MARYLAND NEWS

The explosive allegations, including double billing, backdated documents and mismanagement by an overpaid, unqualified employee with City Hall connections, were never mentioned yesterday as the Board of Estimates approved the payment. Source Baltimore Brew

According to the IRS, the Maryland man’s co-conspirator represented to the victims that the co-conspirator’s company, could obtain a loan—often millions of dollars—for the victims. The co-conspirator required that each victim provide a good faith deposit ($15,000 to $250,000) to be held in escrow. The Maryland attorney was the escrow agent. Once the victim wired the good faith deposit to the escrow account, most of that money was transferred to the co-conspirator within days. Source: IRS.gov

Source: WJZ-13 CBS Baltimore

According to the Department of Justice, he opened a bank account using a stolen identity,  deposited nonsufficient funds checks into the account, then withdrew the value of the check in cash before the check cleared or transferred the funds into another account, using the money for his personal benefit..To execute the check kiting and credit scheme, he used his position as a Security Supervisor at Company A to open accounts using the stolen identities of individuals who worked for or applied to work for Company A.  Source: US Attorney, District of Maryland

Source: Baltimore Sun

Baltimore County officials announced that a Middle River man has been sentenced to 50 months in federal prison after he posed as Secret Service Agent to exploit victims in a credit card fraud and identity theft scheme. Source: 13 WJZ CBS Baltimore

This fight is about whether the IG will remain an effective counterweight to the waste and corruption that plagues Baltimore government [OP-ED] Source: Baltimore Brew

Federal investigators have broken up what they say is an unemployment fraud ring that targeted the California Employment Development Department (EDD). The ring pulled in millions of dollars in fraudulent claims from California and other states. A federal criminal complaint obtained by KCRA 3 Investigates said that more than 200 individual unemployment applications were filed with EDD from one Hyattsville, Maryland, address between March and October 2020. EDD approved 97 of those applications. Source: KCRA 3

Warning of potential bias, the city’s corruption watchdog discloses that some members of the advisory board have been “part of” her investigations. Source: Baltimore Brew

Company Allegedly Failed to Inform FDA of Defect in Implantable Defibrillators that Caused Injuries and Death.  St. Jude Medical, Inc. (St. Jude) has agreed to pay $27 million to settle allegations under the False Claims Act that, between November 2014 and October 2016, it knowingly sold defective heart devices to health care facilities that, in turn, implanted the devices into patients insured by federal healthcare programs.  St. Jude was acquired by Abbott Laboratories in January 2017. Source: US Attorney, District of Maryland