Posted on 01/12/2002 4:35:40 AM PST by JohnHuang2
Edited on 04/13/2004 2:07:16 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
WASHINGTON - Congressional investigators picked up the pace of their probes into Enron Corp. yesterday, as a Senate oversight committee issued 51 subpoenas to the bankrupt energy giant and to Arthur Andersen, its outside accounting firm.
The threat of collateral damage to the Bush administration increased with the announcement that Enron's president had talked to a top Treasury Department official at least a half-dozen times last fall. The department said the executive sought government intervention with private banks to help line up a credit extension that might have staved off bankruptcy.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
For these "hearings" to meaning anything, Rubin, Clinton, Greenspan et al will have to be called to testified before the Committee.
Beverly Enterprises Inc. pleaded guilty Thursday to criminal charges that it defrauded Medicare as part of a $175 million settlement of federal investigations into its Medicare billing. Under the agreement, which has been expected for months, Beverly Enterprises-California Inc., a unit of the nursing-home operator, pleaded guilty to mail fraud and false-statement charges and agreed to pay a $5 million criminal fine. Beverly will sell 10 nursing homes in California, Kansas, Washington, Georgia and South Carolina.
Fort Smith-based Beverly, the nation's largest nursing-home chain, will also pay a $170 million civil penalty over the next eight years. Under a "corporate integrity agreement" that's part of the settlement, the company's reporting and compliance practices will be subjected to heightened supervision for at least the next five years by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The settlement resolves criminal and civil investigations into the company's Medicare billing practices by the Department of Justice, the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California, and the Department of Health and Human Services.
The $175 million total is by far the largest nursing-home settlement in U.S. history, according to Alwyn Cassil, a spokesman for the Office of Inspector General at the Health and Human Services Department. "Nothing else even comes close," she said. But it is far less than the $460 million the government claims Beverly defrauded Medicare through phony cost reports. "The reason why the government agreed to the lesser amount was essentially Beverly's ability to pay," Cassil said. "We agree to do this when an entity is able to document to our satisfaction that imposing a higher settlement amount would threaten their ability to operate."
The government alleges that from 1992-98 Beverly improperly charged Medicare for the salaries of nurses caring for non-Medicare patients. At the 10 nursing homes owned by Beverly-California and at other Beverly facilities, the company filed cost reports that "falsely inflated the number of hours attributable to Medicare patients," the government said. The fake cost figures were backed by false documents such as "phony nurse sign-in sheets," according to the government.
Beverly Enterprises and its corporate officers and directors were not charged with any criminal wrongdoing. Spokesman Dan Springer said the company is paying the price for mistakes made by a "small number of people at a few facilities who took actions that were not approved by anyone." Springer said the criminal charges related to 10 cost reports that made up 0.2 percent of the 4,680 cost reports filed by the company from 1992-98. In court documents, the government claimed that Beverly in 1992 came up with a "scheme to defraud the Medicare program."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Caldwell, who prosecuted the case, said the government viewed the policy as one that came from the "top down." Beverly's Springer denied the involvement of top executives. Caldwell declined to comment on why no charges were filed against top officials at the company. "This is just where we ended up at the end of the day," she said.
Beverly released basic terms of a tentative agreement last August as part of its second-quarter earnings report. The company took a $199 million pretax charge for the quarter to pay for the settlement. Investors had already factored in the cost of the settlement. Shares of Beverly closed Thursday at $3.81 a share, up 19 cents, on a volume of 970,600 shares, about twice its three-month average. Nancy Weaver, an industry analyst with Little Rock investment bank Stephens Inc., said Thursday's announcement surprised nobody. "There's no change from the original announcement," said Weaver, who continues to rate the stock a "buy." "There may be some short-term public relations questions they have to answer."
The settlement requires Beverly to wire $25 million of the fine to the Department of Justice within 30 days. The balance of the settlement will be deducted every two weeks from the company's Medicare payments in the amount of $697,115. The entire payment plan should take eight years. Beverly must have contracts to sell the 10 nursing homes within 120 days. Springer said the company was required to submit a list of potential buyers for government approval before a settlement could be reached. None of those potential buyers has been contacted about the facilities, Springer said. He declined to identify the companies.
As part of the "corporate integrity agreement," Beverly will have to undergo internal and external auditing of its compliance procedures and submit regular reports to the Office of Inspector General for the next five years. "We will be a part of their lives for the foreseeable future," Cassil said.
Cha-chinggggggg!
The critical difference between Clinton and Bush, however, is that Clinton delivered favors to Enron through Comerce Secretary Ron Brown and others. The Bush Administration denied favors to Enron through the Secretaries of Commerce and Treasury, because it was the wrong thing to do.
That's one more reason why it's good to have adults back in charge.
Congressman Billybob
Bump!
In case anybody missed it, there's a full-scale, no-holds-barred air war going on right now. A massive one. Daisy-cutters, 2,000-pound bunker-busters -- you name it. Bombs are dropping faster than you can blink. Squadrons of B-52s -- AKA 'big ugly fat fellows' -- are prowling the heavens, pounding enemy positions, unleashing their fiery wrath, carpet bombing around-the-clock....the works.
What's that you say? Haven't heard of this? Thought the war was over, eh? Well Fuggedaboudit! Flick on the idiot box, kick up your feet, sit back and enjoy (Drum roll, please?) -- OPERATION ENRON!!! Yep, folks, it's Enron at dawn, Enron at noon, Enron at dusk. Enron 24/7. The media high command has declared an air war against the Bush administration; The White House, like the mountains of Tora Bora, has become ground zero for media strike bombardiers.
Kidding aside, never -- ever -- in my life have I seen anything quite like what we're witnessing right now.
Media bias is one thing. We've all seen it. We've all tasted it. Heaven knows we've all groused about it, perennially. Bernard Goldberg's bombshell has soared to near the top of the New York Times best-seller list, and for good reason.
But, Ladies and Gentlemen, what we're witnessing goes beyond simple 'bias' -- well beyond. This isn't bias, this is fraud. Wholesale fraud.
The media is perpetrating one of the greatest frauds ever: To wit, the fabrication of a pseudo-political "scandal" -- out of whole cloth.
This isn't "news" "reporting", this is orgy-making -- a veritable orgy of innuendo. It would take years to tally all the libel and slander, all the malicious rumor-mongering, all the baseless smears -- the torrent of lies, insults and calumnies spewed straight from the bowels of our "major media" these past two days -- alone.
Question: Why is the media doing this? That's simple: Because they can.
Any proof of administration wrongdoing? No, not the vaguest hint, not the slightest intimation of official wrongdoing nor impropriety -- and even the media jackals know it.
Any proof of malfeasance or criminal activity by anyone in the Bush White House? Nope. None has been shown, none has been presented. Nothing even remotely resembling an allegation, even. But heck, who needs proof, anyway? Washington craves a 'scandal', and Enron fills the bill nicely, thank you very much.
No proof of 'cover-up'? Then fabricate some! Of course, we all know Bush had nothing to do with the shredding* of documents, the massive cover-up by Enron's auditor. But oh, yummy, yummy -- how exquisitely delicious to find ominous buzz phrases like 'document-shredding', 'cover-up' and the name George W. Bush jammed together in the same sentence, eh? Who cares if they don't belong together? Who cares if Bush did absolutely nothing wrong? This is not about truth or fairness or facts or evidence: This is purely -- first and foremost -- about vengence. Avenging whom or what, you ask? Why, the media's darling golden-boy, William Jefferson Clinton, who eles?
But the haters have a major problem on their hands, and it's this: Signs are this phony "scandal" is headed in the opposite direction -- away from implicating current administration officials.
Indeed, think of how ludicrous this sounds: Democrats want to know -- not why there were -- but why there weren't any quid-pro-quo shenanigans. Why didn't you do any special favors on behalf of your big campaign contributor, Mr. President? Why didn't you bail out your rich oil buddy when he came beckoning and calling?
In other words, what the heck is the matter with you, Mr. President? Why, O why, didn't you do something wrong? Lotting the treasury to bailout fat-cats; seedy backroom deals, bribery, extortion -- that's what we do here in Washington! How dare you be so ethical, so squeaky clean, Mr. President?!?!
Bottom line: Democrats want to know why Enron's generous contributions didn't buy it any favors from this administration. How utterly UN-Clinton-esque can this President get, eh?
This is the first "scandal" in history in which no wrongdoing IS the scandal du jour. No special favors, no shenanigans, no quid-pro-quo -- now that's an outrage!
The Attorney General recusing himself? What?! This earthshaking! Explosive! How scandalous!
Why the AG recusing himself to avoid tainting the probe should be seen as "scandalous"? You go figure.
But that's the nub of the problem with Enron as political "news": Its string of farcical flaws and fallacies.
It's why "Enron" will soon be running on fumes -- politically worthless, just like the company's stock. Absent some 'hook' -- proof of government cover-up, official malfeasance, etc. -- "Enron" inexorably reverts to its rightful place in the business page of the newspaper.
Already people are asking: Where's the beef?
*Ironies of ironies: The wholesale document destruction by Enron's auditor, Arthur Andersen LLP, raises an interesting dilemma, particularly in light of the close ties between Ken Lay and the previous administration. Clinton was known to personally intervene on Enron's behalf on a number of occasions. Generous campaign donations would follow. The documents destroyed may have revealed a nexus.
My intrepid prediction: Enron will backfire on Democrats. Americans will see them as grossly over-reaching -- the "hearings" as sheer vindicativeness, an unwelcomed extention of Campaign 2000. Their vicious and spiteful crusade will be seen as bloodsport -- a thinly veiled, all-out effort to cripple this President; the Democrats' ultimate goal is to assassinate him, politically, with constant, deadly attacks and smears.
But it won't work, because it can't work. The public will not look to fondly at their "Wanted: Dead or Alive" modus operandi at politics (again, figuritively speaking).
A political party whose sole obession, whose only mission is to bring down the President -- come hell or high water -- is a party destined, rightfully, for the ash heap.
Fate will deal the Democrats, tone deaf and blinded by hate, a cruel blow, indeed. So let them nurse their hatred -- let them beat the dead horse of Enron: They will only bring down the wrath of a people, of a nation, still smoldering over September 11.
My two cents...
"JohnHuang2"
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