STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A jet-setting Staten Island physician accused of improperly billing Medicare for millions of dollars in diagnostic tests and treatment has agreed to pay over $8 million as part of a civil Medicare fraud settlement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.

Haroutyoun Margossian, 55, a board certified obstetrician and gynecologist with offices in Staten Island and Brooklyn, was accused last year of billing Medicare for diagnostic procedures and physical therapy that did not qualify for reimbursement because it was performed by unlicensed staff while he was out of the office.

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Gloucester fisherman Paul Hebert, one of the featured cast members on the wildly popular “Wicked Tuna,” has been indicted on federal fraud charges that allege he illegally collected more than $44,000 in Social Security disability and Medicaid benefits between 2010 and 2012.

The four-count indictment handed up by a federal grand jury in Burlington, Vt., said Hebert in October of 2010 knowingly made false statements on his application for Supplemental Security Income benefits by swearing at a hearing that “he was completely disabled and unable to work, which he knew to be false as he was at that time working as a tuna fisherman.”

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(CN) – The maker of the Keurig single-cup coffee system must face a securities fraud class-action lawsuit, the Second Circuit ruled on Friday.
Five employee retirement systems acquired stock in Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc., which manufactures Keurig coffee makers.
The plaintiffs are the retirement systems of the Virgin Islands government, Louisiana municipal police employees, Ft. Lauderdale (Fla.) city employees and Mississippi public employees and Sjunde AP-Fonden, a Swiss firm.
They took Green Mountain to Federal Court in Vermont, alleging that the company misrepresented its inventory, growth prospects and business performance.
During 2011, Green Mountain’s stock soared from $32.96 in February to $111.62 per share in August.

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US securities regulators on Wednesday set fines against two Chinese executives accused of looting formerly US-listed Puda Coal at more than $250 million

The Securities and Exchange Commission set the default judgement against Zhao Ming, Puda`s chairman, and former chief executive Zhu Liping.

The agency said the pair already stripped the firm of its main asset before Puda raised $116 million in two US public offerings in 2010.

While investors soaked up the offerings based on the potential of Puda`s ostensibly 90 percent-owned, profit-generating mining subsidiary Shanxi Coal, Zhao had already secretly transferred Shanxi`s shares to himself a year earlier, according to the SEC case filed in 2012.

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When all 50 states and the Federal Trade Commission joined together in May to sueCancer Fund of America and three related charities for fraud after a four-year investigation, some commentators asked, “What took so long?”

As a former state attorney general, I thought, “What an accomplishment!” In my experience, state nonprofit regulation presents formidable structural, financial, and legal challenges that make this first broad-based enforcement action a significant milestone.

When I was appointed Tennessee attorney general in 2006, one of my biggest surprises was the scope and complexity of the office’s nonprofit work. I knew the office had a broad portfolio, but I did not expect to litigate over a multimillion-dollar university art collection, foundation mismanagement, or misuse of nonprofit corporations. I should not have been surprised, since the nonprofit sector is estimated to account for 5 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product and 10 percent of its private-sector work force.

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The New York-based National Children’s Leukemia Foundation made many promises to its donors over the years: it would use funds to conduct cancer research, locate bone marrow donors, and run a “Make a Dream Come True” program to help kids with cancer fulfill their bucket list.

Donors were evidently moved and impressed by the organization’s appeals for help. Between 2009 and 2013, $9.7 million was generously donated to the foundation.

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