Feds accuse South Florida businessmen of exploiting the pandemic to bilk Medicare Jay Weaver, The Miami Herald
May 27 A handful of South Florida healthcare businessmen have been charged with bilking the federal government of millions of dollars in schemes by exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic and billing for unnecessary medical services.
As part of a nationwide crackdown this week, the Justice Department charged Michael Stein and Leonel Palatnik, both of Palm Beach County, with running a $73 million conspiracy to defraud the Medicare health insurance program while paying and receiving kickbacks during the pandemic.
Stein, owner of a purported consulting company, and Palatnik, owner of a Texas company that provides lab testing, are accused of exploiting temporary waivers of telehealth restrictions during the pandemic by offering medical providers access to Medicare patients for whom they could bill consultations.
Published: 03 April 2021 03 April 2021
Washington, DC - The Justice Department Wednesday announced that it has reached a settlement agreement with Spike Inc., a moving and storage company doing business as Olympia Moving and Storage.
The settlement resolves the department’s claims that Spike violated the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by failing to consider four U.S. workers for employment opportunities that it instead filled with H-2B visa workers at two of its locations in the Philadelphia, PA and Washington, DC metropolitan areas.
“Employers should hire workers based on their qualifications, not their citizenship or immigration status,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Pamela S. Karlan of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Civil Rights Division is committed to protecting workers from this type of discrimination.”
Details Written by DOJ
Washington, DC - The Justice Department Wednesday announced that it reached a settlement agreement with G4S Secure Solutions, Inc. (G4S), a private security services company based in Jupiter, Florida. The settlement resolves a claim that the company discriminated against a worker by requiring him to provide unnecessary documentation to prove his immigration status because the worker was not a U.S. citizen, in violation of the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
“Employers are not allowed to ask workers for additional, unnecessary documents because of their citizenship or immigration status,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Pamela S. Karlan of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department looks forward to working with G4S to ensure its compliance with the INA’s anti-discrimination requirements in the future.”
US Olympic swimming gold medalist Klete Keller was charged by the Justice Department Wednesday with participating in the January 6 attack on Congress by