Whistleblower: Medicaid Managed-Care Firm Improperly Denied Care To Thousands

In early October, an executive at one of the nation’s largest physician-practice management firms handed her bosses the equivalent of a live grenade — a 20-page report that blew up the company and shook the world of managed care for poor patients across California.

For years, she wrote, SynerMed, a behind-the-scenes administrator of medical groups and managed-care contracts, had improperly denied care to thousands of patients — most of them on Medicaid — and falsified documents to hide it. read more »

$7.5 Million to Settle Allegations of Paying Kickbacks to Physicians in Exchange for Surgical Referrals

Pine Creek Medical Center LLC (“Pine Creek”), a physician-owned hospital serving the Dallas/Fort Worth area, has agreed to pay $7.5 million to resolve claims that it violated the False Claims Act by paying physicians kickbacks in the form of marketing services in exchange for surgical referrals, the Department of Justice announced today. read more »

ICO That Promised 13-Fold Profit in a Month Is Halted by the SEC

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission won an emergency asset freeze to stop an initial coin offering that the agency said has defrauded investors by promising a 13-fold profit in less than a month.

The asset freeze was granted as the SEC sued Dominic Lacroix and his company PlexCorps in federal court in Brooklyn, the agency said in a statement on Monday. The firm and Lacroix, described by the SEC as a recidivist securities law violator, have raised $15 million since August marketing and selling a product called PlexCoin over the Internet, according to the statement. read more »

‘The Beautiful Game’ as Explained to Americans at a U.S. Trial

FIFA -- ‘It’s kind of like the NFL,’ prosecutor tells jurors

Testimony includes accounts of bribes paid to soccer bosses

At a U.S. corruption trial of three former South American soccer barons, lawyers want to make sure that the case doesn’t get lost in translation.

It’s confusing enough that the trial involves a byzantine, 24-year conspiracy involving more than a dozen soccer officials around the globe accused of taking six-figure bribes for broadcast and media rights. Then there’s soccer -- a sport that claims a growing U.S. fan base but is something of an also-ran to American football, basketball and baseball. read more »