Highmark, Ultra reports and Medicare Audits – handle them by yourself at your own risk (or, why smart Doctors lawyer up) June 1, 2011
Posted by jefhenninger in Articles.Tags: Medicare Audit, Medicare Fraud, ULTRA Report
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Medicare is a pain to deal with. That’s why you love your billing manager so much right? Well, if you get a letter from Highmark indicating that an ULTRA report shows an aberrancy in your practice with regard to certain billing codes, I suggest you call a good Medicare fraud lawyer right away. The problem with the initial letter from Highmark is that is not really that threatening. It just lets you know that there is an issue. For the most part, you don’t really have to even do anything; there is nothing to even fill out. You could just file it away and ignore it right?
That could be a huge mistake. Sometimes after the letter with the ULTRA report, you will be targeted for an audit. The audit starts with a request for medical records for approximately 25 to 35 patients or services. These medical records will be reviewed internally which will generate an analysis that either supports your utilization or determines that the services were not covered for a variety of reasons, i.e., medical necessity, failure to abide by policies such as mandatory surgical second opinions or some other cause such as fraud. You will then be permitted to submit additional information which can then be submitted to an outside reviewer. Clearly, the big issue here is whether it appears that you are billing for services that did not occur or that you are intentionally over billing.
When records are requested, you should an attorney helping you through the process. The records you initially supply will be used to determine whether you will be subject to a refund request and further review. This could be your last opportunity to present all of the information necessary to support your actions in an attempt to avoid a costly audit and investigation. Your attorney should help you decide what to say and how much information to provide although it generally helps to provide as much information as possible but the records have to be organized and easy to read/understand. Your attorney may also have the records reviewed by an outside reviewer to bolster your position that your actions/practices are correct.
Please keep in mind that Medicare and Highmark can/will use the records that you have provided as a sample to generate refund requests covering the three year period prior to the services. For example, if 20 services are reviewed and it is determined that 10 of those services were unnecessary, then you may be subject to a refund request for 33% of all of the money that was paid for you for those services for the prior three years. That could be a very large sum of money.
Of course, you can and should speak to your attorney about disputing the ULTRA report and not waiting for the audit. First, review the ULTRA report to make sure that you are correctly characterized with regard to specialty as your practices are compared to your peer group (i.e. other physicians in your specialty). I’ve had cases where Highmark’s ULTRA report was not correct because my client had a very unique practice and thus, the peer group was not correct. You then need to review your billing practices with regard to those procedure codes in order to defend your practices or to revise that practice. In other words, assume you had to testify tomorrow. Would you be able to explain everything you did or your billing manager does? Are all of your records in order? Could you prove everything as if the burden of proof was on you? You also want to see how far above the 95% percentile you are. The closer you are to being off the charts, the greater the danger for not only an audit, but also a fraud investigation or prosecution.
Remember, even if you are found not guilty, your reputation is too important to risk. Don’t handle this yourself. Call a good attorney right away.
New Jersey Medicare Fraud Lawyers
Why Congressman Anthony Weiner was not hacked and why he claims he was June 1, 2011
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: Congressman Anthony Weiner
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Unless you live under a rock, you have most likely heard that about the Anthony Weiner twitter scandal. Updated info is here. The latest now is that he cannot deny that the picture is him which is basically saying that the pic is really him. After all, if you took a picture of your crotch, wouldn’t you remember it? Wouldn’t you be able to identify your body parts in a picture? Exactly. So, lets assume that the pic is him.
If Congressman Weiner’s story is true, you would have to believe that he has a pic of his crotch just sitting on his computer. Then, he would have had to have left his computer on but unattended. Some hacker then uses a Trojan horse or some other method to hack into his computer. This evil hacker, who can do anything to this computer and access any file, decides to go through his pictures. Out of all of the information on this computer, this one picture is the key piece of information that the hacker seizes upon. Now the hacker has to decide what to do with it. I know, says the hacker to himself, I’ll open up his web browser and see, if by chance, he has saved any of his passwords. What luck, the Congressman saved his twitter password so that he can be automatically logged in. At this point, the hacker can then take over the twitter account and post all sorts of crazy things. Nope, the hacker would rather send the image to some random girl, Gennette Cordova, (who just happens to be pretty) that follow him on twitter. After that, the hacker clearly feels as if he/she has accomplished everything there was to accomplish and then he/she moves on without creating any other havoc. Then, the Congressman quickly learns of the evil deed and tweets that he has been hacked. All of this sounds a little crazy, huh?
If you are thinking that there may be other options here as to how this could have occurred, consider these points:
1. The picture clearly seems to be him. Thus, there is no way a hacker would have gotten into this computer and then separately hacked into the twitter account.
2. The twitter account is a verified account and if hacked, twitter would have pulled the account.
3. If twitter itself was hacked, it would have called in the FBI to investigate. Furthermore, as a soon to be public company, their security is important.
4. The hacker would have changed the password.
Clearly, Congressman Weiner cannot admit to sending a picture of his crotch to some young woman. It would ruin his career and probably ruin his new marriage. He screwed up and got caught. His story is crazy but you cannot prove him wrong as he will not allow anyone to have access to the evidence that can prove his story. I find it odd that a Congressman is permitted to go on TV and lie (more so than normal) and just get away with it. Twitter has to be concerned at some point here as they do not want the public to think that their system is not secure. They plan to go public sooner or later and they do not need a Congressman telling the world that his verified account was not secure.
In the end, the media should stop playing into the theory that he could have been hacked. He wasn’t. He did it. Let’s move on.
Mortgage Companies hire private investigators to investigate mortgage fraud April 10, 2011
Posted by jefhenninger in Articles.Tags: Mortgage Fraud
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Law enforcement is permitted to lie to you to secure a confession. However, there are restrictions in what they could lie about. However, private citizens including private investigators can lie to you. Thus, if you get contacted by an investigator that is looking into your loan application, you may want to speak to an attorney before you say or do anything. I would be especially concerned if the investigator actually shows up at your house. To illustrate this point, consider this example from a recent case I had:
My client (who denied any wrong doing) was visited by a local investigator who was working on behalf of a company called Armitage & Associates based out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The letter indicates that “Armitage & Associates and Investigative Solutions, LLC have been retained by Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation (MGIC) to reverify, as part of an internal control process, the facts and circumstances surrounding the mortgage loan application by ….”. The letter goes on to say that “a quality control audit is in effect for the above mortgage loan transaction. This is NOT an attempt to collect a debt or legal issues; this is strictly an attempt to confirm information on your original loan application, which is required as part of a routine quality control audit. Your interview is necessary in order to finalize and close this file. Your prompt attention and cooperation is appreciated”.
OK, let’s break this down. This company is going through some type of quality control audit for a mortgage that was written some time ago. Oddly enough, the property in question went into foreclosure. If there is a quality control audit going on, couldn’t they just call you and ask you some questions? Or, couldn’t they just mail you some information to fill out? Instead, MGIC would rather hire one company that would then hire another company to come to your house and speak with you. Of course, instead of just sending anyone to you, they hire and send out “investigators”. Why are private investigators involved in a quality control audit? Why are they spending so much money just to look into quality control for an application from several years ago? None of it adds up does it?
Looking at Armitage’s website, one will see that they have a big focus on mortgage fraud. They say that: ”Our mortgage fraud investigation team is comprised of former mortgage insurance industry insiders – loan originators, underwriters and loan processors. Along with our unique blend of innovative and traditional investigative techniques, we have the knowledge and insights to know exactly what information is needed and how to obtain it. You can rely on our mortgage fraud investigation team for reliable research, detailed reports and prompt turnaround time.”
Their website also includes testimonials, such as this one “Over the past 4 years we have used Rico Garcia and Armitage & Associates to investigate mortgage fraud involving lenders, brokers, mortgage loan originators, processors, realtors, appraisers, and borrowers. The success of each of our lawsuits against any of the above named “fraudsters” was the direct result of the investigative work of Armitage & Associates.” Doesn’t sound like an audit to me. While Armitage does indicate that they offer quality control services, mortgage fraud does seem to be a major focus for them.
Why would MGIC be looking into old mortgage applications? When a bank forecloses on a home with an insured mortgage, companies such as MGIC are on the hook for the payments. If they can prove that there was fraud, they may be able to get out of paying up. For example, in one California case involving a dispute with Countrywide, MGIC indicated that they performed an investigation and “first, contrary to Countrywide’s insurance application, [the borrower] was never an account executive at GNG Investments. There is no such enterprise operating in Santa Clara or anywhere else in California. Nor did she earn $13,494 per month, as Countrywide represented. Instead, she earned $3,901.58 per month as a janitor for Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. … she never had a bank account at Wells Fargo, let alone one worth $45,000. Nor did she put a $30,000 down payment—or a down payment of any amount—on her house”.
How do you think they found out all of that information?
Bergen County Attempted Sexual Assault of a Minor Attorney – Charges Continue to be Filed March 28, 2011
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: Attempted Sexual Assault of a Minor Attorney, computer crime
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Bergen County Attempted Sexual Assault of a Minor Attorney
With offices in Clifton, New Jersey, our attorneys see a lot of work out of Bergen County. As computer crime attorneys, we have represented clients charged with possession of child pornography and attempted sexual assault of a minor. So called “traveler cases” which are named after the suspect’s actions of traveling to meet an alleged minor for sex, were made famous in the Dateline NBC series, “to catch a predator”. While these cases can be filed anywhere in New Jersey, the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office clearly seems to be the leader in such prosecutions.
I have successfully handled these matters including the case of a Middlesex County politician charged in a rather high-profile bust a few years ago. If you are charged with these crimes, call us anytime to discuss the case. An example of one of the more recent arrests are below. There have been even more recent arrests, but this office does not comment on existing or potential clients unless the case is otherwise in the news.
A 51-year-old Ship Bottom man charged with the attempted sexual assault of a minor has been released from the Bergen County Jail. Walter J. Domanski Jr., arrested Dec. 3 in a sting operation in Bergen County, posted $185,000 bail on March 18, 2011. Domanski is the national director of the Exercise Tiger National Foundation, is a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary and a longtime lifeguard on Long Beach Island. He was also charged with attempted endangering the welfare of a minor. Law enforcement said that Domanski arranged a meeting between himself and a minor — actually undercover law enforcement officers — in Bergen County, to have sex. He was later arrested after driving to a location in Bergen County.
2 ex-workers charged with embezzling $500,000 from Lakewood company February 19, 2011
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: embezzlement
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Two former employees of a Lakewood company have been charged by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office with stealing funds from their employer. Arrested Tuesday were Mildred L. Hahn, 62, of Florida Court in Brick, and James R. Distasio, 32, of Halliard Avenue in Beachwood. The two had worked at Mon-Oc Mechanical Inc. Avenue in Lakewood.
Hahn is accused of embezzling in excess of $500,000 from the company between 2003 and 2009, according to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s office.
Hahn was in charge of the firm’s bookkeeping duties, including processing payroll checks to employees. Employed with the company for 33 years, she also oversaw company bank deposits for all its business accounts and paid all company bills. The investigation began after company officials filed a theft complaint with Lakewood police. A complaint against Hahn also charges her with writing unauthorized company checks to herself.
Hahn was arrested at home and charged with theft, computer criminal activity as computers and the computer database were used in the alleged theft and fraudulent use of a stolen credit card. Distasio was arrested and charged with theft of company funds, according to the complaint warrant. Distasio, a general foreman at Mon-Oc Mechanical for approximately 12 years, is accused of partnering with Hahn to steal approximately $130,000 of company funds which were diverted to Distasio by company checks made out to him and authorized by Hahn.
Story is here.
Three Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission employees arrested on charges of official misconduct February 1, 2011
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: official misconduct
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Three Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission employees were arrested today on charges of official misconduct as part of an ongoing probe into the troubled agency. Arrested were Anthony Ardis, 56, of Paterson, a former PVSC Commissioner who currently is Clerk to the Board of Commissioners and Director of Management Services at the PVSC; Kevin Keogh, 45, of Roseland, Superintendent for Special Services at the PVSC; and Chester Mazza, 69, of Totowa, Assistant Superintendent for Special Services.
Each was charged with official misconduct. The defendants will be held at Passaic County Jail, with bail for each set at $75,000. According to the complaint, each was hit with charges that they directed subordinate employees to complete repairs or improvements at their private homes or the homes of people close to them while the employees were on agency time.
According to the complaint, on several occasions Ardis allegedly sent PVSC employees to his mother’s home to tear down sheet rock in her garage and do other home maintenance work. On another occasion, Ardis sent PVSC workers to his girlfriend’s home to replace two air-conditioning units. According to the Star Ledger, Ardis serves as the agency’s ethics officer and is a former district director for U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell.
The complaint alleges that Keogh sent workers to his home on several occasions to do deck work, remove old windows and install replacements and cut, finish and install kitchen cabinet doors. Mazza is alleged to have sent PVSC employees to his home twice, once to install a roof vent and a second time to repair an outside wall.
Official misconduct carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in state prison. For each defendant, the conduct is alleged to have occurred after April 14, 2007, when enhanced penalties for official misconduct took effect. As a result, each defendant would face a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison without possibility of parole if convicted. In other words, these crimes have become very serious and the mandatory terms present problems for criminal defense attorneys.
The agency has been under fire daily over the past two weeks as Gov. Chris Christie ordered the removal of six of seven commissioners last week. Christie was responding to an expose by the Star Ledger that detailed several abuses including hiring of several family members by the sitting commissioners. All six resigned late last week. Last year, Christie replaced the agency’s director with former prosecutor Wayne Forrest. Earlier this week, Forrest cut the salaries of every employee making over $100,000.
127 people arrested in connection with huge Mafia bust January 20, 2011
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: mafia
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Ninety-one members and associates of seven organized crime families of La Cosa Nostra (LCN), including the New England LCN family, all five New York-based families and the New Jersey-based Decavalcante family have been charged with federal crimes in 16 indictments returned in four judicial districts. Another 36 defendants also have been charged for their roles in alleged associated criminal activity. Clearly, a lot of attorneys will be very busy.
More than 110 of the 127 charged defendants have been arrested, and will appear in federal court in the districts in which they are charged. The charges relate to a wide range of alleged illegal activity, including murder, murder conspiracy, loansharking, arson, narcotics trafficking, extortion, robbery, illegal gambling and labor racketeering, in some cases occurring over decades. The indictments charge leaders of these criminal enterprises, as well as mid-level managers, numerous soldiers and associates, and others alleged to be corrupt union officials.
Among those charged are Luigi Manocchio, 83, the former boss of the New England LCN; Andrew Russo, 76, street boss of the Colombo family; Benjamin Castellazzo, 73, acting underboss of the Colombo family; Richard Fusco, 74, consigliere of the Colombo family; Joseph Corozzo, 69, consigliere of the Gambino family; and Bartolomeo Vernace, 61, a member of the Gambino family administration. In total, more than 30 official members of the LCN, or “made men,” were charged in the indictments unsealed today.
According to the indictments, the LCN operates in numerous cities around the United States and routinely engages in violence and threatens violence to extort money from victims, eliminate rivals, settle vendettas and obstruct justice. In the New York City-area, five LCN families principally operate: the Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese and Luchese families. The Decavalcante family operates principally in New Jersey, while the New England LCN family operates in areas including Providence and Boston. Each LCN family has a hierarchical structure, with an administration comprised of a boss, underboss and consigliere at the top overseeing crews of criminals led by captains, who in turn supervise organized crime soldiers and associates.
In Brooklyn, 12 indictments were unsealed today charging 85 defendants from all five New York-based families as well as defendants from the Decavalcante family. One indictment (United States v. Russo) charges 39 defendants, including the entire leadership of the Colombo family not currently in prison – street boss Andrew Russo, acting underboss Benjamin Castellazzo and consigliere Richard Fusco – as well as four of the crime family’s official captains and eight of its soldiers, with crimes including racketeering and racketeering conspiracy committed during an approximately 20-year period. Among other acts of violence, Colombo family acting captain Anthony Russo is charged with the 1993 murder of Colombo family underboss Joseph Scopo during an internecine war among family members. According to court documents, Scopo was shot in the passenger seat of a car outside of his residence in Ozone Park, Queens, N.Y. The Russo indictment also charges numerous crimes of extortion and fraud, including charges related to the Colombo crime family’s alleged long-standing control of Cement and Concrete Workers Union Local 6A, and its alleged defrauding of the City of New York in regard to an annually held feast, the Figli di Santa Rosalia. The indictment is based in part on hundreds of hours of recorded conversations of members and associates of the Colombo family, including meetings of the Colombo family administration.
Two of the indictments returned in Brooklyn (United States v. Vernace and United States v. Dragonetti) charge 13 members and associates of the Gambino family, including Bartolomeo Vernace, a member of the current Gambino family administration. The Vernace indictment includes, among others, charges against Vernace in regard to the 1981 double murder of Richard Godkin and John D’Agnese inside the Shamrock Bar in the Woodhaven neighborhood of Queens. D’Agnese died from a single gunshot to the face and Godkin died from a point-blank gunshot to his chest. The Dragonetti indictment charges numerous acts of extortion, including a conspiracy by the Gambino family to extort a New York City cement manufacturer, as well as various construction companies and sites outlined on the crime family’s so-called “Construction List.”
In nine of the indictments charged in Brooklyn (United States v. Alesi, United States v. Balzano, United States v. Caramanica, United States v. Cicalese, United States v. Colandra, United States v. Gallo, United States v. Gioia, United States v. Messina and United States v. Samperi), members and associates of the Colombo, Gambino, Genovese and Decavalcante families are charged variously with racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, extortion, perjury, obstruction of justice, illegal gambling, receipt of stolen property and possession of contraband cigarettes. For example, in United States v. Messina, Bonanno family associate Neil Messina is charged with the murder of Joseph Pistone during a home invasion robbery in 1992. The Alesi indictment charges, among other things, a former member of the Suffolk County, N.Y., Police Department’s Emergency Services Unit with obstructing a state investigation of illegal gambling businesses by tipping off the business to upcoming law enforcement raids. The Cicalese indictment charges three members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) with committing perjury during testimony before a federal grand jury investigating organized crime’s infiltration of the waterfront and the ILA.
Another indictment (United States v. Depiro), being prosecuted jointly by the District of New Jersey and the Eastern District of New York, charges 15 defendants with various racketeering related crimes, including extortion of members of ILA Local Union 1235 and other New Jersey ILA locals, as well as for acts of illegal gambling through the management of a sports betting operation and a poker club, and extortionate collection of credit related to gambling debts. Certain defendants, who include numerous current and former officials in local ILA unions based in New Jersey, are alleged to be affiliated with the Genovese family. According to court documents, the Gambino and Genovese families have engaged in a multi-decade conspiracy to influence and control the unions and businesses that work on the New York-area piers. According to court documents, Stephen Depiro managed the Genovese family’s illegal activities on the New Jersey piers, including the Genovese family’s long-standing conspiracy to extort ILA members each year during the Christmas period, when the longshoremen annually receive a portion of royalty payments paid by shipping companies using the ports of New York and New Jersey. Depiro and others allegedly conspired with his cousin, Nunzio LaGrasso, an associate of the Genovese family and the vice-president of ILA Local 1478 in Newark, to extort ILA members each year.
In Manhattan, 26 defendants, primarily from the Gambino family, have been charged in two indictments that include charges related to racketeering conspiracy, murder, narcotics trafficking, extortion, assault, arson, loansharking, illegal gambling, mail and wire fraud, and stolen property crimes. Among the defendants charged are Joseph Corrozo, 69, who has served at times as the Gambino family consigliere; Bartolomeo Vernace, 61, a member of the Gambino family administration, who is also charged in Brooklyn; Gambino family captains Alphonse Trucchio, 34, and Louis Mastrangelo, 66; and Gambino soldiers Michael Roccaforte, 34, Anthony Moscatiello, 40, and Vincenzo Frogiero, 43.
According to court documents filed in the Manhattan cases, the criminal conduct allegedly occurred for more than two decades, from the late 1980s to approximately 2010. Gambino associate Todd LaBarca, 39, is charged with the 2001 conspiracy to murder and murder of Gambino family associate Marty Bosshart. According to the indictment, Bosshart was murdered on Jan. 2, 2002, with a single gunshot to the back of his head, and his body was left on the side of the road in Queens. According to court documents, a cooperating witness consensually recorded more than 100 conversations with other members and associates of the Gambino family, including conversations with LaBarca about the murder. In addition, according to court documents, the cocaine and marijuana trafficking involved multiple thousands of kilograms of the illegal drugs.
Finally, an indictment unsealed in Providence charges two defendants – longtime boss of the New England LCN Luigi Manocchio, 83, and LCN associate Thomas Iafrate, 61, – with extortion and extortion conspiracy. The extortion conspiracy allegedly spans almost two decades of illegal activity and involves the extortion of local pornographic bookstores and nightclubs, including the Satin Doll and the Cadillac Lounge, both in Providence.
The charges carry a variety of maximum penalties, up to life in prison on certain charges.
The defendants charged in each district will be prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys from each of the respective districts in which the cases were charged, including the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York, the District of Rhode Island and the District of New Jersey. The case charged in Providence is also being prosecuted by trial attorneys from the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Racketeering Section.
The cases were variously investigated by the FBI’s New York and Newark Field Offices, and the Boston Division’s Providence Resident Agency; the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations; the New York City Police Department; the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office; the U.S. Secret Service; the Suffolk County Police Department; the Rhode Island State Police; and the Providence Police Department. The Drug Enforcement Administration; the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations; the U.S. Marshals Service in the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York; the Monmouth County, N.J., Prosecutor’s Office; the New York State Police; the New Jersey State Police; the New Jersey Department of Corrections; the U.S. Army-Ft. Hamilton; and the Italian National Police also provided assistance.
Bay Head police chief relieved of duty while investigation continues January 17, 2011
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: official misconduct, theft by deception
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Police Chief Charles Grace Jr., 50, of the Bay Head Police Department was relieved of duty Saturday by Ocean County Prosecutor Marlene Lynch Ford as part of an ongoing investigation. Deputy Chief Michael Mohel of the Prosecutor’s Office said Grace was charged in a complaint filed by Detective Ray Gardner, also of the Prosecutor’s Office. The complaint stated that in an investigation beginning April 10, 2007, Grace unlawfully took more than $500 in money belonging with Bay Head-Mantoloking Police Benevolent Association. Mohel has been named acting chief of police by Ford until the Borough Council can take action. The State has not revealed the exact amount of money allegedly taken. No word on when Grace was notified of the investigation or whether Grace has an attorney.
Grace was chief of police since 2005 and was president of the Ocean County Chiefs of Police Association in 2010. Mohel said day-to-day operations of the department will be handled by Bay Head police officers Lt. Robert Hoffman, Sgt. First Class Geoffrey Barger and Sgt. William Hoffman, who have all been with the department for more than 20 years. When a chief police administrator is removed from position in a town, Mohel said the prosecutor appoints someone to temporary command until the Borough Council can take further action, which should occur within about three weeks.
Story is here.
Feds probe Christine O’Donnell’s campaign spending December 29, 2010
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: Election fraud
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Federal authorities have opened a criminal investigation of Delaware Republican Christine O’Donnell to determine if the former Senate candidate broke the law by using campaign money to pay personal expenses according to a source. The source spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to protect the identity of a client who has been questioned as part of the probe (i.e. defense lawyer). The case, which has been assigned to two federal prosecutors and two FBI agents in Delaware, has not been brought before a grand jury. Matt Moran, O’Donnell’s former campaign manager, did not immediately respond Wednesday to questions from The AP. He said earlier this month that the campaign had not been contacted about any investigation.
The U.S. Attorney’s office has confirmed that it is reviewing a complaint about O’Donnell’s campaign spending filed by a watchdog group, but officials in the office and the FBI declined to say whether a criminal investigation was under way. O’Donnell, who set a state record by raising more than $7.3 million in a tea party-fueled campaign this year, has long been dogged by questions about her finances. At least two former campaign workers have alleged that she routinely used political contributions to pay her personal expenses in recent years as she ran for the Senate three consecutive times, starting in 2006. The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission making similar allegations and asked Delaware’s federal prosecutor to investigate.
O’Donnell’s campaign has denied wrongdoing, but acknowledged she had paid part of her rent at times with campaign money, arguing that her house doubled as a campaign headquarters. However, federal law prohibits candidates from spending campaign money for personal benefit. FEC rules say this prohibition applies to the use of campaign money for a candidate’s mortgage or rent “even if part of the residence is being used by the campaign,” although O’Donnell’s campaign maintained that it was told otherwise by someone at the agency.
Looks like this is going to get serious. Most lawyers like to sit and wait which I think is a big mistake. I like to launch a full investigation. She needs to get a defense lawyer, gather documents and records, start interviewing witnesses and get on the phone with one of these AUSA’s. Otherwise, she could wind up with big problems. The best defense is an active defense. Waiting around to see what happens never helped anyone.
Story is here.
