christiefan915
Catalyst
Looks like Mr. Squeaky Clean isn't as pure as the driven snow after all. In bed with a health care scammer, tsk tsk.
"Presidential contender Ben Carson's relationship with a dentist-turned-developer from Fox Chapel, who pleaded guilty to health care fraud in 2008, today became the latest biographical question mark for the neurosurgeon who leads the Republican field in some recent polls.
In a letter filed with the U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh in 2008, Dr. Carson described Alfonso Antonio Costa as "one of my closest, if not my very closest friend," saying the two "were so much alike and shared the same values and principles that govern our lives." He added that their families vacation together and that they were "involved in joint projects."
Dr. Carson wrote that Costa was "an extraordinarily successful real estate developer" and "a man of his word. ... I could literally trust him with all of my earthly possessions and rest assured that I would get them all back with interest." Other than his wife, Dr. Carson wrote, "there is no one on this planet that I trust more than Al Costa."
The context for the laudatory comments, though, was Costa's sentencing on one count of health care fraud. Costa, according to the charging document signed by then-U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan, committed fraud from 1996 through 2001 in billing submitted to Highmark for dental treatment.
Five years later, the Associated Press reported, Dr. Carson said that 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.”
Costa, by contrast, got two years of probation, a $250,000 fine and $44,579 in restitution.
In 2007, nine months before Costa was charged, Dr. Carson created BenCan LLC and INBS LLC. State records indicate the firms were located at the home of Costa.
Dr. Carson's financial disclosures, filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics in June, indicate that he got, over a preceding 16-month period, unspecified six-figure income from each business. While the disclosures don't provide precise figures, a Wall Street Journal analysis placed Dr. Carson's income during that period at between $9 million and $27 million."
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/po...ed-felon-from-Pittsburgh/stories/201511120148
"Presidential contender Ben Carson's relationship with a dentist-turned-developer from Fox Chapel, who pleaded guilty to health care fraud in 2008, today became the latest biographical question mark for the neurosurgeon who leads the Republican field in some recent polls.
In a letter filed with the U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh in 2008, Dr. Carson described Alfonso Antonio Costa as "one of my closest, if not my very closest friend," saying the two "were so much alike and shared the same values and principles that govern our lives." He added that their families vacation together and that they were "involved in joint projects."
Dr. Carson wrote that Costa was "an extraordinarily successful real estate developer" and "a man of his word. ... I could literally trust him with all of my earthly possessions and rest assured that I would get them all back with interest." Other than his wife, Dr. Carson wrote, "there is no one on this planet that I trust more than Al Costa."
The context for the laudatory comments, though, was Costa's sentencing on one count of health care fraud. Costa, according to the charging document signed by then-U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan, committed fraud from 1996 through 2001 in billing submitted to Highmark for dental treatment.
Five years later, the Associated Press reported, Dr. Carson said that 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.”
Costa, by contrast, got two years of probation, a $250,000 fine and $44,579 in restitution.
In 2007, nine months before Costa was charged, Dr. Carson created BenCan LLC and INBS LLC. State records indicate the firms were located at the home of Costa.
Dr. Carson's financial disclosures, filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics in June, indicate that he got, over a preceding 16-month period, unspecified six-figure income from each business. While the disclosures don't provide precise figures, a Wall Street Journal analysis placed Dr. Carson's income during that period at between $9 million and $27 million."
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/po...ed-felon-from-Pittsburgh/stories/201511120148
