We are going to spend a lot of discussion time in the coming posts to review the massive amount of criminal fraud that has infected government programs for many, many years. The outstanding investigations recently done, and still being done, by independent journalist, Nick Shirley, has started a cascading identification of the numerous fraud instances at all levels of government across the country.
It is unbelievable how many billions of dollars have been wasted and are currently being wasted and siphoned off by all types of criminal activities. And while it is amazing how much taxpayer wealth has been wasted and lost, possibly even more amazing is the reality that through the decades the political class and the government entities they overlook were unable or unwilling to stop the fraud.
1)Much of the fraud we have discussed over the past ten posts regarding government corruption and fraud was very often focused on fraud in the Medicaid and Medicare programs. But government fraud exists throughout every facet of government as the newest type of fraud is described below and documented by a Daily Caller website story:
A new analysis from the State Financial Officers Foundation and the Open the Books website found that there were almost 90 fraud schemes across American schools since 2019.
These fraud efforts ripped off about $225 million from American taxpayers and students.
School district employees have been stealing government funds by creating fake invoices, submitting them for payment, and then pocketing the money or kickbacks.
The fake invoices included such lies as student enrollment, bid rigging, and receiving kickbacks.
The fraud extended over 24 states and Puerto Rico.
For example, the analysis alleged that Indiana schools got $44 million more funding from the state government than they should have because they artificially inflated student enrollments.
John Hart of the Open The Books organization: “These schemes within public schools arguably hit us where it hits more: America’s future leaders. Every dollar wasted on fraud never makes it to the classroom where it's urgently needed. Student outcomes will continue to suffer until we clean up both fraud and administrative overhead. In one instance, the per-student fraud rate was enough to fund a semester at a charter school.”
The report states that Broward County Public Schools Information Officer, Anthony Gunteer, allegedly steered $17 million of taxpayer wealth to a friend’s business without competitive bidding and then personally got to dip into that pot of money.
Two individuals in the Houston school district got named for allegedly involving a six million dollar fraud scheme regarding school construction and maintenance in exchange for kickbacks of cash and home remodeling.
In 2025, Michael David Baker, the former maintenance director of Boone County West Virginia schools, pleaded guilty to defrauding the school district out of $3.4 million.
This was equivalent to $1,000 per student within the school district.
He used the stolen funds for cars, equipment, and home improvements.
Just another way to rip off the American taxpayer and in this case, reduce the effectiveness of school dollars for the education of our kids.
2)Let's get back to the old favorites of fraud, Medicaid and Medicare, where the Federal authorities recently announced that they had busted the biggest healthcare fraud in U.S. history:
The charges of fraud include a whopping 455 individuals including 90 doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other medical professionals.
These folks are accused of stealing over $6.5 BILLION from alleged false Medicare and Medicaid claim submissions.
The bust spanned fraud in 45 states and the fraud schemes included unnecessary medical procedures, kickbacks, phantom services, and corrupt billing practices.
Federal investigators allege the fraudsters then spent taxpayer money on luxury cars, multi-million dollar homes, jewelry, yachts, and overseas real estate.’
For example, Las Vegas resident Marizel Yukee, allegedly submitted $906 million in fraudulent claims and personally ended up with $297 million in payments.
She used part of the stolen funds to build a $4.6 million beach resort in the Philippines.
When she was arrested, she had $30 million in various bank accounts, half a million dollars in cash, a Ferrari worth almost $600,000, seven other high end vehicles, and a $865,000 necklace in addition to another $1 million in other jewelry.
The vice president of an Arizona company that sold bioengineered skin grafts allegedly was part of a kickback scheme where unnecessary skin grafts were done and then marked up by almost 2,000%, a fraud that netted him $614 million.
An Illinois behavioral health care company allegedly submitted reimbursement claims for over $90 million for numerous counseling and therapy service sessions that were impossible, given the limited staff of the company.
A Miami resident allegedly submitted an unreal number of claims worth $3.76 BILLION via two medical supply companies.
Once he got the reimbursements for the claims, which were somehow not flagged by government computers, he transferred the money to accounts in Hong Kong and Indonesia and then fled the country.’
Fortunately, he was arrested in Cyprus and returned for prosecution in Florida.
Unbelievable fraud. How bad are the government computers and audit checks that a single person in the medical supply business can submit AND be reimbursed for over $3 BILLION in claims? Somehow the computer claims process should have flagged this atrocity BEFORE paying out. Total incompetence in the Medicare and Medicaid operations.
No wonder the national debris around $0 TRILLION, the fraudsters keep stealing it.
3)Speaking of closing the barn yard gate after the horse has left the barn:
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid recently announced that there is a six month block on new enrollments for certain medical supply companies.
Which is maybe a good idea since we just discussed the fact that just two related medical supply companies ripped off the American taxpayer for billions of dollars.
The pause move is designed to cut down fraud, waste and abuse in a high risk area of Medicare.
Obviously, this should have been done years and years ago before the fraud got out of control but never too late to stop future fraud.
4)From a politician’s perspective, even if you are not corrupt, you still have to be careful who you hang out with:
Kathy Hochul is the governor of New York state, Zohran Mamdani is the mayor of New York City.
Dr. Ijaz Ahmad is a healthcare investor and a major Democratic Party donor and fundraiser, with strong ties and contributions to both Hochul and Mamdani.
Just in the past year his campaign donations totaled over $300,000.
But Ahmad has relationships with two alleged fraudsters who may have stolen over $100 million of taxpayer wealth.
Federal law enforcement recently raided an adult day care center operated by one of those folks, pharmacist Pervez Siddiqui.
He was eventually arrested for Medicaid fraud which got him $38 million via his two facilities.
He and his co-conspirators allegedly bribed elderly New Yorkers to give them their Medicare numbers and then billed the government for services that were rarely provided to those people they had bribed.
They did this for six years before anyone noticed.
Again, nobody is accusing Hochul or Mamdani of wrongdoing. But it is not a good look to be associated with someone who gives your cause a lot of money but who is associated with someone allegedly involved in a million dollar defrauding of the American taxpayer.
What a mess: the fraud in Medicare and Medicaid boggles the mind and that does not include school fraud and other types of government fraud incompetence. Many more episodes of fraud to follow.
**********************
If you agree that we need to deseat every member of Congress for their lack of success and accomplishment, then please consider going to the following petition link to help the cause:
https://www.change.org/p/deseat-congress-reset-freedom
**********************
No comments:
Post a Comment