On October 22nd WellCare’s Tampa Bay offices were raided by 200 FBI agents.

[seemslikeadream]

http://www.enterprisecorruption.com/?page_id=93

Well, Well, WellCare?
I guess “free” healthcare isn’t free after all?

As of October 22nd 2007 WellCare is the first shoe to drop in the nascent industry of Prescription Benefit Management.

On October 22nd WellCare’s Tampa Bay offices were raided by 200 FBI agents.

You may not have heard about it as the big story (and rather well-timed) was “terrorist arson in California”. White-collar criminals sure love their “natural disasters”.

The ink on President Bush’s Part B Medicare prescription coverage legislation is barely dry as it is less then two years old.

In fact, just 5 months before President Bush signed the Medicare Part B legislation he signed another bit of legislation aimed at “curtailing fraud and corruption in corporate America” as he said “Every corporate criminal who has chosen to commit a crime can expect to face the consequences” … “no more easy money for corporate criminals, just hard time.”

The “benefactors” of the brand new Prescription “Benefit” Management giveaway seem to be WellCare’s board members (political contributors).

It is looking like American taxpayers are getting an idea of exactly what Newt Gingrich means by “21st Century Healthcare”.

Just four years ago investors and taxpayers found out the hard way that “HealthSouth” and Ernst & Young’s “Pristine Audits” was what he meant by “Renewing America”.

Withering on the vine?

“the system is a perfect example of bureaucratic planning that becomes wasteful and guarantees mis-allocation of resources.”

(Newt Gingrich, “To Renew America” Copywrite 1995, Chapter 7; pg: 95-96)

Newt isn’t complaining here, he is bragging.

“medicare is the foundation of health care for our senior citizens.”

(“To Renew America” Copywrite 1995)

“If you are a customer that means you can ask about price and quality. You can shop around and check your bill intelligently … If each citizen becomes the primary checker of his or her medical bills, we will see more competitive practices and a dramatic drop in fraud and waste.”

(“To Renew America” Copywrite 1995)

Newt isn’t bragging here, he is complaining.

A “dramatic drop in fraud and waste” would mean a “dramatic drop in political contributions” from the highest bidders in the game of healthcare monopoly.

Being the history expert Newt knows that once again America’s statesmen have failed to learn from the mistakes of history. In this case America’s democratically elected leaders failed to learn from the mistakes of history.. that is only 4 years old?

In the game of Medicare fraud the question is not “are you committing Medicare fraud?”. The question is “what types of Medicare fraud are you committing? … “And how many ways are you planning on covering it up?”

Last time they covered it up with “Shock & Awe”.



WellCare provided the GOP with very healthy campaign contributions.

Question is:

Where is the liberal media?

Will Hillary or any of the democratic hopefuls use it in their election bids? After all this is their big opportunity to control the 24 x 7 debate over the future of health care.

What did the President know and when did he know it (after all it was his plan)? Did he know it when the Muslims were in the White House celebrating the end of Ramadan?

Did some of the WellCare executive bonus money make a “Pilgrimage To Rome”?

Did Florida’s Jeb Bush know anything about the Tampa Bay company’s accounting when he joined Tenet Healthcare in mid-April this year?

Where is Sarbanes-Oxley?

What happened to all that “corporate governance”?

Which politicians sold their holdings in time?



Get ready for the $1,000.00 an hour lawyers to come up with the reasons why WellCare cooked their books because corporate executives can do just about anything they wish.. as long as their legal council provides them with “a reason”.

I’m not a lawyer but here are a few examples:

Try:

“because its war?”

to preserve our freedoms?

to “give back”?

to stop the spread of communism?

to secure the homeland?

out of national interest?

to promote volunteerism?

winning the hearts and minds?

or maybe.. doing the work of the Lord and Trinity University?

or last but not least.. “bin Laden did it”?



WellCare is:

a taxpayer issue

the defrauding of a “big socialist program”

inside-trading

book-cooking

trading on knowledge of fraudulent accounting

And all during a war on terror?



Very patriotic indeed.



att mods permission to repost whole article

[ben_meyers]

1. Where is the liberal media?

Possibly hoping that this will all go away. George Soros did the private equity financing for WellCare and seems to have profited handsomely from the 2005 IPO. Former Sen and Governor Bob Graham is still on the board.

The proxy also disclosed that financier and philanthropist George Soros no longer is involved with WellCare. Soros Private Equity Investors had owned about 80 percent of WellCare at the time of the IPO.

In December, Soros Private Equity Investors sold 5.6 million shares for about $170 million.

In April, Soros spun off the $1.3-billion private equity group and the new firm was renamed TowerBrook Capital Partners. TowerBrook is headed by Neal Moszkowski, who previously led Soros Private Equity. Moszkowski also is chairman of the WellCare board.

TowerBrook is now the single largest shareholder in WellCare, with 16.7 million shares or 43.2 percent of the stock outstanding on April 25.

http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2005/05/09/story3.html

[seemslikeadream]

2. Look at the insider trading at WellCare just prior to the 2007 Legatus Pilgrimage

Look at the insider trading at WellCare just prior to the 2007 Legatus Pilgrimage

http://www.insidercow.com/history/company.jsp?company=wcg&B1=Search%21

[reinhardt]

4. you rock n/t

[reinhardt]

10. Watch for the next one on WRH..

It is titled "Till Death Do Us Part D; WellCare Is A
'Grave' Issue"

[reinhardt]

16. WellCare Timeline (Ver 1.0)

http://www.enterprisecorruption.com/?page_id=97


03/04/2004  WCG
This is the Yahoo! Message Board about <b>WellCare
Health Plans, In (NYSE: WCG)</b>, where you can discuss
the future prospects of the company and share information
about it with others. This board is not connected in any way
with the company, and any messages are solely the opinion and
responsibility of the poster.

28/11/2005  Soros Inside Track 
last year during election. New in advance of WCG contracts?

08/05/2006 WellCare announced that its income jumped 58% and
its sales were up 74%
One lawsuit is on behalf of investors who purchased shares
between May 08, 2006 and the date of the raid

29/12/2006 Earliest reference to “Pushing Daisies”
BrilliantBC: First you wrote “Dead Like Me” and now you’re
working on a pilot for ABC called “Pushing Daisies” which is
about a guy who can bring dead people back to life. Is there
something about death that interests you?

12/2006  Joseph and Bettie Tompkins begin receiving
unsolicited mail from WellCare
Note: They are probably signed up at this time through forgery

22/02/2007 “Medicare Fraud Affects Columbus Families And Leads
To Possible Arrests”
Yahoo message WCG 1504

23/02/2007 Georgia to Stop Enrolling Mediciad - March 11
Big big state for WCG.
WCG is trading at 40% premium to UNH with a LOT MORE RISK. All
Medicare and Medicaid for WCG -- two groups under fire.

27/03/2007 FL's lousy with presidential activity
If it's late March, near the end of the fundraising quarter,
where else would an aspiring presidential candidate be but
Florida? There are so many presidential campaign stops -
mostly of the private check-chasing variety - we're struggling
to keep track. But in addition to John McCain at Paradigm in
Tallahassee earlier today, here's some of what's doing this
week:
Barack Obama on Friday raises coin in Tallahassee and
Jacksonville; Rudy Giuliani, Sam Brownback, Mitt Romney, and
Newt Gingrich will be in Palm Beach County for the Club for
Growth winter conference. Bill and Hillary Clinton will be
raising bucks Saturday in Miami, West Palm Beach and Orlando.
John Edwards will be hauling in dough in north Miami Saturday,
hosted by developer Jerry Kaufman. 

10/04/2007 (week of)  Meanwhile, prospective presidential
candidate Newt Gingrich comes to Tampa Friday to chat with the
American Medical Association about healthcare.

12/04/2007  Executive shuffle continues at WellCare
Tampa Bay business journal
Imtiaz "MT" Sattaur, WellCare Health Plan Inc.'s
Florida business president, has resigned, effective
immediately. 
Sattaur will be succeeded by Tom Summerill as chief operating
officer, Florida, according to an April 12 filing with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. Summerill joined WellCare
in October and has more than 20 years of experience in managed
care, most recently as chief executive of AmeriChoice Florida,
a division of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), according to the
filing. 
Sattaur left to pursue other opportunities, the filing says.
He had been one of WellCare's most highly compensated
executives in 2005, the most recent year for which information
is available, with $439,615 in salary and bonus, according to
the company's proxy. 
Sattaur's resignation is the most recent in a series of
executive shuffles at WellCare (NYSE: WCG), a Tampa-based
provider of managed care services targeted exclusively to
government-sponsored health care programs. 
In December, Dr. Ace Hodgin, senior vice president and chief
medical officer, resigned. In February, Hodgin was named
executive vice president and chief medical officer at Bravo by
Elder Health, a Baltimore company that provides health
coverage to the elderly. 
A week after Hodgin left, Dr. Andrew Agwunobi resigned from
the WellCare board. The following day, Agwunobi was appointed
secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration, the
top health care regulatory body in Florida. 
In January, Anil Kottoor was named chief information officer
at WellCare, while David Erickson, the previous CIO, became
senior vice president for information technology, reporting to
Kottoor. 

25/04/2007 Search warrants served at Michael Vicks residence

27/04/2007 WCG CFO being investigated by Florida
Note: (not this particular post but posts near this date) Some
reports of lots of money being shipped to Caymen Islands
Note: I think the “CFO” here is referring to the Florida state
CFO

30/04/2007 WellCare names ex-Fla. Sen. Grahan to board
(Marketwatch)

04/05/07 Message Board 
Todd Farha (CEO of WCG) was Wiggin's right hand man when
Oxford blew up.
You are correct -- Oxford blamed it on unmanaged growth. Said
they grew by 500,000 lives that year -- and it was just too
much. IT systems couldn't keep up.

04/05/2007
State contractor paid Caymans unit; company says it isn't
hiding profits 
By Don Michak, Journal Inquirer
A former state budget director insists that his current
employer - one of four firms that operates Connecticut's
insurance program for children - hasn't hidden profits by
making millions of dollars in unnecessary payments to a
Caribbean subsidiary. 
Marc S. Ryan, who two years ago quit as secretary of the state
Office of Policy and Management to become a vice president at
Florida-based Wellcare Health Plan Inc., confirmed today that
the company's Connecticut operation last year paid $6.4
million to its recently established reinsurance subsidiary in
the Cayman Islands.

07/05/2007  Methods Used by Insurers Are Questioned
Robert Pear NYT
Note: This piece had to have been a wire piece (AP?) because
many papers and journalists reprinted the same content.

16/05/2007 Hearings indicate WellCare is enrolling dead people
Note: boards say Pete Stark is scheduling hearings

16/05/2007 So insider sold some shares, so we are down
yesterday. What's the big deal.
We are going up 'cause Warren Buffett, Edward Lampart, Soros
and Gates bought some WCG, so be happy about.
Whoever sold yesterday consider yourself as a idiot!
Note: Another post says Warren Buffet bought WLP not WCG

[flvegan]

3. It's all over the local media here. Not that it matters in the broad sense.

[Richard Steele]

5. K&R

[Yael]

6. Please don't lose sleep over the portfolio values of the top execs, people

even though the stock fell 30% on Friday, these guys are going to be A-OK!

Some WellCare insiders managed to escape that crash. Director Neal Moszkowski executed the most recent transaction, selling more than $1 million worth of stock four days before the raid. Meanwhile, WellCare CEO Todd Farha has been unloading company stock for months. He executed his last big transaction, which generated more than $1 million as well, just two weeks ago.

http://www.thestreet.com/s/sickly-turn-for-wellcare/newsanalysis/healthcare/10386523.html?puc=googlefi

[reinhardt]

7. It is about dead people and raid timing n/t

[ProSense]

8. The Malkin connection

here.

[stop the bleeding]

9. ..

:rofl:

[OzarkDem]

11. Bob Graham (D) is on their board

I don't like it when members of my party are involved in these kinds of scam corporations.

[reinhardt]

12. They gotcha..

That is why de Tocquevlle said "in America.. democracy
works".

Works for whom?

[L. Coyote]

13. Just another chapter in the long history of FRAUD in funded healthcare, Frist, et.al.

30 U.S. attorneys investigate BILKING BILLIONS, Medicare, Medicaid, Military’s Healthcare
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x877011

[lovuian]

14. Making profits and stealing from sick people has to be

the lowest of lows

[reinhardt]

15. Till Death Do Us Part-D; WellCare Is A “Grave” Issue

http://www.enterprisecorruption.com/?page_id=94


Clearly departed,

We are gathered here at this sorrowful occasion because a great many of our longest accounts are no longer with us. In fact, a great many of our longest accounts.. have never been with us.

Grandpa is back with Grandma.. and they are both on WellCare’s customer list.



Question: What is the difference between Medicare Part A and Medicare Part D?

The introduction of the Part D prescription drug benefit coupled with the dramatic growth in the types and numbers of Medicare Advantage plans being sold across the country have increased both the complexity of and confusion surrounding the Medicare program, leading to an environment that is ripe for abuse.

It has recently been unearthed that the “Medicare Advantage” plans are really not all that complex after all.

So, what is the difference between Medicare Part A and Medicare Part D?

Answer: The “A” stands for “alive”



Schindler’s List; Skeletons In The Closet

WellCare’s Rise and “Fall” Mirrors The Collapse Of McKesson Pharmaceuticals 70 Years Ago.

As Congress “investigated” the collapse of that high-profile drug company, it faced a daunting challenge.

One Senator said that to understand the huge company’s shocking failure, lawmakers must consider the regulatory and legal missteps that led to its downfall. How, he wondered, could Congress restore investors’ confidence in the financial system? By repealing old laws? Enacting new ones?

One of his colleagues answered by recounting an old joke: A man gets a message that his mother-in-law has died. ”Shall we embalm, cremate or bury?” it asks. Replies the man, “Embalm, cremate and bury. Take no chances.”

In 1937 the “Pharmaceutical” maker, McKesson & Robbins went belly up and congressional investigators were “flummoxed to learn” that the SEC laws that they passed didn’t mean accountants were supposed to be in the business of detecting fraud.

WellCare’s outside share-holders will soon be flummoxed to learn that Sarbanes-Oxley doesn’t mean accountants are supposed to be in the business of detecting fraud either.

First off - congressional investigators are never “flummoxed”.

Pretending to fail as a “statesman” and “career politician” is often a lucrative and lifelong career.


Aren’t The Flowers Beautiful?

In the summer of 1923 Harding journeyed westward taking with him the Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover. “If you knew of a great scandal in our administration”… he asked Hoover.. “would you for the good of the country and the party expose it publicly, or would you bury it?”

Hoover’s response: “Have you ever heard of the Chicago White Sox?”



We Are Gathered Here As Sinners In A Land Full Of Sinners

Q: Is there anything after death?

A: Yes.. Medicare

Q: Why does Medicare even exist?

A: You can’t scam a government program that doesn’t exist.



Changed Form Or.. Rubbed-Out?

Cold-calling and forged signatures on the enrollment forms?

A multitude of the customers enrolled in the “Medicare Advantage” program were actually taking the dirt nap.

And you wonder why healthcare cost so much?



I Just Saw Him Last Week And He Looked Fine

The reason for the dead-silence in the mainstream media on the FBI’s raid at WellCare’s Tampa offices is becoming apparent. You will hear much about 200 FBI agents collecting evidence. Tip: 200 FBI agents weren’t collecting evidence. They were burying evidence.

An Untimely Death?

Or a perfectly timed homicide?

WellCare’s initial public offering was only 3 years old. And now their shares are in “de-basement”.



Cashed In; Manna From Heaven

Did you get stiffed by WellCare?

You can bet WellCare’s insiders are feeling no pain. The courtroom excuse? If the executives hadn’t sold their shares in time.. their portfolios would have suffered gravely.

(note: There will be more on the intentional de-basement of the vehicle of monetary exchange and a handy class-action check-list later.)

(hint: the devil is in the details; “we are going to raid your offices on such and such date so sell your share-holdings accordingly.)



Class-Less Action

If your particular world-view includes the belief that the three branches of government exist to carry-out justice then don’t even waste your time. This was a classic federally coordinated de-basement of a company’s stocks. You are about to find out what GE’s Jack Welch really meant when he said “Corporations must win!”

As an outside shareholder you are about to witness failure perfected.. so if you want to recoup even a reasonable fraction of your losses, turn everything you believe to be true up-side down.



The Final Chapter?

Since they are not (yet?) suing each other on charges of unfair business practices one might conclude that the entire prescription benefit management sector is on life-support.



And all these senior citizens shenanigans during a war on terror?

Who says there aren’t any heroes?

Very patriotic indeed.



Hey, Would You Please Stop Scamming The Greatest Generation?