medicare fraud one of the interests highlighted here at ‘Frauds and Crooks.‘
Here is Robert Spencer’s (Jihad Watch) take on the incredible news at PJ Media:
Demographic Jihad? Virginia Muslim Doctor Tied Women’s Tubes Without Their Consent
The details of this case are simply horrifying. One woman tried for years to conceive a child, but couldn’t. When she finally consulted a fertility specialist, she discovered, according to the Virginian-Pilot, that her “Fallopian tubes had been burned down to nubs, making it impossible to conceive naturally.” It turned out that her physician, Dr. Javaid Perwaiz of Chesapeake, Virginia, had tied her tubes without telling her was doing it or obtaining her consent. And she was by no means the only woman whom Dr. Perwaiz victimized in this way.
[….]
About the good doctor we are told that he was “educated abroad,” with no hint as to where – it was actually in his native Pakistan, as the Virginian-Pilot notes: “Perwaiz has had a medical license since at least 1980, according to state records, having attended medical school in his native Pakistan and completed a residency at Charleston Area Medical Center.”
Read the Virginian-Pilot story to see what Perwaiz is being charged with.
Spencer wraps with this after telling us what Muslim leaders have said in the past about demographic jihad:
Is it possible that Javaid Perwaiz has the same kind of mindset, believing that he is performing an Islamic duty by preventing infidel women from having children? It cannot be discounted, but of course the possibility will never be investigated; to do so would be “Islamophobic.”
One reader who sent me the story remarked that any woman who goes to a Muslim doctor is foolish (harsher words than that). However, I will bet most American women have no clue if their ‘new American’ doctor is a Muslim and if they do they don’t know any basic tenets of Islam.
Changing America by changing the people!
Don’t miss my RRW storyabout how Muslims are winning big in local elections. Virginia was a big winner for them on election day 2019.
This is not a joke! A December UFC welterweight championship fight will feature the son of a Nigerian immigrant who happens to be serving a 15-year sentence for stealing from taxpayers through Medicare/Medicaid fraud.
Given an award by the Republican National Committee for “Businessman of the Year” during the Bush Administration for his “successful” ambulance companies,Muhammed Usman was sentenced to prison in 2012 for fraudulent billing practices at his two companies.
His son Kamaru “The Nigerian Nightmare” Usman faces the UFC’s “Ultimate Villain” Colby Covington “a relentlessly vocal champion of President Donald Trump” in a December Ultimate Fighting Championship match up.
Here is some of the story where the reporter gives details about Muhammed’s scam and questions (or asks the reader to question) whether he deserves such a lengthy sentence when his partners in crime are Americans who got lesser sentences, and heck, after all they only fraudulently billed taxpayers for $3.6 million.
Regular readers will notice that again we are talking about Nigerian fraudsters who got into the US and we are never told how, through which legal program they gained access to the “American dream?” Or was their entrance to the US illegal in the first place?
The Nigerian-American Nightmare: The remarkable story of Kamaru Usman’s father
No stranger to variety, the podcast of UFC commentator Joe Rogan, The Joe Rogan Experience, has been the launchpad for countless remarkable stories that span a gamut of topics from bowhunting, to artificial intelligence, to zany conspiracy theories, and everything in between.
One of the podcast’s more fascinating discussions was provided by UFC welterweight champion Kamaru “The Nigerian Nightmare” Usman: during his appearance on the show, Usman made it known that his father, Muhammed Usman, was serving a 15-year sentence in a federal penitentiary for crimes Kamaru believes his father didn’t commit.
Kamaru Usman’s anecdote left the MMA [Mixed Martial Arts—ed] fan base intrigued and perplexed; how was the fact that the father of the UFC welterweight champion was serving such a lengthy sentence just coming to light? What was the chain of events that led to Mr. Usman’s incarceration? What did he do that got him a 15-year sentence? And, perhaps the most contentious question of all, does Muhammed Usman deserve to be in prison?
Some of these questions can be objectively answered; the last cannot. With an understanding of the chain of events that led to the incarceration, an explanation of the particularly nuanced legal statutes that affected the sentencing, and a consideration of the larger societal questions at play, we leave you to make your own judgment about the ethicality of Muhammed Usman’s imprisonment.
Muhammed Usman immigrated to the United States from his home country of Nigeria in 1989. After gaining citizenship in 1996, Usman followed in the footsteps of the entrepreneurial immigrants that came before him, embarking down the well-walked path towards The American Dream. Usman founded a pair of ambulance companies — Royal Ambulance (established in 2003) and First Choice EMS (established in 2005) — that were so successful he was awarded the Republican National Committee’s “Who’s Who Businessman of the Year.”
You can read the lengthy discussion of Usman’s illegal activity that ended in his being sentenced to 15 years in the slammer (of course at great expense to taxpayers), here. (As told by his son!).
The Body Lock story then continues…..
Sports and politics are notoriously contentious, so a story such as Muhammed Usman’s where the two collide has generated bellicose debate: some see Muhammed Usman as a criminal conspirator, rightfully punished with an appropriate implementation of justice; others see a victim of a dysfunctional justice system that wrongfully imprisoned the American Dream incarnate after he was scapegoated by his native-born partners for a crime he had no hand in committing.
[….]
Regardless of which perspective one takes, Mr. Usman’s saga is undeniably being contemplated through the cultural lens of the time in which his son exposed it: while sentenced back in 2012, Mr. Usman’s story encapsulates a spectrum of societal quandaries that America struggles to answer today: encompassed by the issues of race, immigration, questions of over-prosecution in the justice system, government-funded health insurance (and therefore its potential for abuse), the case of Muhammed Usman serves as a Rorschach Test for one’s political beliefs; a fitting test given who Muhammed Usman’s son will be fighting next.
In a development fit for the final act of a Hollywood blockbuster, it was recently announced Kamaru Usman will be defending his welterweight UFC belt against Colby Covington at UFC 245. Covington — a relentlessly vocal champion of President Donald Trump — has modified the President’s strategy of using bigotted rhetoric to galvanize his political supporters fit his own objective: by infusing the “heel” persona of a 1980’s professional wrestler with the modern political rhetoric detested by many, Covington has positioned himself as the “UFC’s ultimate villain,” energizing supporters and detractors alike and drawing attention to his bouts.
Regardless of Covington’s motives for his antics, his behavior is indisputably atrocious: racism, xenophobia, homophobia, and misogynism aren’t bugs for Covington, they’re features. Most notoriously, after telling a Brazilian crowd: “Brazil you’re a dump. All you filthy animals suck,” Covington took to Instagram to explain he’s not a racist, but a “realist:” a common trope racists use to justify racism.
While Colby Covington has successfully increased his relevancy by manifesting the MAGA-movement into a cage fighter, Kamaru Usman seeks to be its, and Covington’s, antithesis. Vowing to “put the wrath of every immigrant” (including his father),on Colby Covington, UFC 245 will be an appropriate culmination to the story of Muhammed Usman and his family; the “final-battle” of a narrative almost too perfect for the silver screen.
Of course it’s all hype so more people will watch the December match.
I’m not interested enough to watch, but I’ll be looking to see how the media plays it and who ultimately wins this fight.
New American entrepreneurs?
Have a look at all the posts I’ve written just since January about Nigerian scammers ripping off America and Americans, click here. I bet no other ethnic group of ‘new Americans’ has been featured here as much as the Nigerians!
But, it sure strikes me that there must be more to this story than we are being told!
My first question is how does a 29-year-old, Latif Mohamed Chowdhury, aka Gulam Latif Chaudhury, who is not a Pharmacist, come to own two pharmacies and set up this elaborate scheme to get his hands on dangerous drugs and bilk insurance companies and Medicare and Medicaid out of hundreds of thousands of dollars? A 29-year-old! Clearly there is something more.
Indeed I wonder how he managed such a light sentence—4 years—when he could have gotten twenty asnoted herein an earlier article about his arrest.
Did he cut some deal with the feds to help them find bigger fish involved in the scheme?
This is thepress statement from the US Justice Department on Chowdury’s sentencing. Thanks as always to readers who find important stories like this one that doubtless few will ever hear about otherwise.
Former Pharmacy Owner Sentenced for Prescription Medication Fraud
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A former pharmacy owner was sentenced today [September 27th—ed] to four years in prison for fraudulently filling and dispensing thousands of prescription medications, including opioids, outside the usual course of professional practice.
“Chowdhury blithely violated his position of trust,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Chowdhury’s warped business philosophy led him to illegally distribute a significant number of prescription medications, including dangerous, addictive opioids. Moreover, his reckless actions add to the financial cost of health care as he fraudulently billed at least $500,000 to health insurance programs for prescriptions that were never filled.”
According to court documents, Latif Mohamed Chowdhury, aka Gulam Latif Chaudhury, 29, operated and controlled two now-defunct pharmacies known as Alexandria Care Pharmacy LLC (ACP-1) and Alexandria Care Pharmacy Store #2 LLC (ACP-2). Chowdhury has never been a licensed pharmacist and has no medical qualifications. Nonetheless, between August 2015 and February 2016, Chowdhury fraudulently operated ACP-1 and ACP-2 by personally filling and dispensing thousands of dosage units of medications, including opioids, without a licensed pharmacist on-site. Chowdhury used the identities of licensed pharmacists, without their permission, to carry out his scheme.
“Chowdhury used his trusted position to enrich himself at the expense of others,” said Timothy M. Dunham, Special Agent in Charge, Criminal Division, FBI Washington Field Office. “Today’s sentencing makes it clear that the illegal distribution of opioids will not be tolerated. The FBI will work closely with our partners to continue to investigate allegations of healthcare fraud.”
Chowdhury admitted to fraudulently billing health insurance benefit programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, for refills of prescription medications that were not delivered to customers even though his pharmacies received payment for these prescriptions. Chowdhury also submitted fraudulent health insurance claims in the names of pharmacy customers for medications that were not authorized by any physician, and were not dispensed to any of the customers, in order to enrich himself through illicit profits generated by ACP-1 and ACP-2.
