Posts Tagged ‘damages’
Florida pair indicted for largest phony BP oil spill claim
In the largest alleged BP oil spill-related scam uncovered to date, federal authorities on Thursday charged two Floridians with taking $340,000 in funds intended for victims of last year’s environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
Justice Department officials said Joseph Harvey, 51, and Anja Kannell, 41, of Delray Beach, Florida, appeared in federal court in Miami on Thursday to face indictments for mail fraud, wire fraud and aggressive identity theft. Prosecutors said the defendants claimed the money from a $20 billion fund set up to help legitimate victims of the spill recover lost income.
Justice officials said they have brought charges in at least 30 cases in which individuals tried to recover funds to which they were not entitled. This was the biggest case yet, according to the Justice Department.
Harvey and Kannell are accused of filing phony claims using 34 assumed identities of actual Florida residents. These claims were complete with names and Social Security numbers, though they had fictitious addresses in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. Officials say the defendants instructed that all the funds be sent to an account they controlled in Texas.
Anyone wonder why the paperwork in disaster recovery and aid continues to grow beyond reason? Fact remains that a significant, small portion of our populace is dedicated to ripping off our tax dollars. [Yes, I mean beyond the Republican and Democratic parties]
Given the checks and balances introduced as part of the IT updates by the Obama administration, I have a sense that the arrest rate for crooks like this is getting better. Which means that Congress will probably try to cut the budget.
Countrywide – a cautionary tale with a happy ending
What does it take to hold your powerful bosses accountable if they try to bully you out the door?
Documents, e-mails, a former deputy district attorney as your lawyer — and a never-say-die approach.
Such was the lesson learned by Michael G. Winston, a former executive at the Countrywide Financial Corporation. Mr. Winston spent three years in a legal battle against Countrywide, the once-mighty mortgage giant, and its current owner, Bank of America, contending that he was punished and pushed out for not toeing the company line. On Feb. 4, he won: a jury in California awarded him $3.8 million in damages…
Mr. Winston’s story provides a glimpse into how business was done at Countrywide at the height of the subprime craziness — and how assiduously Angelo R. Mozilo, the company’s fallen leader, worked to quash dissent in the ranks. Mr. Winston had the audacity to question Countrywide practices. Mr. Mozilo was not pleased and, before long, Mr. Winston was marginalized and later dismissed.
Mr. Winston, a prominent executive in the field of organization management, is a rarity among corporate whistle-blowers. Most of them get run over by their former companies. A fascinating detail in his case: after providing to the opposition his list of witnesses, which included former colleagues who had also been let go by Bank of America, the bank hired several of them back. Then they testified against him.
School district must pick up legal fees for their bigotry
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission
A federal judge has ordered a Mississippi school district to pay about $81,000 in legal fees and expenses in a lawsuit filed by a lesbian student who was told she would be ejected from a prom if she brought her girlfriend.
The decision…by a federal judge may be the final chapter in the well-publicized legal battle between a lesbian teenager and the Mississippi school district.
The lawsuit against the school district in Fulton, Mississippi, was filed by the ACLU on behalf of Constance McMillen. The lawsuit was settled in July, and the school district agreed to pay McMillen $35,000 in damages and adopt a policy prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. The July settlement was not part of the $81,000 payment ordered by the judge Tuesday.
The issue made national news after McMillen, the lesbian teen, was told by Itawamba Agricultural High School officials she and her girlfriend would be barred from attending the school-sponsored prom.
At the time, support poured in for the teen. She served as the grand marshal for New York’s Gay Pride Parade, got a $30,000 college scholarship from an anonymous donor and a Facebook page called “Let Constance Take Her Girlfriend to Prom!” attracted more than 400,000 fans.
And the support was more than deserved. Think back to your own high school years. Ever get out of line? Ever get out of line over a principled issue like civil rights?
Life is difficult enough for teenagers discovering they’re part of a new minority that adults, officialdom and reactionary politicians revel in hating. Having the courage to challenge the creeps whose idea of status quo is roughly to the Confederate States of America is more than challenging. It’s truly heroic.
The settlements? Overdue. Hit these creeps where their hearts live. In their wallets.
Transit system agrees to pay $1.5 million over fatal shooting
Daylife/Getty Images used by permission
Officials have agreed to pay $1.5 million to the daughter of a man fatally shot in the back by a transit police officer on New Year’s Day 2009 in Oakland, California.
A bystander’s cell-phone video of the shooting on a transit platform was widely circulated on the Internet and on news shows.
The Bay Area Rapid Transit train system late Wednesday announced the settlement over the killing of Oscar Grant, 22.
“It’s been a little over a year since we experienced the tragic death of Oscar Grant,” BART Board President James Fang said. “No matter what anyone’s opinion of the case may be, the sad fact remains this incident has left Tatiana without a father. The $1.5 million settlement will provide financial support for her.” Grant’s daughter, Tatiana, is 5.
The video showed then-Officer Johannes Mehserle, 27, pulling his gun and shooting Grant in the back as another officer kneeled on Grant.
The shooting sparked large protests in Oakland and led to Mehserle’s arrest on a murder charge. The case against him is pending.
There are no social or political excuses for a judicial system where and when a civil settlement can be reached before the criminal side of a case has been decided. Isn’t it time to sort of wheat from the chaff in due process?
Yusuf Islam – Cat Stevens – wins damages for religious slur
British folk singer Yusuf Islam, formerly Cat Stevens, on Friday accepted libel damages and an apology from a news agency which reported he refused to talk to women at an awards ceremony who were not wearing a veil.
The artist will donate the “substantial” payout to Small Kindness, a UN-linked charity which he chairs.
Adam Tudor, the singer’s solicitor, told London’s High Court that the story behind the legal action was published by World Entertainment News Network and was used on Contactmusic.com, a Web site said to have 2.2 million page views a month.
The article appeared in March last year and suggested that the singer was “so sexist and bigoted that he refused at an awards ceremony to speak to or even acknowledge any women who were not wearing a veil,” Tudor said.
Slimeball journalists who create and perpetuate lies about something as essential as an individual’s philosophy or lifestyle – contribute as little to society as the average drug dealer. They feed upon each other. There will be Muslim-hating bigots quoting the original libel for years, online, in the press, among their barroom mates.
I hope the sum was close to sufficient to compensate for the crime.
