Scheme Tied to UnitedHealth Overbilled Medicare for Years, Suit Says

UnitedHealth Group, one of the nation’s largest health insurers, is accused in a scheme that allowed its subsidiaries and other insurers to improperly overcharge Medicare by “hundreds of millions — and likely billions — of dollars,” according to a lawsuit made public on Thursday at the Justice Department’s request.

The accusations center on Medicare Advantage, a program through which people 65 or older agree to join private health maintenance organizations, or H.M.O.s, whose costs the government reimburses.

The program was created in 2003 after UnitedHealth and other insurers said that managed care could help contain the overall cost of Medicare, which has strained the federal budget by rising faster than the rate of inflation.

Instead of slowing Medicare costs, UnitedHealth may have improperly added excess costs in the billions of dollars over more than a decade, according to the lawsuit, which was unsealed in Federal District Court in Los Angeles. read more »

Ukraine Oligarch Loses U.S. Extradition Fight, Is Arrested

An Austrian appeals court approved a U.S. request to extradite Dmitry Firtash on corruption charges in a surprise decision that opens the way for the Ukrainian tycoon to be sent to the U.S. for trial.

But that could be delayed after the case took another unexpected turn minutes after the verdict on Tuesday, when plainclothes Austrian police arrested Firtash as he left the courthouse on a separate Spanish warrant. Magistrates in Barcelona charged him with money laundering and engaging in organized crime. read more »

Supreme Court breathes new life into whistleblower case against Wells Fargo

With a ruling Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court revived a long-running whistleblower lawsuit that accused Wachovia’s investment bank of violating accounting rules and skirting internal controls to pursue short-term profits.

The Supreme Court vacated a judgment in August 2016 by the U.S. Appeals Court for the Second Circuit that had affirmed a lower court’s decision to dismiss the case filed by two whistleblowers, including one who had worked in Charlotte.

The high court ordered the appeals court to give the case further consideration in light of a June 2016 Supreme Court ruling that interpreted an aspect of the federal whistleblower law called the U.S. False Claims Act. read more »

Wells Fargo Fires Managers, Denies Bonuses in Account Probe

Wells Fargo & Co. fired the head of its consumer credit-card business and three other senior managers as the bank’s board examines how abusive sales practices spread through branches before spiraling into a national scandal last year. read more »

HSBC faces UK probe into anti-money laundering controls as profits plunge

HSBC is being investigated by the City watchdog over concerns about its anti-money laundering controls, Europe’s biggest bank revealed as it posted a shock plunge in profits that sent its shares tumbling.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) commissioned a skilled person review - a so-called "166 report" - into the lender during the final quarter of last year, a type of enforcement action that could result in the bank being hit with a fine. The investigation was launched after the monitor installed by US authorities to oversee improvements in HSBC’s financial crime measures flagged worries about its progress. read more »

Lawyer pleads not guilty in $13M Ponzi scheme

A former Cherry Hill lawyer accused of orchestrating a $13 million Ponzi scheme with his father pleaded not guilty Tuesday in federal court in Camden.

Michael Kwasnik, 47, of North Miami Beach, Fla., and his father, William, 68, of Marlton, were indicted on charges of wire and mail fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. William Kwasnik also pleaded not guilty Tuesday before Judge Karen M. Williams.

The alleged scheme targeted more than 40 clients of Michael Kwasnik's law firm between 2008 and 2011, when funds from the clients’ trust accounts were diverted into accounts the Kwasniks controlled, authorities said.

The Kwasniks spent at least $10 million of the stolen money on office leases, car payments, credit card payments, and the cost of defending themselves in various lawsuits, among other expenses, according to court documents. read more »

ABB Uncovers $100 Million Korean Fraud as Suspect Vanishes

ABB Ltd. uncovered embezzlement at its South Korean subsidiary after the local treasurer suspected of stealing from the company went missing, leaving a $100 million shortfall in last year’s results.

The suspect, who disappeared Feb. 7, is suspected of forging documents and colluding with third parties in a “sophisticated criminal scheme,” Zurich-based ABB said in a statement on Wednesday. After checking balances of its global bank accounts, the company said the impact is limited to the Asian nation.

The fraud is the second such disclosure this month after the Swiss maker of power grids and robots said Feb. 8 it’s being investigated by the U.K. Serious Fraud Office after the discovery of improper payments related to another criminal probe. read more »