MARYLAND NEWS

Executives at contract vaccine manufacturer Emergent BioSolutions covered up quality control problems that led to more than 400 million doses of coronavirus vaccines needing to be trashed, congressional investigators said in a report .... The FDA allowed Emergent to resume COVID-19 vaccine production in August 202 at the Baltimore plant. Emergent received $330 million in taxpayer funds before the federal government terminated the contract in November, the report said.Source: AP via MSN and U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform

Found guilty of a “shameless” scheme to enrich herself, Pugh was to repay nearly $700,000 and give up the house she bought with Healthy Holly money. Spoiler: That’s not how it went down. SOURCE: Baltimore Brew Exclusive

Silver Spring, Maryland, pleaded guilty May 4 to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and healthcare fraud. As part of his guilty plea, he will be required to pay $1,267,630 in restitution… According to his guilty plea, from January 2013 to May 2018, Buford and others devised and executed a scheme to defraud Medicaid for the District of Columbia by filing fraudulent Medicaid claims for dental services to Medicaid beneficiaries, receiving the fraudulently obtained funds from Medicaid, and recruiting Medicaid beneficiaries to fuel the scheme through the payment of kickbacks and bribes. Source US Attorney, District of Maryland

Defendant Forged the Signature of the Owner of the Corporation and Posed as the Victim in Telephone Calls to Conceal the Fraud. Source: US Attorney, District of Maryland

Maryland's state prosecutor filed embezzlement charges against the treasurer of a Democratic political committee for Annapolis-area candidates, alleging she deposited more than $4,000 in campaign funds into a personal bank account and used the money for personal expenses. According to news reports, the political committtee known as the Team 30 Slate in 2014 included Maryland House Michael Busch and other Anne Arundel County candidates. According to the Daily Record, “'As soon as we felt as if something was wrong, we took it to the state board (of elections),' said (state) Sen. Sarah Elfret. The scheme unraveled after state elections officials noted deficiencies in three campaign filings leading up to and following the 2018 election." Source: Baltimore Sun, the Maryland Daily Record and the Maryland State Prosecutor.

The Silver Spring man and his co-conspirators engaged in financial transactions designed to conceal the nature, source and ownership of the proceeds of a fraud scheme to obtain cash from victim account holders at a Maryland credit union. The evidence showed that the conspirators transferred, withdrew cash, and caused cashiers’ checks to be issued from the proceeds of a fraud scheme.  Arthur and his co-conspirators then used the funds to purchase motor vehicles to conceal that the funds were derived from a fraud scheme. Source: US Attorney, District of Maryland

All 51 Attorneys General Settle with TurboTax Owner Intuit for Deceiving Low-Income Americans Into Paying for Free Tax Services. Source Maryland Attorney General

The Washington Post reports that a March 7 U.S. Postal Inspection Service advisory to the Justice Department states:  “Criminals are stealing mail … to obtain checks, financial instruments, and personal identifying information to commit bank fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud and identity theft.” See the April 30, 2022 story: The stolen mailbox scheme now targeting a wealthy DC suburbs. Also see the USPS advisory at https://www.uspis.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/WASH-2-28-22_ROBBERIES-Final_JAAEdits.pdf. Also see Georgia State University’s Evidence-Based Cybersecurity Research Group which has collected evidence about checks from stolen mail.

Source: US Attorney, District of Maryland

Two summers ago, the powerful speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives and four of his political associates were arrested in a high-profile bribery scandal. The aftershocks are still being felt in Maryland …The House speaker, and the four operatives were charged in a federal criminal complaint of accepting $61 million in bribes from a major energy company, FirstEnergy Corp., in order to pass legislation that provided a $1.5 billion taxpayer-funded bailout for the company’s nuclear power plants…FirstEnergy is the parent company of Potomac Edison, the electric utility that serves more than a quarter million customers in Western Maryland.

David S. Lapp, who heads the Maryland Office of Office of People’s Counsel said, “We are concerned that the current arrangement has led to Maryland customers paying for costs that have nothing to do with the service provided to them, and it may continue to do so absent changes necessary to protect Maryland consumer.” Source: See the full story by Josh Kurtz at Maryland Matters.