Los Angeles TV station reports on CSLEA and CACI-member FTB Investigators crack-down on huge scam
Source: editor@cslea.com
Date: 5/7/2010
Franchise Tax Board Investigators Matt Albee and Tom McPherson are two of the big stars in a report by Channel 11 News that astounds for the sheer scope of the Medicare scam they have exposed and are ending.
Albee, McPherson, and Albert Mackenzie of the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office are going after two accused ring leaders "the same way the feds brought down Al Capone," according to Fox 11, by comparing payments with tax records. In short, whereas criminal violations can take years to prosecute, tax violations take only months, and it is there that Albee, McPherson, and Mackenzie are aiming.
The story, brought together by Fox 11 reporter Phil Shuman, is loaded with riveting elements:
- arrests of doctors with checkered pasts
- bogus medical clinics
- a "shadowy Mr. Fix-It"
- "cookie-cutter criminal franchises"
- payments for dead patients
- palatial Pacific Palisades mansion
- bags of marijuana
- stacks of cash
- and $50 million in Medicare payments with little to show for it.
"Medicare and MediCal fraud, along with various other types of insurance frauds, have been problems that having been growing in both scope and dollar amounts for years, while resources to fight these types of crimes have generally been dwindling," said Al Irish, president of the California Association of Criminal Investigators, which represents FTB investigators. "Even now, the retired annuitant deputy district attorney who came up with this program, Al Mackenzie, was recently laid off by the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office as a budget-saving measure. Hopefully this will not adversely effect the continuation of this otherwise highly successful program."
Alan Barcelona, president of the California Statewide Law Enforcement Association, praised the great work of Investigators Albee and McPherson and held it up as a perfect example of how the members of his association save the state more money than it spends on their salaries--by multiples.
"Without our investigators, not only at the Franchise Tax Board, but also in dozens of agencies throughout state government, the public treasury would be robbed to a much greater extent than it already is," said Barcelona. "The people who steal money meant for the sick, elderly, and our children are particularly vile, but they are real, and they need to be stopped at every opportunity. But you can't stop them if you don't invest in more investigators and value the experience they are constantly adding to their store of knowledge in order to better serve the public. Fox 11's excellent report shows how important it is to spend a little to save a lot."
Shuman's report can be viewed below, the original article appears here.
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