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" http://springhillgrouphome.tumblr.com/day/2012/09/30/ A Los Angeles man was sentenced to six years in prison last week for his role in a power wheelchair scam, topping what prosecutors say has been a series of Medicare fraud cases. David James Garrison, 50, a former physician assistant, was found guilty by a federal jury for his role in submitting $18.9 million in fraudulent Medicare claims for power wheelchairs and other equipment. The wheelchair case is the third time Garrison has been accused of Medicare fraud. In 2009, Garrison pleaded no contest to tax evasion for his role in what prosecutors described as a fraudulent medical clinic. He pleaded not guilty in October to charges that he forged prescriptions as part of an OxyContin ring that sold 1 million pills on the streets. That case is ongoing. Garrison's attorney did not return a call for comment about the cases. Garrison's physician assistant license lapsed in 2009, said Russ Heimerich, a spokesman for the Department of Consumer Affairs, which oversees many state licensing boards. He said the board examined the tax evasion case and did not see it as grounds for discipline. According to court documents, Garrison's cases involved the use of "cappers" or "marketers" who recruited Medicare beneficiaries to submit to unneeded care or hand over their personal information. That information was used to bill the program for medications, services or supplies that the patients didn't need. In the wheelchair case, prosecuted by the Los Angeles U.S. attorney's office, one witness testified that  marketers had to recruit beneficiaries as far as 300 miles from Los Angeles because so many local people had already been used in other fraud schemes. In the first health fraud case linked to Garrison, he was described as an "at large" suspect in October 2007 when then-Attorney General Jerry Brown announced arrests in a $1.5 million health fraud scam. "The suspects create a fake healthcare clinic to

"springhill group seoul korea Multiply-Korea`s largest bank reports 3,000 cases of loa... http://springhillgrouphome.multiply.com/journal/item/124/Koreas-largest-bank-reports-3000-cases-of-loan-doc-fraud-    Korea`s largest bank Kookmin has had 3,000 cases of document manipulation in applications for collective loans for intermediate payment. The bank said five people recently filed a petition to police after suffering losses from manipulation of related documents by bank staff, and has launched an investigation into similar cases. According to the Financial Supervisory Service and the bank, Kookmin probed between the end of last month and Aug. 10 manipulation cases on 200,000 collective loans for intermediate payment on 850 reconstruction and redevelopment apartment sites, and discovered more than 3,000 fraud cases. According to the bank`s findings, most cases involved employee manipulation of the expiration date of collective loans for intermediate payment. In the past, three years of maturity have typically been written for collective loans for intermediate payment regardless of when the borrower would move to the house. If the bank`s headquarters reduced the time to 26 or 27 months, however, bank employees would scrape out the number and put in three years again. If the lending period is shorter than the date written in the contract, the borrower would be pressured for repayment. Collective loans for intermediate payment are shifted to lending with home collateral. So a person can move into a house before the lending maturity expires, but failure to move in within the time frame would mean he or she must make the intermediate payment because it is not shifted to a home equity loan. Since the number of manipulation cases was bigger than expected, a massive filing of lawsuits is likely. Fraud was considerable in cases of apartments that people had signed contracts on, an area that has seen many conflicts between builders and banks. A financial regulatory source

"A Los Angeles man was sentenced to six years in prison last week for his role in a power wheelchair scam, topping what prosecutors say has been a series of Medicare fraud cases. David James Garrison, 50, a former physician assistant, was found guilty by a federal jury for his role in submitting $18.9 million in fraudulent Medicare claims for power wheelchairs and other equipment. The wheelchair case is the third time Garrison has been accused of Medicare fraud. In 2009, Garrison pleaded no contest to tax evasion for his role in what prosecutors described as a fraudulent medical clinic. He pleaded not guilty in October to charges that he forged prescriptions as part of an OxyContin ring that sold 1 million pills on the streets. That case is ongoing. Garrison's attorney did not return a call for comment about the cases. Garrison's physician assistant license lapsed in 2009, said Russ Heimerich, a spokesman for the Department of Consumer Affairs, which oversees many state licensing boards. He said the board examined the tax evasion case and did not see it as grounds for discipline. According to court documents, Garrison's cases involved the use of "cappers" or "marketers" who recruited Medicare beneficiaries to submit to unneeded care or hand over their personal information. That information was used to bill the program for medications, services or supplies that the patients didn't need. In the wheelchair case, prosecuted by the Los Angeles U.S. attorney's office, one witness testified that  marketers had to recruit beneficiaries as far as 300 miles from Los Angeles because so many local people had already been used in other fraud schemes. In the first health fraud case linked to Garrison, he was described as an "at large" suspect in October 2007 when then-Attorney General Jerry Brown announced arrests in a $1.5 million health fraud scam. "The suspects create a fake healthcare clinic to line their own pockets rather than help the sick and elderly," a 20

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, March 20, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ - Researchers find high incidence rates and deaths in first-ever analysis of the disease impacts in Latin America Today, Latin American researchers and global health leaders revealed preliminary results from the first-ever study to estimate the burden and costs of meningococcal disease in the region. The study found a need for improved surveillance and better understanding of meningococcal epidemiology and information on costs to help devise meningitis vaccination programs. This new research was coordinated by the Sabin Vaccine Institute in partnership with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins University (JHU's IVAC) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dr. Ciro de Quadros, Executive Vice President of the Sabin Vaccine Institute in Washington, D.C., said, "Clearly, meningitis is a real health and economic burden in Latin America. Too many children are debilitated or die from this serious disease, yet it is preventable by vaccines. Our new research proves that we need to improve our strategies to fight meningococcal disease." Dr. de Quadros spoke at the conclusion of the first Regional Meningococcal Symposium, convened by the Sabin Vaccine Institute and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO). The symposium, which took place March 19 and 20 in Buenos Aires, brought together more than 150 researchers, vaccine experts, economists and others to evaluate the extent and cost of meningococcal disease and what obstacles impede its prevention through vaccination. "Few diseases have as much power to cause panic among the population as meningococcal disease, said Dr. Marco Aurelio Safadi, Head of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Division at Sao Luiz Hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil. "This is primarily because of its potentially epidemic nature. The rapid on

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, March 20, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ - Researchers find high incidence rates and deaths in first-ever analysis of the disease impacts in Latin America Today, Latin American researchers and global health leaders revealed preliminary results from the first-ever study to estimate the burden and costs of meningococcal disease in the region. The study found a need for improved surveillance and better understanding of meningococcal epidemiology and information on costs to help devise meningitis vaccination programs. This new research was coordinated by the Sabin Vaccine Institute in partnership with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins University (JHU's IVAC) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dr. Ciro de Quadros, Executive Vice President of the Sabin Vaccine Institute in Washington, D.C., said, "Clearly, meningitis is a real health and economic burden in Latin America. Too many children are debilitated or die from this serious disease, yet it is preventable by vaccines. Our new research proves that we need to improve our strategies to fight meningococcal disease." Dr. de Quadros spoke at the conclusion of the first Regional Meningococcal Symposium, convened by the Sabin Vaccine Institute and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO). The symposium, which took place March 19 and 20 in Buenos Aires, brought together more than 150 researchers, vaccine experts, economists and others to evaluate the extent and cost of meningococcal disease and what obstacles impede its prevention through vaccination. "Few diseases have as much power to cause panic among the population as meningococcal disease, said Dr. Marco Aurelio Safadi, Head of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Division at Sao Luiz Hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil. "This is primarily because of its potentially epidemic nature. The rapid on

"http://springhillgrouphome.multiply.com/journal/item/124/Koreas-largest-bank-reports-3000-cases-of-loan-doc-fraud-    Korea`s largest bank Kookmin has had 3,000 cases of document manipulation in applications for collective loans for intermediate payment. The bank said five people recently filed a petition to police after suffering losses from manipulation of related documents by bank staff, and has launched an investigation into similar cases. According to the Financial Supervisory Service and the bank, Kookmin probed between the end of last month and Aug. 10 manipulation cases on 200,000 collective loans for intermediate payment on 850 reconstruction and redevelopment apartment sites, and discovered more than 3,000 fraud cases. According to the bank`s findings, most cases involved employee manipulation of the expiration date of collective loans for intermediate payment. In the past, three years of maturity have typically been written for collective loans for intermediate payment regardless of when the borrower would move to the house. If the bank`s headquarters reduced the time to 26 or 27 months, however, bank employees would scrape out the number and put in three years again. If the lending period is shorter than the date written in the contract, the borrower would be pressured for repayment. Collective loans for intermediate payment are shifted to lending with home collateral. So a person can move into a house before the lending maturity expires, but failure to move in within the time frame would mean he or she must make the intermediate payment because it is not shifted to a home equity loan. Since the number of manipulation cases was bigger than expected, a massive filing of lawsuits is likely. Fraud was considerable in cases of apartments that people had signed contracts on, an area that has seen many conflicts between builders and banks. A financial regulatory source said, "Document manipulation cases, if identified, will raise the number of lawsuits by r

http://springhillgrouphome.tumblr.com/day/2012/09/30/ A Los Angeles man was sentenced to six years in prison last week for his role in a power wheelchair scam, topping what prosecutors say has been a series of Medicare fraud cases. David James Garrison, 50, a former physician assistant, was found guilty by a federal jury for his role in submitting $18.9 million in fraudulent Medicare claims for power wheelchairs and other equipment. The wheelchair case is the third time Garrison has been accused of Medicare fraud. In 2009, Garrison pleaded no contest to tax evasion for his role in what prosecutors described as a fraudulent medical clinic. He pleaded not guilty in October to charges that he forged prescriptions as part of an OxyContin ring that sold 1 million pills on the streets. That case is ongoing. Garrison's attorney did not return a call for comment about the cases. Garrison's physician assistant license lapsed in 2009, said Russ Heimerich, a spokesman for the Department of Consumer Affairs, which oversees many state licensing boards. He said the board examined the tax evasion case and did not see it as grounds for discipline. According to court documents, Garrison's cases involved the use of "cappers" or "marketers" who recruited Medicare beneficiaries to submit to unneeded care or hand over their personal information. That information was used to bill the program for medications, services or supplies that the patients didn't need. In the wheelchair case, prosecuted by the Los Angeles U.S. attorney's office, one witness testified that marketers had to recruit beneficiaries as far as 300 miles from Los Angeles because so many local people had already been used in other fraud schemes. In the first health fraud case linked to Garrison, he was described as an "at large" suspect in October 2007 when then-Attorney General Jerry Brown announced arrests in a $1.5 million health fraud scam. "The suspects create a fake healthcare clinic to line their own

Mortgage fraud is crime in which the intent is to materially misrepresent or omit information on a mortgage loan application to obtain a loan or to obtain a larger loan than would have been obtained had the lender or borrower known the truth. In United States federal courts, mortgage fraud is prosecuted as wire fraud, bank fraud, mail fraud and money laundering, with penalties of up to thirty years imprisonment.As the incidence of mortgage fraud has risen over the past few years, states have also begun to enact their own penalties for mortgage fraud. Mortgage fraud is not to be confused with predatory mortgage lending, which occurs when a consumer is misled or deceived by agents of the lender. However, predatory lending practices often co-exist with mortgage fraud. Types Occupancy fraud: This occurs where the borrower wishes to obtain a mortgage to acquire an investment property, but states on the loan application that the borrower will occupy the property as the primary residence or as a second home. If undetected, the borrower typically obtains a lower interest rate than was warranted. Because lenders typically charge a higher interest rate for non-owner-occupied properties, which historically have higher delinquency rates, the lender receives insufficient return on capital and is over-exposed to loss relative to what was expected in the transaction. In addition, lenders allow larger loans on owner-occupied homes compared to loans for investment properties. When occupancy fraud occurs, it is likely that taxes on gains are not paid, resulting in additional fraud. It is considered fraud because the borrower has materially misprepresented the risk to the lender to obtain more favorable loan terms. Income fraud: This occurs when a borrower overstates his/her income to qualify for a mortgage or for a larger loan amount. This was most often seen with so-called "stated income" mortgage loans (popularly referred to as "liar loans"), where the borrower, or a l

Mortgage fraud is crime in which the intent is to materially misrepresent or omit information on a mortgage loan application to obtain a loan or to obtain a larger loan than would have been obtained had the lender or borrower known the truth. In United States federal courts, mortgage fraud is prosecuted as wire fraud, bank fraud, mail fraud and money laundering, with penalties of up to thirty years imprisonment.As the incidence of mortgage fraud has risen over the past few years, states have also begun to enact their own penalties for mortgage fraud. Mortgage fraud is not to be confused with predatory mortgage lending, which occurs when a consumer is misled or deceived by agents of the lender. However, predatory lending practices often co-exist with mortgage fraud. Types Occupancy fraud: This occurs where the borrower wishes to obtain a mortgage to acquire an investment property, but states on the loan application that the borrower will occupy the property as the primary residence or as a second home. If undetected, the borrower typically obtains a lower interest rate than was warranted. Because lenders typically charge a higher interest rate for non-owner-occupied properties, which historically have higher delinquency rates, the lender receives insufficient return on capital and is over-exposed to loss relative to what was expected in the transaction. In addition, lenders allow larger loans on owner-occupied homes compared to loans for investment properties. When occupancy fraud occurs, it is likely that taxes on gains are not paid, resulting in additional fraud. It is considered fraud because the borrower has materially misprepresented the risk to the lender to obtain more favorable loan terms. Income fraud: This occurs when a borrower overstates his/her income to qualify for a mortgage or for a larger loan amount. This was most often seen with so-called "stated income" mortgage loans (popularly referred to as "liar loans"), where the borrower, or a l

The insurance fraud in Changwon uncovered by the Financial Supervisory Service is both shocking and disturbing. It involved as many as 1,361 people, mostly residents of the South Gyeongsang Province city, who either posed as fake patients or exaggerated their illnesses. Collectively, they claimed 9.5 billion won from 33 insurance companies between 2007 and 2011. At the center of the scam ― the largest ever in terms of the number of people involved ― were three unconscionable hospitals in the city, which recruited fake patients systematically in cahoots with insurance brokers and solicitors. They did this to increase revenue and ease their financial distress. The main ploy used by the hospitals was to share a patient, meaning they would arrange for a patient to check in the three hospitals alternately for a different disease. For this, they faked his illnesses and prepared false documents. For close cooperation, they shared patient information among themselves. This scheme helped patients pocket more insurance money. They all purchased multiple private health insurance policies before hospitalization. On average they received some 7 million won per person. In one example, a man in his 50s was hospitalized for a total of 564 days over three years, collecting 95 million won in insurance. The Changwon case followed a similar one that took place in Taebaek last November, involving more than 400 people in the declining mining town in Gangwon Province. They got a total of 14 billion won in insurance payments. As with the Changwon scam, three financially distressed hospitals in the city played a central role. The two cases suggest that insurance fraud is a fairly common occurrence in Korea. According to the FSS, the number of insurance-related crimes has surged in recent years. Last year alone, more than 70,000 people were caught for insurance scams, with the amount of false claims they filed reaching 423 billion won. Yet the figure represented just the tip of the

owers may conceal obligations, such as mortgage loans on other properties or newly acquired credit card debt, to reduce the amount of monthly debt declared on the loan application. This omission of liabilities artificially lowers the debt-to-income ratio, which is a key underwriting criterion used to determine eligibility for most mortgage loans. It is considered fraud because it allows the borrower to qualify for a loan which otherwise would not have been granted, or to qualify for a bigger loan than what would have been granted had the borrower's true debt been disclosed. Fraud for profit: A complex scheme involving multiple parties, including mortgage lending professionals, in a financially motivated attempt to defraud the lender of large sums of money. Fraud for profit schemes frequently include a straw borrower whose credit report is used, a dishonest appraiser who intentionally and significantly overstates the value of the subject property, a dishonest settlement agent who might prepare two sets of HUD settlement statements or makes disbursements from loan proceeds which are not disclosed on the settlement statement, and a property owner, all in a coordinated attempt to obtain an inappropriately large loan. The parties involved share the ill-gotten gains and the mortgage eventually goes into default. In other cases, naive "investors" are lured into the scheme with the organizer's promise that the home will be repaired, repairs and/or renovations will be made, tenants will located, rents will be collected, mortgage payments made and profits will be split upon sale of the property, all without the active participation of the straw buyer. Once the loan is closed, the organizer disappears, no repairs are made nor renters found, and the "investor" is liable for paying the mortgage on a property that is not worth what is owed, leaving the "investor" financially ruined. If undetected, a bank may lend hundreds of thousands of dollars against a property that is act

The insurance fraud in Changwon uncovered by the Financial Supervisory Service is both shocking and disturbing. It involved as many as 1,361 people, mostly residents of the South Gyeongsang Province city, who either posed as fake patients or exaggerated their illnesses. Collectively, they claimed 9.5 billion won from 33 insurance companies between 2007 and 2011. At the center of the scam ― the largest ever in terms of the number of people involved ― were three unconscionable hospitals in the city, which recruited fake patients systematically in cahoots with insurance brokers and solicitors. They did this to increase revenue and ease their financial distress. The main ploy used by the hospitals was to share a patient, meaning they would arrange for a patient to check in the three hospitals alternately for a different disease. For this, they faked his illnesses and prepared false documents. For close cooperation, they shared patient information among themselves. This scheme helped patients pocket more insurance money. They all purchased multiple private health insurance policies before hospitalization. On average they received some 7 million won per person. In one example, a man in his 50s was hospitalized for a total of 564 days over three years, collecting 95 million won in insurance. The Changwon case followed a similar one that took place in Taebaek last November, involving more than 400 people in the declining mining town in Gangwon Province. They got a total of 14 billion won in insurance payments. As with the Changwon scam, three financially distressed hospitals in the city played a central role. The two cases suggest that insurance fraud is a fairly common occurrence in Korea. According to the FSS, the number of insurance-related crimes has surged in recent years. Last year alone, more than 70,000 people were caught for insurance scams, with the amount of false claims they filed reaching 423 billion won. Yet the figure represented just t

The insurance fraud in Changwon uncovered by the Financial Supervisory Service is both shocking and disturbing. It involved as many as 1,361 people, mostly residents of the South Gyeongsang Province city, who either posed as fake patients or exaggerated their illnesses. Collectively, they claimed 9.5 billion won from 33 insurance companies between 2007 and 2011. At the center of the scam ― the largest ever in terms of the number of people involved ― were three unconscionable hospitals in the city, which recruited fake patients systematically in cahoots with insurance brokers and solicitors. They did this to increase revenue and ease their financial distress. The main ploy used by the hospitals was to share a patient, meaning they would arrange for a patient to check in the three hospitals alternately for a different disease. For this, they faked his illnesses and prepared false documents. For close cooperation, they shared patient information among themselves. This scheme helped patients pocket more insurance money. They all purchased multiple private health insurance policies before hospitalization. On average they received some 7 million won per person. In one example, a man in his 50s was hospitalized for a total of 564 days over three years, collecting 95 million won in insurance. The Changwon case followed a similar one that took place in Taebaek last November, involving more than 400 people in the declining mining town in Gangwon Province. They got a total of 14 billion won in insurance payments. As with the Changwon scam, three financially distressed hospitals in the city played a central role. The two cases suggest that insurance fraud is a fairly common occurrence in Korea. According to the FSS, the number of insurance-related crimes has surged in recent years. Last year alone, more than 70,000 people were caught for insurance scams, with the amount of false claims they filed reaching 423 billion won. Yet the figure represented just t

By Romesh Navaratnarajah: Cases of residential mortgage fraud in the US done in collusion with mortgage industry professionals dropped 35 percent between 2010 and 2011, according to the LexisNexis Risk Solutions Mortgage Fraud Report. The report tracked actual cases of mortgage fraud or misrepresentation by mortgage sector professionals, as reported by lenders and other financial institutions. These include cases of borrowers falsifying information on mortgage documents but only if they conspired with mortgage industry professionals. One reason for the significant decline is because mortgage loan originations fell to its lowest level in 2011 since 2001, indicating a sharp reduction in sales of new and previously-occupied homes. Another reason is that fewer fraud schemes are committed when a buyer is trying to get a home loan. However, the FBI noted that loan fraud involving selling or buying homes is more common at some stages of foreclosure, adding that mortgage fraud investigations led to 1,082 convictions in FY 2011. According to the LexisNexis study, home appraisal and loan application fraud, along with misrepresentation, accounted for the biggest category of fraud investigated by lenders in 2011. Related Stories: Fixed-rate mortgage in demand despite cheaper tracker-rate loans 15% discount on mortgages reappears in Shanghai US mortgage rates fall to new record lows More from PropertyGuru: Fixed-rate mortgage in demand despite cheaper tracker-rate loans 15% discount on mortgages reappears in Shanghai US mortgage rates fall to new record lows HK mortgage numbers shrinking

Thailand is seeking help from China and South Korea to support its efforts to crack down on the smuggling of pseudoephedrine-based cold pills. The move came after the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) obtained information that a Thai company had struck a deal to buy 10 billion pseudoephedrine-based cold tablets from a Chinese firm. Previously, the DSI obtained information that the firm also signed a deal to buy 850 million tablets, or 40 tonnes of the medicine, from South Korea. The DSI found that 87 million cold tablets were transported into Thailand from South Korea by plane on nine occasions since 2010. They had false air cargo manifests to avoid attracting attention from the authorities. The DSI suspected the medicines were smuggled in from South Korea. The DSI is investigating two companies suspected of being involved in the smuggling of the pills from overseas. The companies are UTAC Thai Co Ltd, a supplier of integrated circuits, and TVR Group Co Ltd, a car dealer and vehicle hire firm. Some information relating to the drug purchases was uncovered at the companies during recent searches of their premises but the firms denied any involvement. Mr Tarit said yesterday DSI officials also discovered a contract to buy 10 billion pseudoephedrine-based cold tablets from China during the search at UTAC Thai Co Ltd. Under the contract, the first batch of 2 million tablets was to have been shipped to Thailand on July 31, 2009. He said the DSI also found a photo showing a man collecting the pills from Suvarnabhumi airport cargo warehouse. The cold tablets from China and South Korea have the same brand name of COLCOLCO, he said. Mr Tarit said DSI officials also searched the company's factory but there was nothing amiss. However, it was found that the company had three South Korean executives and one Thai executive, Mr Tarit said. He said the Korean Food and Drug Administration recently sent information

The insurance fraud in Changwon uncovered by the Financial Supervisory Service is both shocking and disturbing. It involved as many as 1,361 people, mostly residents of the South Gyeongsang Province city, who either posed as fake patients or exaggerated their illnesses. Collectively, they claimed 9.5 billion won from 33 insurance companies between 2007 and 2011. At the center of the scam ― the largest ever in terms of the number of people involved ― were three unconscionable hospitals in the city, which recruited fake patients systematically in cahoots with insurance brokers and solicitors. They did this to increase revenue and ease their financial distress. The main ploy used by the hospitals was to share a patient, meaning they would arrange for a patient to check in the three hospitals alternately for a different disease. For this, they faked his illnesses and prepared false documents. For close cooperation, they shared patient information among themselves. This scheme helped patients pocket more insurance money. They all purchased multiple private health insurance policies before hospitalization. On average they received some 7 million won per person. In one example, a man in his 50s was hospitalized for a total of 564 days over three years, collecting 95 million won in insurance. The Changwon case followed a similar one that took place in Taebaek last November, involving more than 400 people in the declining mining town in Gangwon Province. They got a total of 14 billion won in insurance payments. As with the Changwon scam, three financially distressed hospitals in the city played a central role. The two cases suggest that insurance fraud is a fairly common occurrence in Korea. According to the FSS, the number of insurance-related crimes has surged in recent years. Last year alone, more than 70,000 people were caught for insurance scams, with the amount of false claims they filed reaching 423 billion won. Yet the figure represented just th

The insurance fraud in Changwon uncovered by the Financial Supervisory Service is both shocking and disturbing. It involved as many as 1,361 people, mostly residents of the South Gyeongsang Province city, who either posed as fake patients or exaggerated their illnesses. Collectively, they claimed 9.5 billion won from 33 insurance companies between 2007 and 2011. At the center of the scam ― the largest ever in terms of the number of people involved ― were three unconscionable hospitals in the city, which recruited fake patients systematically in cahoots with insurance brokers and solicitors. They did this to increase revenue and ease their financial distress. The main ploy used by the hospitals was to share a patient, meaning they would arrange for a patient to check in the three hospitals alternately for a different disease. For this, they faked his illnesses and prepared false documents. For close cooperation, they shared patient information among themselves. This scheme helped patients pocket more insurance money. They all purchased multiple private health insurance policies before hospitalization. On average they received some 7 million won per person. In one example, a man in his 50s was hospitalized for a total of 564 days over three years, collecting 95 million won in insurance. The Changwon case followed a similar one that took place in Taebaek last November, involving more than 400 people in the declining mining town in Gangwon Province. They got a total of 14 billion won in insurance payments. As with the Changwon scam, three financially distressed hospitals in the city played a central role. The two cases suggest that insurance fraud is a fairly common occurrence in Korea. According to the FSS, the number of insurance-related crimes has surged in recent years. Last year alone, more than 70,000 people were caught for insurance scams, with the amount of false claims they filed reaching 423 billion won. Yet the figure represented just the tip of the

Korea to support its efforts to crack down on the smuggling of pseudoephedrine-based cold pills. The move came after the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) obtained information that a Thai company had struck a deal to buy 10 billion pseudoephedrine-based cold tablets from a Chinese firm. Previously, the DSI obtained information that the firm also signed a deal to buy 850 million tablets, or 40 tonnes of the medicine, from South Korea. The DSI found that 87 million cold tablets were transported into Thailand from South Korea by plane on nine occasions since 2010. They had false air cargo manifests to avoid attracting attention from the authorities. The DSI suspected the medicines were smuggled in from South Korea. The DSI is investigating two companies suspected of being involved in the smuggling of the pills from overseas. The companies are UTAC Thai Co Ltd, a supplier of integrated circuits, and TVR Group Co Ltd, a car dealer and vehicle hire firm. Some information relating to the drug purchases was uncovered at the companies during recent searches of their premises but the firms denied any involvement. Mr Tarit said yesterday DSI officials also discovered a contract to buy 10 billion pseudoephedrine-based cold tablets from China during the search at UTAC Thai Co Ltd. Under the contract, the first batch of 2 million tablets was to have been shipped to Thailand on July 31, 2009. He said the DSI also found a photo showing a man collecting the pills from Suvarnabhumi airport cargo warehouse. The cold tablets from China and South Korea have the same brand name of COLCOLCO, he said. Mr Tarit said DSI officials also searched the company's factory but there was nothing amiss. However, it was found that the company had three South Korean executives and one Thai executive, Mr Tarit said. He said the Korean Food and Drug Administration recently sent information regarding the nine shipments of pills which showed the contract to buy the cold tablets fro

"Springhill Groups-PRINGHILL gROUPS Mortgage Fraud Prosecutors Pounce on a Small Bank Yesterday 11:14 PM #1 One of the few things not in dispute in the criminal case against Abacus Federal Savings Bank is that it began with a mortgage closing on Friday, Dec. 11, 2009, for a two-family home in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn. Abacus is a small bank, catering mostly to Chinese immigrants. The closing was at 10 a.m. at the bank's headquarters, a brown-brick building on the Bowery in New York's Chinatown between a noodle shop and an herbal medicine emporium. Sitting around the table in an undecorated conference room were the seller, the buyers, their attorneys, the real estate broker, and the title closer. Vera Sung, Abacus's lawyer, was in and out of the meeting. Sung, 46, is a daughter of the bank's founder-her younger sister Jill is Abacus's chief executive officer. Vera is also a onetime prosecutor in the Brooklyn district attorney's office, and that morning she recalls hearing something that made her pause: The borrowers were asking about extra checks they had earlier made out to the loan officer, Qibin "Ken" Yu. Sung didn't know what those checks were. "I thought this was very strange, so I stopped the closing," Sung says. She spoke to Yu in her office, then called Jill, and they canceled the loan. The following Monday, Yu was fired. The bank's executives won't speculate what the checks were for, but in other fraud cases individual loan officers have been convicted of asking for kickbacks or payments for falsifying paperwork. Yu's lawyer declined to comment. "

"One of the few things not in dispute in the criminal case against Abacus Federal Savings Bank is that it began with a mortgage closing on Friday, Dec. 11, 2009, for a two-family home in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn. Abacus is a small bank, catering mostly to Chinese immigrants. The closing was at 10 a.m. at the bank's headquarters, a brown-brick building on the Bowery in New York's Chinatown between a noodle shop and an herbal medicine emporium. Sitting around the table in an undecorated conference room were the seller, the buyers, their attorneys, the real estate broker, and the title closer. Vera Sung, Abacus's lawyer, was in and out of the meeting. Sung, 46, is a daughter of the bank's founder-her younger sister Jill is Abacus's chief executive officer. Vera is also a onetime prosecutor in the Brooklyn district attorney's office, and that morning she recalls hearing something that made her pause: The borrowers were asking about extra checks they had earlier made out to the loan officer, Qibin "Ken" Yu. Sung didn't know what those checks were. "I thought this was very strange, so I stopped the closing," Sung says. She spoke to Yu in her office, then called Jill, and they canceled the loan. The following Monday, Yu was fired. The bank's executives won't speculate what the checks were for, but in other fraud cases individual loan officers have been convicted of asking for kickbacks or payments for falsifying paperwork. Yu's lawyer declined to comment."

"Springhill Groups-PRINGHILL gROUPS Mortgage Fraud Prosecutors Pounce on a Small Bank One of the few things not in dispute in the criminal case against Abacus Federal Savings Bank is that it began with a mortgage closing on Friday, Dec. 11, 2009, for a two-family home in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn. Abacus is a small bank, catering mostly to Chinese immigrants. The closing was at 10 a.m. at the bank's headquarters, a brown-brick building on the Bowery in New York's Chinatown between a noodle shop and an herbal medicine emporium. Sitting around the table in an undecorated conference room were the seller, the buyers, their attorneys, the real estate broker, and the title closer. Vera Sung, Abacus's lawyer, was in and out of the meeting. Sung, 46, is a daughter of the bank's founder-her younger sister Jill is Abacus's chief executive officer. Vera is also a onetime prosecutor in the Brooklyn district attorney's office, and that morning she recalls hearing something that made her pause: The borrowers were asking about extra checks they had earlier made out to the loan officer, Qibin "Ken" Yu. Sung didn't know what those checks were. "I thought this was very strange, so I stopped the closing," Sung says. She spoke to Yu in her office, then called Jill, and they canceled the loan. The following Monday, Yu was fired. The bank's executives won't speculate what the checks were for, but in other fraud cases individual loan officers have been convicted of asking for kickbacks or payments for falsifying paperwork. Yu's lawyer declined to comment. http://www.businessweek.com/articles...n-a-small-bank"