AP Exclusive: Carson profits from ties with convicted felon
Source: Associated Press
Republican presidential contender Ben Carson has maintained a business relationship with a close friend convicted of defrauding insurance companies and testified on his behalf, even as the candidate has called for such crimes to be punished harshly.
Pittsburgh dentist Alfonso A. Costa pleaded guilty to a felony count of health care fraud after an FBI probe into his oral surgery practice found he had charged for procedures he never performed, according to court records.
Though the crime carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison, Costa was able to avoid prison time after Carson helped petition a federal judge for leniency.
That's different from the position Carson took in 2013 as he prepared to launch his presidential campaign, saying those convicted of health care fraud should go to prison for at least a decade and be forced to forfeit "all of one's personal possessions."
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/7dbf61be9ac94bbe959e94addb6f7def/ap-exclusive-carson-profits-friendship-felon
Grassy Knoll
(10,118 posts)The AP is a drive by librul media hack.
NewJeffCT
(56,829 posts)and, his followers are so conditioned to hear those words that they'll accept it without even thinking about it
valerief
(53,235 posts)Babel_17
(5,400 posts)riversedge
(70,299 posts)Nothing fair about that.
................The breadth of the two men's business ties has not been previously reported, partly because details can be obscured in property and incorporation records. Costa's company and its affiliates own properties in at least five states and overseas.
In 2007, a few months before Costa was charged, records show that a pair of corporations was established in Pennsylvania called BenCan LLC, and INBS LLC. Carson and his wife are listed as the sole members of the companies. Though the Carsons live outside Baltimore, the mailing address on the incorporation forms was Costa's home address in Pittsburgh.
BenCan and INBS then paid more than $3 million to purchase an office building in suburban Pittsburgh. The mailing address for the corporations listed on the deed matches the office of Costa's real estate firm, Costa Land Co.
That September, federal prosecutors charged Costa, accusing him of fraud committed over a nearly five-year period, according to court records. Investigators determined that Costa's dental practice charged more than 50 patients for procedures that had not been performed, resulting in a loss of more than $40,000 to insurance companies.
Babel_17
(5,400 posts)It's the hypocrisy implied by comparing Carson's actions, to his rhetoric. Maybe he's a softie when it comes to people he knows, OK, but then let's explore that issue. He should be asked about this disparity between what he proposes, and how he's acted.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)He has already proved he been dishonest about events his own life, and now we find he has friends who commit fraud....
meow2u3
(24,772 posts)Otherwise, you'd have to be either independent or a Democrat.
Babel_17
(5,400 posts)That comes to mind.
M.G.
(250 posts)Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo has hypothesized, correctly in my view, that the Carson campaign is very largely a money-making scheme via direct mail fundraising disguised as politics. Because the GOP is such a freakshow, the scam has somehow turned into a frontrunning campaign.
It certainly seems like Carson associates with and profits from connections with a lot of sleazy scam artists - Mannatech, now this guy.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)Surely Republican Leadership and republican-fox who has paid Dr. Carson millions knew about this.?
Wonder how it feels to be a "little republican" and know you're being scammed for just that one vote.
tzar paul
(50 posts)and, for those who actually (!) need it,
packman
(16,296 posts)NonMetro
(631 posts)I'm shocked! Shocked, I say!
Oh, it was probably a lot more that $40,000, too. That's probably just the amount the prosecutor could prove. If somebody walked into a bank and stole that kind of money, he'd probably be looking at 40 years!
tomm2thumbs
(13,297 posts)If it was from the Democratic side, this would be saved for later -- should Carson even make it past the primary. Seems like someone with lots of influence is getting pretty upset about Carson being so high in the GOP rankings. I can't imagine who that might be.
lark
(23,155 posts)He's the winner for the most delusional clown in the R Klown Kar. He's really a double threat, having taken first in the "Most Lies" department as well. R's really have a winner with him and the rest that aren't much different from a crazy and policy POV.
red dog 1
(27,849 posts)reducing his sentence would "create the appearance that a defendant's financial resources and prominent connections can skew the justice system in ways not available to persons of lessor means."
So this friend of Carson's gets zero prison time, despite the fact that he admitted that he did, indeed, commit fraud.
Meanwhile, former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman sits in federal prison for a crime he didn't commit; and he will continue to sit there until late 2017, unless he gets a Presidential pardon, (which is unlikely, since Obama's Justice Department asked the judge to INCREASE his prison sentence).
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016136630
restorefreedom
(12,655 posts)but psycho lion murderer walter palmer was a dentist too.
something in the profession that makes them think they are above the law?