It looks like all involved are Americans (LOL! I am, after all, fair and balanced here at Frauds and Crooks!).
But, I’m bringing you this news for several reasons and first and foremost I want you to know that a whistleblower filed a lawsuit that provided information about how research data was being fudged (for years!) and has been awarded $33 million as a reward under the False Claims Act.
Good for him!
So keep an eye on possible opportunities for you to turn in someone or some institution that is defrauding Uncle Sam!
Continue reading “Duke University Ordered to Repay the Federal Government (you!) $112 Million for Grant Fraud”
Tag: North Carolina
Foreign National Attempts Entry to Ft. Bragg; why so Little Media Attention?
The incident that caused the Special Operations Facility to briefly close its gates happened a week ago today and according to the Fayetteville Observer the illegal alien arrested that day is expected in court today.
A week ago and we just learn about it this week!
And, as of this morning the only media outlets reporting are the Fayetteville Observer and now Big League Politics. Very strange!
The Observer has a very thorough report on the incident (thanks to reader Cathy for directing our attention to the puzzling news).
Continue reading “Foreign National Attempts Entry to Ft. Bragg; why so Little Media Attention?”
North Carolina: A Non-citizen Who Voted in Three Elections Gets a Small Fine
The judge in the case said the Election Board officials who registered her “don’t know what they are doing.” Or do they?
I’ve had this story for a few days (thanks to reader Nancy), but am just getting to it because of the more pressing news from Nevada, Ohio and Virginia.
From Newsweek (I am actually surprised it is even being reported nationally!):
GREEN CARD HOLDER, 70, AVOIDS JAIL TIME AFTER VOTING ILLEGALLY THREE TIMES IN NORTH CAROLINA
A permanent resident of North Carolina will not face prison time after she was illegally allowed to vote in three separate elections.
Hyo Suk George, 70, was charged with illegal voting by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security after she reportedly voted in 2008, 2010 and 2016 in Columbus County. Instead of sentencing George to six months in prison, U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle fined George $100.
George arrived in the United States from South Korea in 1989. She got a green card in 1995 and has worked in housekeeping and the fast-food industry, her federal public defender Sherri Alspaugh said. She registered to vote “next to the senior center” after taking the advice of a town council member, according to the News & Observer. [They should be naming the town council member!]
Alspaugh said her client did not remember whether she registered at the county board or a library, but said there were likely volunteers working registration.
In his ruling, Boyle also expressed frustration toward the election board in Whiteville, North Carolina, because it allowed George to register to vote using her green card, Social Security number and driver’s license, the News & Observer reported.
“So they see a green card and say, ‘That’s OK’ because they don’t know what they’re doing,” the judge said. “They ought to be a little smarter than that.”
Boyle added that the same amount of attention that is placed on voters should be placed on educating election officials. Green cards give immigrants permanent residency in the United States but not citizenship. Only U.S. citizens are allowed to vote.
An investigation by the North Carolina Board of Elections found that 508 voters who cast ballots in the 2016 election were ineligible to vote. Of those, 441 voters were individuals serving active felony sentences. Only convicted felons who have completed their sentences are allowed to vote in North Carolina.
The election board also found that 41 noncitizens voted and 24 voters cast ballots twice. Two individuals reportedly voted using the names of family members who had recently died, the News & Observer reported at the time.
As I’ve said before, if you are looking for something to do, watch-dogging your local Board of Elections would be a very useful project.
Raleigh's Rich Russians Arrested, Charged with Multiple Crimes
This was hot news in North Carolina last month, but I suspect it never made it to cable news fixated every day, all day, on Donald Trump!
Here is the headline of a Department of Justice press release in December.
Five Foreign Nationals Indicted on Murder-For-Hire, Money Laundering, and Immigration Charges
The story of the Russian nationals, led by Leonid Teyf, 57, who lived in a mansion estimated to be worth $4 million in a posh section of Raleigh reads like a made-for-TV movie.
As the DOJ’s press release tells us, the Russians got rich by ripping off the Russian military. Teyf was a contractor hired to supply goods and services to the Russian military, but had devised a kickback scheme that netted him over $150 million over a two year period.
The DOJ alleges that he, and his fellow Russians in the US, set up various businesses through which they laundered what amounts to Putin’s money.
The gang, including Teyf’s wife Tatyana, 41, are also charged with immigration fraud as they tried to get another of their Russian pals in to the US.
Murder-for-hire plot!
But, the story got even juicier when Teyf allegedly believed his wife was having an affair with his housekeeper’s son (remember made-for-TV potential here!).
Local news reports were buzzing about that tidbit. According to the DOJ,
During the course of the investigation into the money laundering charges, a Confidential Source utilized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation learned that Leonid Teyf came to believe that his wife, Tatyana Teyf, was having an affair with another man. Leonid Teyf recruited the Confidential Source to assist in planning for the man’s murder. The murder was to take place here in the United States or in Russia after they conspired to have the man deported.
If found guilty, Leonid Teyf could get 20 years and Tatyana and their other accomplices could get 10 each.
The feds will seek to recover $39 million and then here is the clincher for them, “Each defendant will likely face the prospect of removal from the United States after their terms of imprisonment.”
Why not just deport them after they are convicted and save us the expense of keeping them behind bars?
Let Putin take care of them!
Of course the first question that came to my mind when I read the news, widely reported in North Carolina, was: how did this bunch of Russian mobsters get in here in the first place? We hear mumbo-jumbo all the time about coming to America the right way? What is that? If they hadn’t made some dumb mistakes, would these mobsters just have wormed their way to US citizenship?
Alert: Beware of Medical Supply Phone Fraud
Have you been getting calls that start with a recorded voice saying “Don’t hang up!”? The caller says he/she has important information about relieving chronic pain with neck, back or knee braces (that Medicare will pay for).
I get those and so I noticed this news story from Fruitland, Maryland ten days ago about how phone scammers clone a number (in this case they cloned the police department!) and use it to make their fraud calls.
Then I found a letter to the editor from a man in Wilson, NC who, although suspicious of the call, did talk with the ‘supplier’ of braces, and here is what he said,
I have received dozens of calls concerning braces for pain in my back, shoulders, etc., none of which is true! On those calls where I actually talked to the callers, I told them exactly that and apparently I was ignored. They told me it will cost me absolutely nothing and Medicare will pay for everything. I again told them no, I don’t need them, nor do I want them. They told me they would send them anyway and they would be absolutely free and Medicare would pay.
Guess what? On a recent Thursday, a package arrived from Trilogy Medical Supply of West Palm Beach, Florida. I refused acceptance and UPS took the unopened package back. Now the fun part!
I called Medicare and after speaking to three individuals, was told that this company had indeed billed Medicare more than $3,400 for something I neither wanted nor asked for and in fact refused. Medicare has opened an investigation into this and will refuse payment for my “pain relief braces!”
So, it appears that the feds were promptly paying out to Trilogy Medical Supply.* It is not clear if the letter-writer gave out his Medicare card number to the callers.
Check your Medicare statements when they come in and look for items you were billed for. One friend of mine said there were amounts of certain medications (for pain!) that were larger than she had received.
Yesterday a Better Business Bureau in Ohio published a list of the Top Seven phone fraud schemes they had been notified about in 2018.
See them all but especially #2: The Grandparents Scam!
Another of my friends reported that an elder family member fell for this one and actually drove out late at night to wire cash to the unknown caller!
*We have no idea who owns Trilogy Medical Supply (could be perfectly legit). But, as soon as the Department of Justice website is up and running again (after the shutdown), I’ll check if they show up there.