Michigan

An automated computer system, known as MiDAS, used by the Michigan Unemployment Agency from 2013 to 2015 may have initially been deemed a success, with record numbers of applicants being flagged for fraud. For instance, in 2014, MiDAS flagged 27,000 fraud cases, nearly double...

Roger Staubach said, “If you don’t have trust inside your company, then you can’t transfer it to your customers.” But with Dr. Kenneth Mitchel, there should be little trust in him left by his business partner and even less from the U.S. Medicare Program,...

Often seen as a symbol of authority and professionalism, the white lab coat frequently is conferred on new students during a ceremony held at the very beginning of medical school. The tradition began in the late 1800s, when trained surgeons, followed by physicians not too...

Jean Skiera didn’t question anything when she got a phone call this past spring that medical equipment was on its way for her husband, Ron, a patient recovering from multiple surgeries. After all, she believed her husband’s doctor knew what was best. Both had...

Terrie Lynn Christian, of Newaygo, Mich., pled guilty to defrauding the Social Security Administration (SSA) of over $550,000 in benefits for two fictitious children. Christian’s scheme started in 2002, but it was not discovered until 2019. (Developing a fraud scheme that involves pretending to...

A typical day for doctors includes visiting patients, documenting notes, and writing prescriptions. However, a typical day for Dr. Thomas M. Prose, owner of General Medicine, P.C., in Novi, Mich., included filing thousands of false claims with Medicare. (Sounds like he wrote a few...

A husband and wife from Dearborn, Mich., carried out a multi-level layered fraud scheme when they deceived the Federal Government by fraudulently collecting $60,000 in food stamp benefits, declaring a false bankruptcy, and lying to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). (Sounds like they made...

Mohamad Ali Makki, 46, of Dearborn Heights, Mich., participated in a healthcare fraud scheme that defrauded Medicare, Medicaid, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan of nearly $10 million. As a licensed pharmacist at LifeCare Pharmacy in Farmington Hills over six years, Makki and...

You have to wonder about what might happen if fraudsters actually put in as much effort into working a legitimate job as they do a scam. The global effect might be shocking. Economic productivity would rise. Time lost by victims, offenders, their families, plus...

When something is advertised as “free,” it usually comes with a cost. Unfortunately, a few members of the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) found this out the hard way due to a Grand Blanc, Mich., man’s healthcare...