McHenry County Blog

A press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office:

HOME HEALTH CARE ADMINISTRATOR SENTENCED TO 20 MONTHS IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR HEALTH CARE FRAUD AND KICKBACK SCHEME

ROCKFORD — An Elmhurst, Ill., woman was sentenced today in federal court to 20 months in federal prison on her conviction for health care fraud and a kickback scheme. Merigrace Orillo, 45, co-owned and operated Chalice Home Healthcare Services, Inc., with her husband Virgilio Orillo. Chalice had offices in Chicago, Freeport, and Morris, Illinois.

Medicare is a national healthcare program which provides free or below-cost health care to eligible beneficiaries, primarily persons who are 65 years of age or older. Chalice was an enrolled provider with the Medicare program since 2004.

According to a written plea agreement, Chalice’s nurses, nurses aids, physical therapists, and occupational therapists provided services to patients in their homes. Chalice was usually paid for these services through the Medicare program.

Orillo admitted that from January 2007 through April 2010, she and her husband falsified documents in order to increase the payments Chalice received from Medicare.

The falsifications made Chalice’s patients appear to be sicker than they actually were and in need of greater care than they actually required.

Orillo also admitted that she knowingly assisted her husband in paying cash kickbacks to a Chicago doctor.

The kickbacks were paid in return for the doctor referring patients to Chalice for home healthcare services.

Orillo admitted that she withdrew cash from Chalice’s bank account and provided that cash to her husband to be used to pay these kickbacks. At the sentencing hearing, the court found that Orillo’s scheme caused a loss of more than $700,000 to the Medicare program.

The indictment, which was filed on February 15, 2011, charged both Orillo and her husband Virgilio with healthcare fraud.

The charges against Virgilio Orillo were dismissed after he died on August 30, 2011.

Frederick Kapala

Today’s sentencing hearing was conducted by United States District Judge Frederick J. Kapala.

In addition to the 20 month federal prison sentence, Judge Kapala also ordered Orillo to pay $744,481 in restitution to the Medicare Trust Fund. Orillo will not be eligible for parole on her prison sentence.

The investigation was conducted by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, which expanded to the Northern District of Illinois in 2011, and is part of the Health Care Fraud Prevention & Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), a joint initiative between the Justice Department and HHS to focus their efforts to prevent and deter fraud and enforce anti-fraud laws around the country.

The sentencing was announced by Gary S. Shapiro, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Lamont Pugh, III, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General in Chicago.
The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott A. Verseman.

Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems Business Development Director Matthew Smith-Meck has been indicted on a five-count indictment by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

From 2006-8, the Crystal Lake man is accused of misusing his company American Express card.to the run of about $215,250.

The Federal indictment, issued July 21st, itemized the following misuses:

• purchasing fitness equipment
• paying for home remodeling and landscaping
• paying Federal taxes
• making automobile payments.

He also is accused of asking for reimbursement for airline and business expenses that

• had not been incurred
• were incurred by already reimbursed
• were incurred but overstated.

Expenses for trips to

• London,
• Greece,
• Taiwan,
• Germany and the United Arab Emirates

sent by Federal Express for reimbursement are noted in separate counts in the indictment.

Location of 40 acres in Wyoming which is identified for potential forfeiture.

In addition, Smith-Meck is cited for falsification of a Department of Defense “Electronic Questionnaires for Investigations” Form 86 that he had not been fired from a job in the previous seven years, when he knew he had been terminated by Northrop Grumman Oct. 22, 2008. The form also asked whether he had not had employer credit card problems

$215,250 in forfeiture is sought and a 40-acre property in Carbon County, Wyoming, is specifically cited.

Smith-Meck lives on Prairie Ridge Road, which is east of Route 31 between East Terra Cotta and East Crystal Lake Roads. It is in unincorporated Nunda Township.

The trial will be in Chicago.

This press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office tells of how a female North Chicago School Board member conspired with the female Transportation Director to get kickbacks from school bus companies. I mention the public officials’ gender because it is rare that women are involved in public corruption cases.

FORMER NORTH CHICAGO SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER AND TRANSPORTATION DIRECTOR AMONG FIVE DEFENDANTS INDICTED FOR ALLEGED ROLES IN $800,000 KICKBACK SCHEME INVOLVING STUDENT BUSING CONTRACTS

CHICAGO — A former North Chicago school board member and the district’s former transportation director were indicted on federal fraud charges for allegedly receiving kickbacks totaling at least $800,000 from three co-defendants who controlled several different companies that received at least $21 million in student bus contracts over nearly a decade.

All five defendants were charged in a 26-count indictment alleging that, between 2001 and August 2010, they schemed to defraud and deprive the citizens of North Chicago, located in Lake County, and the approximately 4,000-student North Chicago Community Unit School District 187 (NCSD) of the honest services of former school board member Gloria Harper and former transportation director Alice Sherrod.

The indictment was returned by a federal grand jury late yesterday and announced today by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Alvin Patton, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division in Chicago.

The North Chicago School District cooperated with the investigation.

Among the debris remaining in Joplin, Missouri is the crumpled school bus you see at the rear of the high school's property.

Harper, 59, of North Chicago, who was a member of the NCSD board from 1999 to May 2009, and Sherrod, 59, of Gurnee, who was District 187′s transportation director from 2001 to July 2010, allegedly used their positions to enrich themselves secretly by soliciting and accepting gifts and cash from their three co-defendants in exchange for favorable official action regarding student transportation contracts.

Initially, Harper and Sherrod allegedly received kickbacks of approximately $4,000 to $5,000 a month but, by 2003, they were collecting approximately $20,000 a month, the indictment alleges.

Also indicted were:

• Derrick Eubanks, 47, of Lake Villa;
• Tommie Boddie, 66, of Wadsworth; and
• Barrett White, 52, of Matteson.

All five defendants were each charged with six counts of wire fraud and various counts of soliciting or paying bribes. All but White were also charged with multiple counts of filing false federal income tax returns. All five defendants will be arraigned on dates still to be determined in U.S. District Court.

The indictment seeks forfeiture of more than $9.67 million, as well as 48 buses and vans and seven personal automobiles.

According to the indictment, from the late 1990s until mid-2003, the NCSD contracted with various companies to provide student transportation, including T&M Transportation, which was owned at least in part and controlled by Boddie, and Eubanks Transportation, which was owned at least in part and controlled by Eubanks.

In approximately 2001, Harper and Sherrod met with Boddie and told him they would arrange for the NCSD to increase the number of students that T&M transported if Boddie agreed to pay them in return, and Boddie agreed.

At Harper’s request, White began acting as an intermediary, or “bagman,” receiving cash from Boddie, keeping some for himself, and providing the bulk to Harper, who, in turn, shared the money with Sherrod, the indictment alleges.

To facilitate his role as the scheme’s bagman, White established D’Amoto Transportation, which he used to funnel money from Boddie’s T&M company to Harper and Sherrod. Sometime in 2002 or 2003, White established BWT Transportation to replace D’Amoto. In approximately May 2003, Harper allegedly suggested to Boddie and Eubanks that they join together to form one company to bid on NCSD transportation contracts.

Both Harper and Sherrod told Boddie and Eubanks that if they won the contract they would have to split the profits with the two school officials, and the two men agreed to do so, the charges allege.

As a result, Boddie and Eubanks created Safety First Transportation, Inc., which won the NCSD’s transportation contract in 2003.

Once Safety First began to receive school district payments, White allegedly converted Safety First’s funds into cash to pay Harper for her to share with Sherrod, while White kept a portion for himself. Neither White nor his company, BWT, did any work for Safety First and their sole role was to funnel cash to Harper and Sherrod, according to the indictment.

As a result of an IRS audit of Safety First in 2006-2007, Safety First began providing funds to White as an employee, as well as continuing to provide him with funds as a contractor, in late 2006, even though he continued to provide no service other than paying kickbacks as an intermediary.

Also as a result of the audit, Harper allegedly agreed that White’s portion of the proceeds should be increased to compensate him for the tax debt White owed the IRS.

All five defendants agreed that an amount of Safety First’s revenues from the NCSD would be excluded from the profits to be split with Harper and Sherrod and instead would be used to repay tax debts owed by Boddie, Eubanks and White, the charges allege.

The fraud scheme and individual tax counts allege that Boddie and Eubanks filed false federal tax returns for Safety First claiming that they paid White hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting fees and wages for assisting them in obtaining the transportation contract with NCSD. In fact, the indictment alleges that money paid to White was intended solely to fund the kickbacks to Harper and Sherrod in exchange for helping them win and maintain the transportation contract.

In April 2008, the defendants allegedly agreed to set up a new company, Quality Trans, LLC, to replace Safety First and to assume its contracts with the school district.

All five allegedly agreed to split among them Quality Trans’s profits, and Boddie, Eubanks and White continued to make cash payments to Harper and Sherrod. In June 2009, Quality Trans won a five-year contract to provide NCSD with transportation services.

Various tax counts allege that Boddie and Eubanks took false deductions for the money that Safety First paid to White and which White then funneled as kickbacks to Harper and Sherrod. Other tax counts allege that Harper and Sherrod filed false individual tax returns failing to report the kickbacks they received as income.

The government is being represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew Getter and Greg Deis.

Each count of wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and each count of soliciting or paying bribes carries a maximum of 10 years in prison, as well as a $250,000 fine. As an alternative, the Court may impose a maximum fine totaling twice the loss to any victim or twice the gain to any defendant, whichever is greater, and restitution is mandatory. Filing a false federal income tax return carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine. In addition, a defendant convicted of tax offenses faces mandatory costs of prosecution and remains civilly liable to the Government for any and all back taxes, as well as a civil fraud penalty of 75 percent of the underpayment plus interest. If convicted, the Court must determine a reasonable sentence to impose under the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.

The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

FORMER CBOT MEMBER AND FLOOR TRADER SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS IN PRISON FOR DEFRAUDING CUSTOMERS OUT OF MORE THAN $2 MILLION

CHICAGO — A former floor trader and member of the Chicago Board of Trade was sentenced yesterday to five years in federal prison for engaging in noncompetitive trades that yielded in excess of $2 million profit to him and a deceased co-defendant, who was also a CBOT member and floor trader.

The defendant, David G. Sklena, was found guilty last year of

• four counts of wire fraud,
• one count of commodities fraud and
• two counts of noncompetitive trading

for scheming to deprive his co-defendant’s customers of the opportunity to make the trading profits themselves. He was convicted following a bench trial last October in U.S. District Court.

Sklena, 51, of Skokie, was ordered to begin serving the 60-month sentence on Oct. 31, 2011, by U.S. District Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan, who also ordered him to pay $2,048,7871 in restitution to approximately 45 victim customers, including one fund that was a pool of commodity investors.

Patrick Fitzgerald

The sentence was announced today by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

According to the evidence at trial, the noncompetitive trades occurred on April 2, 2004, in the CBOT’s Five-Year Treasury Note futures trading pit.

Sklena and co-defendant Edward C. Sarvey were indicted in March 2009 on fraud charges and violations of the Commodity Exchange Act. Sarvey, of Lemont, died in December 2009 while the case was pending.

The trial evidence showed that Sarvey was a dual trader in that he executed customer orders and traded for his own account, while Sklena traded only for his own account in the Five-Year Treasury Note futures trading pit, where he had been a trader since 1992.

The evidence at trial was that, on April 2, 2004, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its Employment Situation Report at approximately 7:30 a.m. and the treasury futures markets went up, then declined, and then rallied within a short period of time.

Before the release of the report, Sarvey had accepted customers orders to sell 2,474 contracts if the market dropped to certain levels.

Following the release of the employment report, the price of Five-Year Treasury Note futures contracts dropped to the low price of the day at approximately 7:31 a.m., and then climbed higher over the next several minutes.

When the market dropped to the day’s lowest price, Sarvey’s customer orders to sell were triggered, and became orders to sell the contracts as soon as possible at the best price available to the customers.

Sarvey sold 2,274 of the customers’ futures contracts to Sklena at a price that was much lower than the price that was actually trading at the time, and the trade was not executed openly and competitively as required by CBOT and Commodity Futures Trading Commission rules.

This trade deprived Sarvey’s customers of the opportunity to obtain a better price for the sale of their futures contracts.

Following Sklena’s noncompetitive purchase of the 2,274 contracts from Sarvey, Sklena immediately sold 485 of the contracts back to Sarvey in another noncompetitive trade.

Sklena then sold the remaining 1,789 futures contracts on the CBOT’s electronic trading platform and realized a personal gain of approximately $1.65 million.

The Court found that Sklena’s conduct was noncompetitive and that it constituted a scheme to defraud and cheat Sarvey’s customers.

The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Clifford Histed and Ryan Hedges. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the CBOT, now part of the CME Group, Inc., assisted with and cooperated in the investigation.

A press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office,:

WAUKEGAN GROCER AND WIFE INDICTED FOR ALLEGEDLY

DEFRAUDING U.S. FOOD STAMP AND NUTRITION PROGRAMS OF

MORE THAN $500,000

CHICAGO — A Waukegan couple who operate a small grocery were indicted for allegedly defrauding government food stamp and nutrition programs of more than $500,000 over the last two years following an undercover investigation, federal law enforcement officials announced today.

The defendants, Fatima and Khaled Saleh, who own and operate Sunset Food Market in Waukegan, allegedly illegally exchanged cash with customers who made falsely inflated purchases using food stamp cards and nutrition coupons.

They also allegedly purchased items, typically infant formula, that customers bought at other stores using their program benefits, paying customers approximately half of the value of the items in cash and then re-selling the same items in their store at a substantially higher price.

Khaled Saleh, 46, and Fatima Saleh, 35, were each charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud government programs and one count of Agriculture Department program fraud in a two-count indictment that was returned by a federal grand jury yesterday, announced Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, together with Joe Smith, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General, and John Gullickson, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Secret Service, both in Chicago.

The Illinois Department of Human Services assisted in the investigation.

The charges followed an investigation in which a USDA-OIG agent, acting undercover, allegedly exchanged food stamp benefits for cash and used benefits to purchase formula at a discount store and then sold the formula cans for half the price in cash to the Salehs on several occasions.

Agents executed a federal search warrant at Sunset market on April 26, 2011, and the Salehs were arrested last month on a criminal complaint.

Both defendants remain free on bond and will be arraigned at a later date in U.S. District Court.

After the search of the store, Fatima Saleh went to her apartment and agents observed her leaving a short time later with a suitcase and her mother.

After giving consent to search the suitcase, agents found more than $350,000 cash and more than 800 coupon vouchers for the Women, Infants and Children Program (WIC), a supplemental food program to provide a more nutritious diet to low-income infants, young children and pregnant and post-partum women.

Agents later discovered an additional $25,000 cash in the couple’s apartment.

The indictment seeks forfeiture of approximately $377,000 seized on April 26, as well as more than $14,500 seized from Sunset Food’s bank account.

According to the indictment, in addition to accepting WIC coupons, Sunset Foods also participated in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistant Program, formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, and was authorized to accept LINK cards used by customers to purchase eligible food items.

Between August 2009 and April 2011, the defendants redeemed more than $1.175 million in LINK food stamp and WIC coupons, with more than $500,000 being obtained through the fraud, the indictment alleges.

The store’s participation in the programs has been suspended.

Court documents allege that Fatima Saleh had applied for and received LINK food stamp benefits and WIC coupons for herself.

In 2010, she last received WIC vouchers and as much as $952 a month in LINK card benefits, and a month ago she was receiving $738 a month in food stamp benefits.

The government is being represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew R. DeVooght.

Each count of the indictment carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. If convicted, restitution is mandatory and the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.

The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which the United States has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

A press release from the FBI about a Romanian who admitted to an international internet fraud scheme using online auctions:

Romanian Man Pleads Guilty to Role in International Fraud Scheme

Involving Online Auction Websites

WASHINGTON—A Romanian man pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly in Chicago to one count each of wire fraud and conspiracy for his role in moving and hiding the illicit proceeds of an international fraud scheme, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald for the Northern District of Illinois and U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. for the District of Columbia.

Adrian Ghighina, 33, of Bucharest, Romania, was indicted by a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Illinois in April 2008 on seven counts of wire fraud. In May 2010, Ghighina was separately indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington on charges of

• conspiracy,
• bank fraud, and
• money laundering.

According to court documents, Ghighina, who entered the United States legally in late 2004, acted as a “money mule” in a complex Internet fraud conspiracy.

Ghighina’s co-conspirators, many of whom are in Romania, created fraudulent online auctions for expensive items such as cars, motorcycles, and RVs on websites such as eBay, Craigslist, and AutoTrader.com.

Victims who responded to these fraudulent listings were directed, in some cases by e-mail or telephone, to transmit payment for the non-existent items using Western Union and bank wire transfers to accounts controlled by Ghighina.

Ghighina admitted that he moved from city to city opening new accounts at various banks using false identification as part of the conspiracy. The victims never received the items for which they had paid.

From approximately September 2005 until his arrest in October 2009 in Miami, Ghighina opened accounts and/or received funds in Illinois, the District of Columbia, Florida, New York, Arizona, and elsewhere.

Ghighina faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the count of wire fraud from the Chicago indictment, and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud from the Washington indictment. Both counts also include up to three years of supervised release following any prison term. Sentencing is scheduled for May 9, 2011.

Ghighina also previously was convicted on related charges of wire and visa fraud in the Southern District of Florida and sentenced on those charges to 27 months in prison.

The Chicago case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Hayes with the Northern District of Illinois. The Washington case is being prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Springsteen for the District of Columbia. Mr. Springsteen also serves as a trial attorney with the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section. Assistance on the Washington case was also provided by CCIPS trial attorneys Gavin Corn and Mysti Degani.

The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs provided assistance in this matter. This case is being investigated by the Chicago and Washington Field Offices of the FBI, as well as the Chicago Police Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.

The financial crimes people in the Federal government have uncovered more misdeeds. Here is the press release:

TWO DEFENDANTS INDICTED FOR ALLEGEDLY DEFRAUDING

MORE THAN 250 VICTIMS IN $2 MILLION FRAUD SCHEME

Patrick Fitzgerald

CHICAGO — Two defendants who contracted to provide 48 separate condominium associations with property management services allegedly defrauded more than 250 condominium owners of approximately $2 million in a fraud scheme over the course of 3 years, according to a federal indictment made public today.

The defendants allegedly defrauded the victims into providing them with payments for the property management services offered by defendants’ business, known as the Regent Realty Group, Inc. The defendants allegedly made false statements and promises that the owners’ payments would be used for the maintenance of the properties as contracted, and the money would be maintained in bank accounts for the benefit of the individual condominium associations.

The defendants then allegedly commingled the fraudulently obtained funds and misused the money for their own benefit.

One defendant, Jay Strauss, 75, of Scottsdale, Arizona, allegedly acted as the chairman of Regent Realty, while the other, Donald Doering, 63, of Wilmette, Illinois, allegedly served as the business’s president. Both defendants will be arraigned on a date that will be set by Judge Robert M. Dow, Jr., of the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Strauss and Doering were charged with three counts of wire fraud in an indictment that was returned by a federal grand jury on February 9, 2011.

The charges were announced today by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mr. Fitzgerald and Mr. Grant thanked the Chicago Police Department and Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, which cooperated in the investigation of Strauss and Doering.

According to the indictment, between 2005 and January 2008, rather than using the funds contributed by the condominium members to manage the condominium properties as the defendants had agreed to do, Strauss and Doering, without the knowledge of the condominium associations and their members, diverted the money to make payments on personal debt that Strauss and Doering incurred on an unrelated real estate development project.

In order to conceal their fraud from the victims, Strauss and Doering created false monthly financial reports for the accounts of each property managed by Regent Realty, which falsely represented the balance in each condominium association’s account.

In the course of their scheme, the indictment alleges that Strauss and Doering defrauded their victims of over $2 million.

The government is being represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stephen P. Baker and Michael J. Chmelar.

Each count of wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and restitution is mandatory. The Court may also impose a fine totaling twice the loss to any victim or twice the gain to the defendant, whichever is greater. If convicted, however, the Court must determine a reasonable sentence to impose under the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.

An indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Thd mailing state law forced Secretary of State Jesse White to send to every registered household.

Jack Franks sponsored the teeny-tiny recall amendment to the Illinois State Constitution that is on the ballot this fall.

Jack Franks on TV.

It is a fraud.

The label would make one think it does something.

It doesn’t.

Without doing a comparative analysis I can assert with no fear of contradiction that, if passed, it will be the most limited recall language in any state’s constitution.

I shall vote “No.”

It is a vote against a proposal whose main purpose was to get the headline living Franks, well, a headline and face time on TV.

Page 2

Page 3.

It does nothing to advance the public good in Illinois, let alone his constituents in McHenry County.

Absolutely nothing.

This is what legislators call a “headline bill.”

It gets a headline, but does N-O-T-H-I-N-G!!

It doesn’t allow recall of local officials.

It doesn’t permit recall of legislators.

It doesn’t put judges on the hot seat.

Jack Franks either didn’t put such a provision in his original proposal or took it out in order to get something, anything passed that had his name on it.

Page 4.

It is worse than useless, because it gives the appearance of reform.

It is not.

Any governor in as much trouble as this amendment requires one to be in would be impeached, just as Rod Blagojevich–the governor Jack Franks asked for jobs for his friends and family–was impeached.

Those supporting this amendment do nothing but give cover to our Springfield legislators who absolutely refuse to pass any meaningful reform of the political process.

If Franks really wants to support reform in Springfield, he would announce he would not vote for Mike Madigan for Speaker.

The Daily Herald asked that question on its legislative questionnaire, but, so far, has not published the results.

If you really want to read the details in this sham amendment, you can click on the pages and they will enlarge enough for you to do so.

Before Obamacare kicks in you might be interested in knowing that we are already paying for 1 out of every 6 people in the U.S. to receive health care.

The Chicago Tribune's endorsement of Mike Tryon Friday emphasized his suggestions for Medicaid reform. He wants to roll back eligibility requirements to 2006 and shift more beneficiaries to managed care. Click to enlarge.

These are the recent Medicaid statistics. If you don’t believe me check out CBS News online.

Medicaid has nothing to do with Medicare, which is for our senior population.

Anyone think that Democratic bureaucrats who don’t bother to enforce immigration aren’t allowing a million or so illegals to be getting Medicaid?

State Rep. Mike Tryon discussed the ease of getting on Illinois' Medicaid rolls and how one must ask to be taken off at his and State Senator Pam Althoff's recent Crystal Lake Town Hall Meeting.

A little bogus documentation and my guess is Dem bureaucrats are happy to give away Medicaid benefits.

In Illinois State Rep. Mike Tryon explained at his and State Sen. Pam Althoff’s Town Meeting that all one has to do to get on Medicaid is to produce one pay stub with a low enough income.

To get off, a person has to write state government and ask to be removed from the rolls.

Do you think there isn’t serious fraud going on with who gets enrolled into Medicaid?

Tryon said people come over the Indiana state line to get medical care in Illinois, compliments of us Illinois state taxpayers. No effort is made to discover if a person is a citizen or a legal alien, he said.

He estimates the fraud and abuse at $5-6 billion a year.

I guess that’s what you get with a “giveaway” mentality.

So the Democratic Party’s bigger government effort isn’t going to just benefit needy Americans.

People with common sense can see that liberal Democrats running Illinois, not to mention the rest of the country, have given the country change we don’t want.

We are already paying for free health care for 48 million people in our nation. It is baked into our taxes and insurance premiums.

Employers and people who are getting private insurance coverage are subsidizing Medicaid by having to pay higher premiums. Democrats don’t want to talk about how you are already paying for Medicaid directly and indirectly.

Maybe someone out there can determine if Viagra and Viagra-like drugs are safety net health care options under Medicaid.

State Rep. Mike Tryon explained the extent of Medicaid fraud to a Crystal Lake Town Hall Meeting Tuesday night. State Senator Pam Althoff can be seen next to him.

Last night State Rep. Mike Tryon estimated the fraud in the Illinois Medicaid program at $5-$6 billion at his joint Town Hall Meeting with State. Sen. Pam Althoff.

But this case is mainly about Medicare, the Federal medical program for seniors.

The good guy in the picture is a fellow doctor, Dr. Lokesh Chandra, who filed a whistle blowing suit in 2006. He will received 17.5% of any payments from the bad guy.

How greedy was the bad guy?

“(Dr. Sushil) Sheth regularly submitted claims seeking payment that, when added together, had him providing more than 24 hours of medical services and treatment in a single day.

Could it be significant that among the investigating agencies listed at the bottom of the press release that no Illinois state officials are included?

FORMER AREA PHYSICIAN AGREES TO $20 MILLION SETTLEMENT

WITH U.S. COVERING CIVIL FALSE CLAIMS ALLEGATIONS

BY WHISTLE-BLOWER

CHICAGO — A former Chicago area physician, who was sentenced last month to five years in prison for stealing millions of dollars from Medicare and more than 30 other public and private health care insurance programs, has agreed to a $20 million settlement with the United States covering related civil claims, federal officials announced today.

Sushil Sheth, a cardiologist who had privileges at three area hospitals, had pleaded guilty to health care fraud for lying thousands of times to Medicare and other insurers in order to receive millions of dollars he did not earn for patients he never treated.  Sheth used the fraud proceeds to live a lavish lifestyle, purchasing a suburban mansion, property in Arizona, luxury automobiles, and investing in various venture capital opportunities.

Sheth, 50, of Burr Ridge and whose office was in Flossmoor, is scheduled to begin serving his 60-month prison term next month.  He was also ordered to pay restitution totaling approximately $13 million, and he agreed to forfeit property and funds totaling more than $11.3 million that the government seized from him.

In the separate civil case, Sheth has agreed to pay the United States $20 million to settle allegations of fraudulent billing between 2002 and 2007, announced Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

A federal False Claims Act lawsuit filed in 2006 by a fellow physician was unsealed after the United States negotiated the settlement.

The agreement calls for the whistle-blower, Dr. Lokesh Chandra, to receive 17.5 percent of any amounts collected from Sheth by the United States or the State of Illinois.  United States of America and the State of Illinois, ex rel. Lokesh Chandra v. Sushil A. Sheth, M.D., 06 C 2191 (N.D. Ill.)

According to the civil lawsuit, Dr. Chandra contracted with Sheth to have him cover hospital rounds and patients when Dr. Chandra was out of town or otherwise unavailable.

Sheth saw patients for Dr. Chandra and others at Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey and Advocate South Suburban Hospital in Hazel Crest.  Sheth also had privileges at St. Margaret Mercy Healthcare Centers in Hammond.

Between 2002 and 2007, Sheth submitted false claims seeking payment from Medicare and Medicaid for services at the highest level of in-patient cardiac care when, in fact, those services were not performed.

The settlement was reached on behalf of Dr. Chandra and

• the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General;
• the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which administers the Federal Employees Health benefits Program;
• the Railroad Retirement Board Office of Inspector General;
• TRICARE Management Activity (U.S. Defense Department); and
• the Illinois Department of Health and Family Services.

The agreement provides that any amounts recovered will be distributed as follows:

• Medicare — 97.776 percent;
• Medicaid — 0.004 percent;
• OPM — 2.106 percent;
• TRICARE — 0.114 percent.

It also provides that any amounts paid to the United States as criminal restitution will be credited against the $20 million judgment.

Under the federal False Claims Act, defendants may be liable for triple the amount of actual damages and civil penalties between $5,500 and $11,000 for each violation.  Individual whistle-blowers may be eligible to receive between 15 and 25 percent of the amount of any recovery in cases where the government intervenes.

In the criminal case, Sheth admitted using his hospital privileges to obtain information about patients without their knowledge or consent.

He then hired individuals to bill Medicare and other insurance providers for medical services that he purportedly rendered to patients whom he knew he never treated.

Typically waiting almost a year after the treatment was purportedly provided, Sheth submitted more than 14,800 false claims for reimbursement for providing the highest level of cardiac care — requiring hands-on treatment in an intensive care unit — on multiple days during patients’ hospital stays.

Sheth regularly submitted claims seeking payment that, when added together, had him providing more than 24 hours of medical services and treatment in a single day.

The investigation was conducted by

• the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General in Chicago;
• the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation;
• the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General in Chicago;
• the Chicago Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Labor Employee Benefits Security Administration, and
• the Inspector General’s Office of the Office of Personnel Management and
• (the Inspector General’s Office of) the Railroad Retirement Board.

The government was represented in the civil case by Assistant U.S. Attorney Linda Wawzenski.