Sunday, September 30, 2012

Los Angeles Man Tied to Series of Fraud Cases Sentenced in Medicare Scheme



Prison Time for Wheelchair Scam Artist



A Los Angeles man was sentenced to six years in prison last week for his role in a power wheelchair scam, topping what prosecutors say has been a series of Medicare fraud cases.

David James Garrison, 50, a former physician assistant, was found guilty by a federal jury for his role in submitting $18.9 million in fraudulent Medicare claims for power wheelchairs and other equipment.

The wheelchair case is the third time Garrison has been accused of Medicare fraud.

In 2009, Garrison pleaded no contest to tax evasion for his role in what prosecutors described as a fraudulent medical clinic. He pleaded not guilty in October to charges that he forged prescriptions as part of an OxyContin ring that sold 1 million pills on the streets. That case is ongoing.

Garrison's attorney did not return a call for comment about the cases.

Garrison's physician assistant license lapsed in 2009, said Russ Heimerich, a spokesman for the Department of Consumer Affairs, which oversees many state licensing boards. He said the board examined the tax evasion case and did not see it as grounds for discipline.

According to court documents, Garrison's cases involved the use of “cappers” or “marketers” who recruited Medicare beneficiaries to submit to unneeded care or hand over their personal information. That information was used to bill the program for medications, services or supplies that the patients didn’t need.

In the wheelchair case, prosecuted by the Los Angeles U.S. attorney's office, one witness testified that  marketers had to recruit beneficiaries as far as 300 miles from Los Angeles because so many local people had already been used in other fraud schemes.

In the first health fraud case linked to Garrison, he was described as an “at large” suspect in October 2007 when then-Attorney General Jerry Brown announced arrests in a $1.5 million health fraud scam.

"The suspects create a fake healthcare clinic to line their own pockets rather than help the sick and elderly," a 2007 statement from Brown said.

In that case, Garrison was accused of ordering medically unnecessary diagnostic tests at Scott Medical Center in Burbank, where he had worked since 2003. Medicare and Medi-Cal beneficiaries were recruited to go to the clinic, where expensive tests were ordered and billed to the government.

Garrison pleaded no contest to tax evasion in 2009 related to his earnings from the clinic. 

When federal authorities arrested Garrison in the wheelchair scam in 2010, he was also charged for keeping a .357 handgun in an unlocked hatbox near the front door of his Inglewood apartment. Garrison pleaded no contest in 2010 to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Heimerich said while the gun case was prosecuted by the state, it arose from a federal arrest that did not trigger a notice to the physician assistant licensing board. Also, he said a state court clerk was required to notify the board but did not.

During a two-week trial, evidence showed that Garrison worked at Van Nuys and Los Angeles clinics where he wrote prescriptions and ordered tests on behalf of six doctors, including one whose photo he couldn't identify.

With Garrison’s prescriptions in hand, co-defendant Edward Aslanyan sold them for $1,000 to $1,500 to owners of about 50 different medical equipment firms. The medical supply companies used the prescriptions to buy the chairs from wholesalers for about $900, then billed Medicare for up to $5,000 per chair.

The hefty profit margins have made the wheelchairs a major target for Medicare fraud throughout the U.S. Garrison and Aslanyan wrote and sold the prescriptions from March 2007 to September 2008, prosecutors said.

A jury found Garrison guilty of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, six counts of health care fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. Aslanyan pleaded guilty to his role in the scam and was sentenced to six years in prison as well.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney David Kirman, the medical equipment firms included one run by a pastor, Christopher Iruke, who relied on members of the Arms of Grace Christian Center to perpetuate  Medicare fraud.

Court documents show that two Garrison acquaintances told a defense investigator that he was their children's track and field coach and was honest and well-liked. One parent said Garrison's "integrity is unshakable."

In November, Garrison faces trial on drug charges related to a clinic that allegedly forged prescriptions for the addictive and powerful painkiller OxyContin, which was sold on the street for up to $30 per pill.

Prosecutors say he worked there from the summer of 2009 to February 2010. He has pleaded not guilty.

In that case, federal prosecutors allege that Garrison worked as a physician assistantat an Eighth Street clinic in Los Angeles where recruiters offered Medicare and Medi-Cal patients cash or free medical care to go to the clinic.

There, Garrison and others met briefly with patients and issued prescriptions of 90 top-strength OxyContin pills. Other members of the alleged drug ring went with the patients to obtain the pills from pharmacies and gave them to another man who sold them on the street.

Garrison told investigators that he issued the prescriptions if he felt the patients needed pain medications or had been taking OxyContin.

View this story on California Watch

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Briefs..... - thenews.com.pk



Business digest

China paper hints at anti-Japan sanctions

BEIJING: The mouthpiece of China’s Communist Party warned on Monday that Japan’s economy could suffer for up to 20 years if Beijing chose to impose sanctions over an escalating territorial row.

Anti-Japanese protests have been held across China in recent days over a dispute on a group of small islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries but controlled by Tokyo.

The row intensified last week when the Japanese government bought three of the islands, effectively nationalising them, and China responded by sending patrol ships into the waters around them.

Trade sanctions between Asia’s two biggest economies could cast a pall over growth on the continent, which major Western countries are counting on to drive recovery from the global slowdown.

A commentary in the People’s Daily newspaper said the Japanese economy has already experienced two lost decades from the 1990s and was suffering further weakness in the aftermath of the world financial crisis and 2011 earthquake.

Digital news offering aims at high ground

WASHINGTON: It seems like a terrible time to be launching a news operation.But there are opportunities and niches, and the new digital media launch called Quartz from Atlantic Media Company seeks to exploit them.

Quartz is set to launch in the coming weeks as a “100 percent digital” news operation covering “the most important themes of the new global economy,” said editor-in-chief Kevin Delaney.

Quartz has been recruiting a small number of veteran journalists for an overall news staff of around 25 people. The operation will feature tablet and mobile displays as well as a desktop website, qz.com.

“There is an opportunity to do great journalism on a digital platform,” Delaney, a former managing editor of The Wall Street Journal Online, told AFP.“It’s a great time to launch a proBject like this. We’ve learned the lessons of what works over the last few years.”

Quartz will offer free content, with revenue coming from advertising, aiming to cover key global business issues and reach readers around the world.“We’re really confident in the ad-supported model,” Delaney said. “There has been strong advertiser interest.”

The name Quartz was chosen “because it embodies the new brand’s essential character: global, disruptive and digital. Quartz, the mineral, is found all over the world, and plays an important role in tectonic activity,” a statement said.

South Korea think-tank cuts growth forecast

SEOUL: South Korea’s state-run think-tank on Monday cut its forecast for the country’s growth this year to 2.5 percent, citing the Eurozone debt crisis.

The Korea Development Institute’s latest outlook is well below the government’s revised growth forecast in June of 3.3 percent, and over a percentage point below a May prediction of 3.6 percent.

The country’s exports dropped sharply for a second straight month in August, suggesting the export-reliant economy is struggling with shrinking demand overseas.

It said Asia’s fourth-largest economy is expected to expand 3.4 percent next year, gradually recovering from the slowdown caused by slow exports and sluggish domestic demand.

Philippines tips economy to grow six percent

MANILA: The Philippine economy could grow by almost six percent this year thanks to improving business optimism despite a series of destructive storms in recent months, officials said on Monday.

The economy, which grew by 6.1 percent on year in the first half, could do even better in the rest of the year as the government implements measures to boost laggard sectors, socioeconomic planning secretary Arsenio Balisacan said.

He added outsourced businesses, trade and tourism were all doing well and agriculture and manufacturing were expected to pick up in the second half.

“With the healthy macroeconomic fundamentals and the higher business optimism, we will most likely hit the upper end of the 5-6 (percent) target,” he told a forum with investors.

Heavy rains and storms last month and early-September, which left huge parts of the capital flooded, killings scores and displacing millions, had only a minimal effect on the economy, Balisacan added.

He said farmers still had time to re-plant after the storms, adding that the floods affected mostly small businesses and not the large factories or call centres.

Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez cited the 11.68 percent rise in tourist arrivals to 2.2 million in the first half of the year as a further reason for optimism.

Central bank governor Amando Tetangco reported a 5.3 percent rise in remittances from the millions of Filipino working overseas to $13.3 billion in the first seven months of 2012.The officials also reported increased interest from potential foreign investors, following President Benigno Aquino’s election in 2010 on an anti-corruption platform.

Turkish unemployment rate drops to 8 percent

ISTANBUL: Turkey’s unemployment rate fell to eight percent of the workforce in the three months from May to July, the lowest in more than a decade, official data showed on Monday.

The number of unemployed people fell by 311,000 over the period to reach 2.226 million, Turkish Statistics Institute (TUIK) said on its website on the basis of a survey of 95,699 people.

Unemployed rate stood at 9.2 percent in the same period of 2011. Since then the number of people in jobs increased from 24.901 million to 25.577 million.

Turkey’s economy staged a spectacular recovery from the global crisis, growing by 8.9 percent in 2010 and by 8.5 percent in 2011.Unemployment remains a major challenge for the government in a 73 million strong country where many young people enter the workforce each year.

Turkey’s jobless rate is determined through household surveys across the country, which are then used to make a nationwide three-month projection.

But experts say the figures do not reflect the overall picture because of widespread undeclared or hidden unemployment, or the employment of highly-educated people in menial jobs. Turkish unemployment rocketed to an annual 10.3 percent in 2001 following a major financial crisis, from a steady 6.5 percent in the previous year.

Major Companies Declare Results

By our correspondent

APL announces final cash dividend of Rs32.50

KARACHI: Attock Petroleum Limited (APL) announced on Monday a final cash dividend of Rs32.50 per share though its profit-after-tax for the year ended June 30 slightly down by four percent to Rs4.12 billion from Rs4.25 billion last year, said a statement of the company.

The divided was in addition to interim cash dividend of Rs17.50 per share. Therefore, total divided for the year was calculated at Rs50 per share, according to the profit and loss account of the company.

The earnings per share stood at Rs59.61 from 61.58 last year.

Net sales of the company rose by 39 percent to Rs176.81 billion from Rs127.03 billion last year. However, the financing cost increased by 77 percent to Rs1.21 billion from Rs682.66 million.

POL earns profits of Rs11.85bn

The profit-after-tax of Pakistan Oilfields Limited increased by 10 percent to Rs11.85 billion for the year ended June 30 from Rs10.81 billion earnings last year, said a statement on Monday.

This translated into the earnings per share of Rs50.11 from Rs45.72 last year, according to the profit and loss account of the company.

The company announced a final cash dividend of Rs35 per share. This was in addition to Rs17.50 interim dividend. Therefore, the cumulative dividend for the year stood at Rs52.50 per share.

Net sales of the company increased to Rs30.82 billion from Rs27.10 billion last year. Exploration cost declined by 45 percent to Rs1.07 billion from Rs593.55 million. However, the financing cost increased by 206 percent to Rs684.57 million from Rs223.93 million.

ARL profit rises to Rs2.73bn

Attock Refinery Limited posted a net profit of Rs2.73 billion for the year ended June 30, which was 25 percent higher than Rs2.18 billion last year, said a statement.

The net profit included profit-after-tax from refinery operations of Rs1.14 billion and income from non-refinery operations of Rs1.58 billion during the period under review.

Last year, the company earned Rs1.11 billion from refinery operations and Rs1.06 billion from non-refinery operations, said the profit and loss account of the company. Therefore, total earnings per share stood at Rs32.07 from Rs25.63 last year.

The company also announced a final cash dividend of Rs6 per share. This was in addition to Rs1.50 per share the company has already paid to the shareholders The sales of the company surged by 33 percent to Rs154.38 billion during the period under review from Rs116.38 billion last year. The financing cost increased by 22 times to Rs994.73 million from Rs45.45 million last year.

Fauji Cement earns over half-a-billion profit

Fauji Cement Company Limited reported a profit-after-tax of Rs552.59 million for the year ended June 30, which was 30 percent higher than Rs425.66 million earned in the previous year, said a statement issued by the company.

The earnings per share (EPS) were calculated lower at 29 paisas against 52 paisas last year, according to the profit and loss account of the company available with the Karachi Stock Exchange.

M Affan Ismail, an analyst at BMA Capital, reported that EPS diluted in the year under review due to addition of 1,905 million shares. The increase in earnings was primarily attributable to strong gross margin coupled with improved sales, he said. Phenomenal surge in cement prices coupled with meager decline in coal prices resulted in gross margin growth of nine percentage points to 27 percent.

Moreover, the utilisation of additional capacity of 2.1 million tons resulted in higher sales, which further improved the profits.

The net sales of the company surged by 143 percent to Rs11.52 billion from Rs4.74 billion last year. However, financing cost on loan obtained for capacity expansion kept the earnings under pressure, as the cost augmented to Rs1.83 billion from Rs103.92 million last year.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Warning to borrowers over interest-only mortgages

http://www.scotsman.com/business/personal-finance/warning-to-borrowers-over-interest-only-mortgages-1-2514783 



Lenders have changed the goal posts considerably over the last few years and many borrowers are faced with being stuck on a variable rate Picture: Getty Images

 By Jeff Salway
Published on Saturday 8 September 2012 14:10


Borrowers with interest-only mortgages have been urged to seek advice after a leading banker raised concerns over the number of people struggling to repay their loans.



New Barclays chief executive Anthony Jenkins predicted this week that interest-only mortgages may be the next big mis-selling scandal. He identified the loans as a likely source of future complaints and said the bank, which has a large chunk of interest-only loans on its books, had already seen thousands of borrowers with problems repaying their capital.

Industry experts have been expressing fears for some time over the number of people with interest-only mortgages but with no viable means of repaying their capital at the end of the term.

Interest-only loans work by letting the borrower pay the interest first and clear the actual capital at the end of the term. They sold in massive numbers during the housing market boom, when homeowners and lenders were confident that house prices would continue soaring and enable capital to be repaid with sale proceeds.

But some eight in ten people with interest-only mortgages maturing over the next decade have no adequate repayment strategy in place, according to the Financial Services Authority (FSA), which described the scenario as a “ticking time-bomb”.

 The problem for borrowers has been exacerbated by a marked tightening of lending criteria. Where they used to offer interest-only loans to those with just 10 per cent deposits, most lenders now demand equity or a deposit of at least 50 per cent.

They have also clamped down on the repayment plans they will accept. The Lloyds Banking Group brands, for example, will no longer accept cash savings (including Isas) as a way of repaying the capital on an interest-only mortgage.

The crackdown came in anticipation of a regulatory ban on interest-only mortgages. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has now moved away from that option, but it still plans restrictions on the way interest-only deals are repaid.

“Lenders have changed the goal posts massively over the last two years and many borrowers are going to be stuck on a variable rate because they need to retain the interest-only payments,” said Alison Mitchell, mortgage expert at Edinburgh IFA Robson Macintosh. ”Lenders are choosing who they wish to lend to and interest-only is just another way of sifting out the unwanted.” That helps explain why lenders are being increasingly pro-active in checking if borrowers are on course to repay their mortgage.

Robin Purdie, director of MOV8 Financial in Edinburgh, said: “Many lenders with interest-only mortgages on their books are now writing to borrowers and asking them for an up-to-date picture of their repayment strategy, and whether it is on target or not.”

“They are doing so sooner than they historically might have done, or when a borrower is attempting to renew their product.”

If you do want to remortgage while staying on an interest-only loan, the lender will want evidence of a solid repayment strategy.

Many, as mentioned already, will lend only to those with 50 or, in some cases, 75 per cent equity in their home.

As Mitchell, pointed out, the change in criteria means a lot of borrowers face being stuck on their bank’s variable rate for the long-term because they don’t have sufficient equity to secure another interest-only mortgage. In other words, they will become mortgage prisoners. Worryingly for that group, lenders are raising the cost of their standard variable rate (SVR) mortgages even while the Bank of England base rate remains at 0.5 per cent.

“The individuals coming off their current products and hoping to grab one of the many great low fixed rates on offer are in for a shock, unless they bite the bullet and switch to repayment.”

That switch to a capital repayment plan is the best option for many people, according to Purdie. But it may be unrealistic for those in or near retirement, he warned.

“It could be a problem for any older borrowers as their repayment period will be dramatically reduced now that lenders are reluctant to lend into retirement,” said Purdie. “This shortened repayment term could deem this to be an unaffordable option for many.”

There are other options, however. One is to work out if there’s another repayment vehicle you can use that will be acceptable to a lender. For instance, most lenders are still happy with savings and investment vehicles, so if you’ve got plenty of time left on your loan you could put together a savings plan that has capital repayment as the eventual goal.

Another possibility while mortgage rates are low is to overpay your loan, provided your terms allow it. This may improve your chances of securing either another interest-only mortgage or a decent fixed rate capital repayment deal.

Younger borrowers could also take advantage of some lenders increasing the maximum age on their products – generally up to age 75 – by extending their term. “This potentially allows for a 40-year term and so reduces the monthly payments applicable,” said Mitchell. “By taking the loan over a longer period and reducing the capital, the mortgage can still be affordable.”

There are fewer options open to older borrowers, however, with the slow housing market and lower house prices effectively ruling out downsizing as a solution.

There are ways out, though. A growing number of over-55s are looking to lifetime mortgage where interest payments are made, according to Mitchell.

“This means that the level of debt remains the same and doesn’t eat away all the equity in the property,” she explained. “There is no requirement to prove income and it can be set up with competitively priced rates. Its gives the borrower peace of mind knowing the debt will be cleared from the property.”

But with lenders not in the mood for compromise, the reality is that many borrowers will become mortgage prisoners. If you’ve got no capital repayment vehicle set up you may have little choice but to take whatever you’re offered.

It’s vital to explore the options open to you before settling for that, however, which is why Mitchell urges borrowers to get help from a financial adviser.

“By doing this you can ensure all your options are fully considered and that the best route is taken, whether that be remaining with your current lender or finding a way to switch to a repayment mortgage.”

Thursday, September 6, 2012

BOJ official sees China "in danger zone" for facing financial crisis

http://www.cnbc.com/id/48734843 

TOKYO (Reuters) - The combination of a property price bubble, demographic changes and rapid loan growth heightens the chance a country will face a financial crisis, a Bank of Japan deputy governor said on Tuesday, warning that China is now entering a "danger zone" in this regard.

Kiyohiko Nishimura, one of the BOJ's two deputy governors and a former university professor with expertise on data analysis, noted that there were similarities between Japan's asset-price bubble of the 1990s and the U.S. housing market bubble of the 2000s.

In both cases, when the ratio of working-age people to the population peaked at a time of high property prices and sharply rising loans, these coinciding conditions led to "malign" bubbles that spawned a financial crisis, he said.

"China has not yet peaked with respect to working-age population ratio, but it is close," while loans are on the rise and property prices showed a clear upsurge through 2010, Nishimura told a conference in Sydney hosted by the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Bank for International Settlements.

"It is clear that not every bubble-bust episode leads to a financial crisis. However, if a demographic change, a property price bubble, and a steep increase in loans coincide, then a financial crisis seems more likely. And China is now entering the 'danger zone'," he said, according to the text of his speech posted on the BOJ's website.

Nishimura made the remarks at the research conference, where policymakers studied asset bubbles and discussed how they affect financial stability and what tools they had at hand to prevent them or minimize the damage to the economy once they burst.

His speech, titled "How to detect and respond to property bubbles: challenges for policy-makers," analyzed in theoretical context the historical trends of asset bubbles.

Nishimura also said policymakers themselves sometimes sow the seeds of property bubbles by nourishing overly optimistic expectations about the economy among the public.

"It is extremely difficult to persuade people who (want to) believe 'this time is different' and are convinced they are now on the foothills of eternal prosperity, just as long as their path is not blocked by some stupid policymaker," he said.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

ING Rethinking Insurance Unit SALE and 3 HOT Stocks Moving the Market


According to Reuters ING (NYSE:ING) may disconnect the sale of its $1 billion Hong Kong insurance unit from other Asian operations that are on the block. The move could render the unit more attractive to a buyer focused on that region, while allowing ING to accept lower prices at auctions of the S. Korean and Japanese businesses which have met with only a lukewarm response.
Don’t Miss: Who is Apple’s New FRIEND?
ResCap is facing a probe from the SEC for alleged impropriety in loan originations and underwriting and also likely fraud in the sale of mortgage bonds. The probe came to light when the SEC filed in court to compel printer R.R. Donnelley & Sons (NASDAQ:RRD) to hand over documents it prepared for underwriters of the bonds.
Arbitration between Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) and Citigroup (NYSE:C) has been extended for a further period up to September 10 in order to arrive at a mutually acceptable price for the purchase of another 15 percent tranche in the Smith Barney brokerage JV. While Morgan Stanley values the original business at $9 billion, Citi sees the same at $23 billion, a rather wide disparity that has to be settled by arbitrator Perella Weinberg.
JA Solar (NASDAQ:JASO), Chinese manufacturer of mono-crystalline solar cells, reports an EPS of -$0.37 for its second quarter, which is off estimates by $0.23. Revenues are down 32.3 percent y-on-y at $284.4 million, which misses by $ 8 million

Monday, September 3, 2012

Korea`s largest bank reports 3,000 cases of loan doc fraud


Korea`s largest bank Kookmin has had 3,000 cases of document manipulation in applications for collective loans for intermediate payment.
The bank said five people recently filed a petition to police after suffering losses from manipulation of related documents by bank staff, and has launched an investigation into similar cases.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service and the bank, Kookmin probed between the end of last month and Aug. 10 manipulation cases on 200,000 collective loans for intermediate payment on 850 reconstruction and redevelopment apartment sites, and discovered more than 3,000 fraud cases.

According to the bank`s findings, most cases involved employee manipulation of the expiration date of collective loans for intermediate payment. In the past, three years of maturity have typically been written for collective loans for intermediate payment regardless of when the borrower would move to the house. If the bank`s headquarters reduced the time to 26 or 27 months, however, bank employees would scrape out the number and put in three years again.

If the lending period is shorter than the date written in the contract, the borrower would be pressured for repayment. Collective loans for intermediate payment are shifted to lending with home collateral. So a person can move into a house before the lending maturity expires, but failure to move in within the time frame would mean he or she must make the intermediate payment because it is not shifted to a home equity loan.

Since the number of manipulation cases was bigger than expected, a massive filing of lawsuits is likely. Fraud was considerable in cases of apartments that people had signed contracts on, an area that has seen many conflicts between builders and banks.

A financial regulatory source said, "Document manipulation cases, if identified, will raise the number of lawsuits by residents."

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Korea`s largest bank reports 3,000 cases of loan doc fraud




Logo of Kookmin Bank (KB)

Korea`s largest bank Kookmin has had 3,000 cases of document manipulation in applications for collective loans for intermediate payment.
The bank said five people recently filed a petition to police after suffering losses from manipulation of related documents by bank staff, and has launched an investigation into similar cases.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service and the bank, Kookmin probed between the end of last month and Aug. 10 manipulation cases on 200,000 collective loans for intermediate payment on 850 reconstruction and redevelopment apartment sites, and discovered more than 3,000 fraud cases.

According to the bank`s findings, most cases involved employee manipulation of the expiration date of collective loans for intermediate payment. In the past, three years of maturity have typically been written for collective loans for intermediate payment regardless of when the borrower would move to the house. If the bank`s headquarters reduced the time to 26 or 27 months, however, bank employees would scrape out the number and put in three years again.

If the lending period is shorter than the date written in the contract, the borrower would be pressured for repayment. Collective loans for intermediate payment are shifted to lending with home collateral. So a person can move into a house before the lending maturity expires, but failure to move in within the time frame would mean he or she must make the intermediate payment because it is not shifted to a home equity loan.

Since the number of manipulation cases was bigger than expected, a massive filing of lawsuits is likely. Fraud was considerable in cases of apartments that people had signed contracts on, an area that has seen many conflicts between builders and banks.

A financial regulatory source said, "Document manipulation cases, if identified, will raise the number of lawsuits by residents."