Politics DRAINING THE SWAMP

Discussion in 'Blazers OT Forum' started by MARIS61, Aug 21, 2018.

  1. Lanny

    Lanny Original Season Ticket Holder "Mr. Big Shot"

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    Fox, well now you've got us there. Fox is known for their accuracy.
     
  2. MARIS61

    MARIS61 Real American

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    Filipina immigrant who became hotshot Chicago judge sentenced to jail for $1.4m mortgage fraud
    By Lukas Mikelionis | Fox News

    Jessica Arong O’Brien, 51, broke down into tears after the judge sent her to prison after the federal jury convicted her in February of two counts alleging that she took part in a scheme in which several lenders were scammed. (Facebook)

    The first Filipina judge in Cook County, Chicago, who came to the U.S. with almost nothing and no education, was sentenced on Thursday to a year in prison after being found guilty to participating in a $1.4 million mortgage fraud scheme a decade ago.

    Jessica Arong O’Brien, 51, broke down into tears after the judge sent her to prison following her February conviction of two counts alleging that she took part in a scheme in which several lenders were scammed, the Chicago Tribune reported.

    She was convicted of lying to lenders to obtain more than $1.4 million in mortgages on two investment properties that she sold while she owned a real estate company.

    O’Brien reportedly made money by selling the two homes in 2007 after paying kickbacks to a straw purchaser. Personally, she made a profit of at least $325,000 from the sales, prosecutors said.

    The lenders, meanwhile, lost money as the straw purchaser defaulted on payments and properties were foreclosed.

    [​IMG]
    Jessica Arong O’Brien with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. (Facebook)

    Her lawyer Steve Greenberg argued for probation, pointingto her true American dream story, where a Filipina immigrant, who came to the U.S. without anything, educated herself and became a judge.

    According to the Tribune, after O’Brien came to the U.S., she earned degrees in culinary arts and restaurant management. She later went to John Marshall Law School, graduating in 1998.

    With a law degree, she went on to become the first Asian elected president of the Women's Bar Association of Illinois and served on the board of governors for the Illinois State Bar Association. She also co-founded a group in 2008 that gives scholarships to law students from diverse backgrounds.

    But U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin denied the request for probation, arguing that her fraud scheme wasn’t just a mistake but a rather elaborate fraudulent scheme.

    "This wasn’t stupid. This was a crime. … You really didn’t need to do this."

    — U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin

    Prosecutors, meanwhile, used O’Brien’s story to push for a harsher sentence, saying that she committed fraud despite not having the financial needs to do it.
    https://www.foxnews.com/us/filipina...go-judge-sentenced-to-jail-for-mortgage-fraud
     
  3. MARIS61

    MARIS61 Real American

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    Department of Justice
    U.S. Attorney’s Office
    District of Columbia
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
    Friday, December 21, 2018
    Former Government Consultant Indicted on Federal Charges in Bribery and Fraud Scheme
    Defendant Allegedly Bribed D.C. Government Employee to Cash in on Contracts
    WASHINGTON – A consultant and independent contractor for a company that did business with the District of Columbia Department of Human Resources was indicted today on charges that he paid more than $140,000 in bribes to a former D.C. government employee and that he stole payments on city contracts that should have gone to his employer.

    John Woods, 56, of Sterling, Va., was indicted by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on three counts of wire fraud, four counts of mail fraud, one count of bribery, and two counts of engaging in illegal monetary transactions. The indictment also includes a forfeiture allegation seeking all proceeds of the alleged crimes. Woods will be arraigned on the charges on a date to be determined by the Court.

    The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu, Nancy McNamara, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and District of Columbia Inspector General Daniel W. Lucas.

    According to the indictment, Woods worked as a consultant and independent contractor for a firm identified in the court documents as “Company A.” The firm had agreements with the District of Columbia Department of Human Resources (DCHR) to provide organizational skills training courses and human resources consulting to various D.C. government agencies. Woods was the company’s main point of contact with DCHR and handled the submission of invoices.

    The indictment alleges that, beginning in April 2013, and continuing through August 2017, Woods schemed to defraud “Company A” and the D.C. government.

    As part of the scheme, according to the indictment, between April 2013 and February 2015, Woods stole $214,910 in D.C. government checks that were issued to “Company A.” Beginning in March 2015, the indictment alleges, Woods began usurping “Company A’s” role under the contracts and keeping the profits for himself. The indictment alleges that Woods fraudulently deposited approximately 27 checks issued by the D.C. government to “Company A” into a bank account he controlled, totaling approximately $1,040,023, from March 2015 through August 2017.

    In order to keep his scheme in place, the indictment alleges that Woods paid more than $140,000 in bribes to Latasha Moore, then a DCHR employee. As a resource allocation analyst, Moore was the main point of contact for “Company A” and in a position to ensure that no complaints or suspicions about the contracts reached others in the government. For example, Moore failed to report problems that arose while Woods was managing the work, including complaints of contractors arriving late, leaving early or failing to show up at all for training.

    Moore, 38, of Washington, D.C., pled guilty on Oct. 11, 2018 to a federal bribery charge. She is awaiting sentencing.

    An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal laws and every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.

    Mail fraud and wire fraud charges carry statutory maximum of 20 years in prison. The bribery charge carries a statutory maximum of 15 years in prison, and the charge involving illegal monetary transactions carries a statutory maximum of 10 years. The charges also carry potential financial penalties. The maximum statutory sentence for federal offenses is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes. The sentencing will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

    This case is being investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office and Office of the Inspector General of the District of Columbia. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Marando, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
    https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/...cted-federal-charges-bribery-and-fraud-scheme
     
  4. MARIS61

    MARIS61 Real American

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    Department of Justice
    U.S. Attorney’s Office
    District of Columbia
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
    Tuesday, December 18, 2018
    Maryland Woman Charged With Health Care Fraud
    Defendant Allegedly Caused Medicaid To Be Billed Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars
    WASHINGTON – A Maryland woman who was employed as a personal care aide has been charged with scheming to submit false claims to the District of Columbia’s Medicaid program.

    The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu, Assistant Director in Charge Nancy McNamara of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, District of Columbia Inspector General Daniel W. Lucas, and Special Agent in Charge Maureen R. Dixon of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), for the region that includes Washington, D.C.

    Mobolaji Tina Stewart, 57, of Laurel, Md., was arrested on Dec. 13, 2018 on a criminal complaint charging her with health care fraud and making health care false statements. She made her first appearance later that day in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and was ordered held pending a detention hearing today. At that hearing, she was ordered released on personal recognizance pending further court proceedings.

    According to the complaint, Stewart was employed as a personal care aide from January 2014 through her arrest. Under the Medicaid program, personal care aides perform services intended to assist Medicaid beneficiaries in carrying out the activities of daily living. These can include helping beneficiaries get in and out of bed, bathe, dress, take medication, and engage in toileting. To receive personal care services under Medicaid, a beneficiary must obtain a prescription from a doctor.

    Stewart’s billing practices drew the attention of the District of Columbia Department of Health Care Finance after she was identified as the second-highest paid personal care aide in 2014 and 2015.

    According to the complaint, Stewart caused Medicaid to be billed for more than 24 hours in a given day, for services that she allegedly provided while she was out of the country, and for services that she allegedly provided to a beneficiary who was hospitalized at the time. Based on a review of Medicaid billing claims data, between January 2014 and January 2017, Stewart caused Medicaid to issue payments totaling approximately $434,000, including payments based on fraudulent timesheets.

    The charges in a criminal complaint are merely allegations, and every defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

    The investigation into this matter is being conducted by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the District of Columbia Office of the Inspector General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, and the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

    The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kondi Kleinman, with assistance from Trial Attorney Amy Markopoulos of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Paralegal Specialist Robert Fishman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
    https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/maryland-woman-charged-health-care-fraud
     
  5. Lanny

    Lanny Original Season Ticket Holder "Mr. Big Shot"

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    Ah, so the Justice Department does do some good.
     
  6. MARIS61

    MARIS61 Real American

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    Wells Fargo to pay states $575M for phony accounts, deception scandals
    By Brittany De LeaPublished December 28, 2018MarketsFOXBusiness

    Scandal-plagued Wells Fargo has agreed to pay $575 million to a number of states to settle claims related to the notorious fake bank account scandal and allegations of other deceptive practices, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

    States have been investigating Wells Fargo for the phony account scandal – discovered about two years ago – whereby employees of Wells Fargo’s retail banks allegedly set up as many as millions of phony accounts for customers without their consent or knowledge in order to meet sales targets. Since then the bank has dealt with a slew of major issues across many of its businesses.

    Reuters reported that the settlement would also cover allegations of improper insurance referrals and auto loan insurance, in addition to wrong mortgage rate lock extension fees.

    A person familiar with the matter told the Journal that the payout would need court approval.

    A spokesperson for Wells Fargo did not immediately return FOX Business’ request for comment.

    Wells Fargo paid a $185 million fine in 2016 as a penalty for the phony account scandal.

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced in June that Wells Fargo had agreed to pay a $1 billion fine as part of a settlement after the bank allegedly forced an auto loan insurance program onto hundreds of thousands of consumers who did not need it and mischarged consumers for certain mortgage interest rate lock extension products.

    Earlier this year, the Justice Department announced that the bank would pay a civil penalty of more than $2 billion for allegedly misrepresenting the quality of its residential mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the financial crisis.
     
  7. Lanny

    Lanny Original Season Ticket Holder "Mr. Big Shot"

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    My wife and I have an account at Wells Fargo. I wonder if we were unknowing victims.
    Just a tid bit of knowledge here but it was Wells Fargo that absorbed First Interstate Bank which came from Oregon's First National Bank.
     
  8. MARIS61

    MARIS61 Real American

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    My first bank account was at The Oregon Bank on 4th and A Ave in LO.
     
  9. Lanny

    Lanny Original Season Ticket Holder "Mr. Big Shot"

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    Must have been when I was living in either Portland or Aloha.
    Our family used to have accounts in the First National Bank building between State St. and First St. on 'A' avenue. This was near the old Rexall Pharmacy where I use to sneak a peak at the first Playboy magazines. That bank building moved before the first Playboys came out.
    As a small child attending Forest Hills Grade School I had a savings account at an institution on State St. near 'A' Avenue.
     
  10. bodyman5000 and 1

    bodyman5000 and 1 Lions, Tigers, Me, Bears

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    Don't worry. That also was Fox News. Never happened
     
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  11. Lanny

    Lanny Original Season Ticket Holder "Mr. Big Shot"

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    I don't trust Fox News. That doesn't mean they're always wrong. They're just wrong often enough for me to not trust them. In fact, they're well beyond the threshold of being untrustworthy.
     
  12. MarAzul

    MarAzul LongShip

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    ginsburg.jpg

    Ginsburg is begining to look like a stand in for Stephen Hawkins.

    Oh! I probably should not have posted this!
     
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  13. MARIS61

    MARIS61 Real American

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    Another child-molester bites the dust.

    Prominent Democratic donor Terry Bean indicted on sex abuse charges

    By Kathleen Joyce | Fox News

    Democratic donor Terry Bean indicted on sex abuse charges

    Prominent Democrat donor Terry Bean was indicted earlier this month on two counts of sodomy and one count of sex abuse for allegedly having sex with a teenage boy.

    Bean was arraigned Thursday on the charges, TV station KGW8 reported. He pleaded not guilty and was taken into custody at Lane County jail in Oregon. He was released Thursday and told KGW8 he was “innocent.”

    The indictment was filed on Jan. 4 but made public following the arraignment.

    OBAMA FUNDRAISER, DONOR FACING SEX ABUSE CHARGES

    Bean, a gay rights activist who donated almost $70,000 of his own money to former President Barack Obama’s campaign, was charged with sexual abuse in 2014 but the case was dismissed after the alleged victim did not testify. Prosecutors refiled the charges after this, court records stated, according to The Oregonian. The “alleged victim is not named in the new indictment” but the dates are similar to the previous charges, KGW8 noted.

    Bean, a real estate developer, and his former boyfriend, Kiah Lawson, allegedly had sex with a 15-year-old boy in a Eugene, Oregon, hotel in September 2013. They allegedly used the app Grindr to arrange the sexual encounter. Lawson was also charged but his case was dismissed.

    The media outlet reported that political candidates accepted campaign contributions from Bean after the case was dropped against him.
    https://www.foxnews.com/us/prominent-democratic-donor-terry-bean-indicted-on-sex-abuse-charges
     
  14. SlyPokerDog

    SlyPokerDog Woof! Staff Member Administrator

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    Mine was at Fred Meyer Savings and Loan. Everyone who opened an account was entered to win an Atari Pong game.

    The Washington Mutual bought them.

    The Chase bought WaMu.

    I closed the account when Chase got involved.
     
  15. Lanny

    Lanny Original Season Ticket Holder "Mr. Big Shot"

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    The swamp won't be drained at least until we get rid of Trump.
     
  16. Lanny

    Lanny Original Season Ticket Holder "Mr. Big Shot"

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    We had an account at Fred Meyer's. We got some cool crystal glasses for opening that account. While I was in St. Louis, I didn't pay attention to the fact that if you didn't access the account, and I can't recall what the requirement was but probably some sort of minimum monthly deposit. We were charged a service charge. They closed our account because of a zero balance and that's when I learned what was going on. I wouldn't have anything to do with those bastards if my lifte depended on it.
    Now, we've got gobs of cash and any derivative of Fred Meyer's savings and loan will never see another dime from us.
     
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  17. CupWizier

    CupWizier Well-Known Member

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    Nah, it seems to be your typical classless act.
     
  18. Lanny

    Lanny Original Season Ticket Holder "Mr. Big Shot"

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    Edit: We had an account at Chase and kept it just long enough to collect our $500 for opening an account with a minimum balance and then closed the account. I think we deposited $10,000 for six months. We made 10% on that deal.
     
  19. MARIS61

    MARIS61 Real American

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    Florida Secretary of State Michael Ertel resigned Thursday after photos emerged of him wearing blackface as a Hurricane “Katrina victim” at a Halloween party in 2005.
    The stunning development ended the former Seminole election supervisor’s 16-day stint as Florida’s top elections officer.
    The Tallahassee Democrat obtained the photos and showed them to Gov. Ron DeSantis’s office Thursday morning. The governor’s office announced Ertel’s resignation just hours later.
    “It has been an honor to serve you and the voters of Florida,” Ertel’s resignation letter stated.

    The Democrat reported that the photos were taken a few weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in August 2005.
    Ertel told the paper he was the man “in blackface and red lipstick, wearing earrings and a New Orleans Saints bandanna, and falsies under a purple T-shirt that had ‘Katrina Victim’ written on it.”

    Ertel would not talk with the Democrat about the circumstances surrounding the photo.
    “There's nothing I can say,” Ertel said. He did not respond to the Sentinel’s request for comment.

    Ertel had been Supervisor of Elections in Seminole County since 2005 before his appointment by DeSantis to the state job.
    [​IMG]© Provided by Local News RSS EN-US
    Mike Ertel “That is not the Mike Ertel that I know,” said Seminole County Commissioner Lee Constantine, who had been considered one of the potential successors to Ertel as supervisor.

    DeSantis named Chris Anderson, chief investigations officer for the Seminole County Tax Collector’s Office, as the county’s new supervisor of elections on Jan. 18.
    Ertel’s appointment to the key post, which oversees the Division of Elections, earned bipartisan praise after the state dealt with election chaos following the November election and the unprecedented three statewide recounts.

    Ertel had long been active on social media, providing opinions on Twitter and Facebook about elections issues. But on Thursday, his Twitter account was deactivated.
    The Seminole elections office also received plaudits for its programs, including the student registration efforts which earned it a prestigious First Time Voters Award in 2017 from the International Elections Awards in Jordan.

    On Friday, DeSantis suspended Palm Beach Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher at the recommendation of Ertel, who wrote a three-page letter that listed what he called “ingrained institutional incompetence” at the Palm Beach office.

    “I strongly recommend you [suspend Bucher],” Ertel wrote, “allowing fresh, competent leadership to take the reins of the much-maligned office.”

    http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/mi...lackface-photos-surface/ar-BBSHq9e?ocid=ientp
     
  20. Fez Hammersticks

    Fez Hammersticks スーパーバッド Zero Cool

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    Many
    Are
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    Arrested
     
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