Posts Tagged ‘ Fraud ’

Heart Doc on Receiving End of ‘a Fib’ with NYC Strippers

July 21st, 2014. By LucyC

This could be fun gig—depending on which side of the courtroom you represent. It involves all the good stuff—sex, drugs, fraud—and even some rock and roll.

It’s a lawsuit brought by a New Jersey doc—a cardiologist at Robert Wood University Hospital—Zyad Younan, just 41-years old and busted. Well, taken to the cleaners more like. Seems when it comes to matters of the heart, he may be a bit more book-smart than street-smart…

Dr. Younan allegedly got done in by a group of girlies who falsely presented themselves as sisters and cousins—and who showed him a good time, which cost him $130K. Oh yes my friends, that old ploy. While he’s presumably not disputing he was up for the party, he is disputing the price, and claims he can’t even remember any of what happened. The lawsuit alleges the girls drugged him during their frivolities. That’s sucks (pardon the pun), so no good memories at all out of this one.

The backstory, a 26-year old brunette bombshell, Karina Pascucci, who claimed to be a “nursing major” but in reality is a former bartender with a couple of years community college under her skirt, made cozy with the good doctor in Manhattan last fall.

“She claimed to be a nursing student who had recently moved back to New York to pursue her education,” the bachelor cardiologist claims in his recently filed lawsuit. According to the lawsuit, Pascucci, “the RN-in-training,” pursued the doctor fervently, joining him for a Van Morrison concert at Madison Square Garden and three dinners in Manhattan for “what [Younan] believed were dates.”

Younan claims he did not get suspicious when Pascucci showed up with her gorgeous “cousin” Samantha, and “sister” Kimberly. Really? Like, he didn’t even think to Google any of them? According to the lawsuit, there were other striking women who joined them on the outings as well. OK, I am having a wee bit of difficulty believing he was so believing—although I get the biology behind it.

“Unbeknownst to Younan, Karina along with Marsi, Samantha, [another woman named] Roselyn and Scores [the jiggle joint where the girls work] agreed to participate in a scheme to defraud and steal money from Younan and others by luring them into supposed romantic relationships, then drugging and taking advantage of them by obtaining their credit cards and charging unauthorized amounts,” the lawsuit says.

It took American Express to wake Dr. Younan up. Hey, membership has its privileges. And thankfully AMEX raised that little, “gee, doc, are you sure those purchases are legit?” red flag as it helped kick off an 8-month investigation into the swindling strippers’ M.O.

According to the New York Post, Younan confronted Pascucci, who allegedly tried to blackmail him with video footage of the doctor at Scores. Hey, a girl’s gotta make a living.

But the doc wasn’t having it, according to the lawsuit, despite the best efforts of Samantha Barbash, another alleged ringleader, who tried to persuade Younan to pay the bill, saying, “I thought you were a god? Why would you not wanna pay your bill?” in a Nov. 26, 2013, text message. (New York Post)

A third member of the girl group, Marsi Rosen, sent a message a day later saying, “This isn’t the Zyad I know and love. It’s the holidays babe these poor girls need there [sic] $, have a heart.”

The doctor shot back, “I don’t need to speak with swindlers.” Well done! That’s telling them.

At the moment, Younan is seeking unspecified damages from Pascucci, her colleagues and Scores. And in a crazy twist, the club is suing Younan for the $135K in unpaid bills, which Younan says are false bills.

So, pick your side and lawyer up…. know which one I’d choose.

 

Tags: Fraud, Robert Wood University Hospital, Scores, Zyad Younan
Posted in Totally Tortelicious | No Comments »

Top 10 Whistleblower Cases of 2012 Net Over $7.5B

February 4th, 2013. By AbiK

A recent report by the Federal Elections Commission has come out putting the cost of the recent election cycle at more than $7 billion. That’s a lot of money. Enough that the folks over at Newsy put together the little video clip (above) about it.

But $7 billion ironically pops up in another tally for 2012—the top 10 whistleblower settlements for the year add up to more than $7.5 billion. It’s a staggering amount—not only for an election, but also for whistleblower cases as, think about it, it only represents the tip of the iceberg.

If you’re wondering what those whistleblower settlements were, here’s the list:

1. GlaxoSmithKine – $3 billion

Reason: Illegally marketing some of its prescription drugs such as Paxil, Avandia, Advair, Wellbutrin, Zofran, Imitrex, Lamictal, Lotronex, Floven and Valtrex.

2. Abbott Laboratories – $1.5 billion

Reason: Abbott’s off-label marketing of Depakote.

3. Bank of America – $1 billion

Reason: Mortgage and bank fraud.

4. Merck – $950 million

Reason: Marketing Vioxx illegally

5. Pfizer – $491 million

Reason: Kickbacks and using off-label marketing for organ transplant rejection drug, Rapamune

6. Senior Care Action Network – $323 million

Reason: California Medicaid and HMO cost reporting fraud.

7. Actavis – $202 million

Reason: to settle numerous claims that the company reported inflated prices of its drugs, causing the US and four state governments to overpay.

8. Deutsche Bank – $202 million

Reason: False certification for HUD/FHA loans

9. Oracle – $199 million

Reason: Failure to provide discount pricing

10. McKesson – $190 million

Reason: Accusations that the company inflated prices of numerous prescription drugs, resulting in Medicaid overpaying for those drugs.

Tags: false claims, Fraud, Off Label Marketing, Whistleblower
Posted in Emerging Issues, Whistleblower | 1 Comment »

Irresponsible Advertising? Kenneth Cole Tweet Nothing vs VitaminWater Ads

February 4th, 2011. By AbiK

Not Funny

The Kenneth Cole reaction (couldn’t resist)—i.e., the outburst over his—or his ghostwriting social media whiz—comment on Twitter the other day raised the question of responsible marketing for many—heck, it’s been front page news all over the media. For those of you who missed it, this was the tweet:

“Millions are in an uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is available online at http://bit.ly/KCairo -KC”

Cole followed up later in the day by taking that tweet down and posting a mea culpa:

“Re Egypt tweet: we weren’t intending to make light of a serious situation. We understand the sensitivity of this historic moment -KC”

Ok. Fine. Yes, the situation in Cairo is serious. Very serious. And yes, there are many who would take offense (clearly) at Cole using the situation to grab a cheap marketing shot. But those who have followed Kenneth Cole for many years are well-accustomed to his brand of advertising—and, like it or not, it’s provocative—intentionally so. And, if so inclined—you can even purchase the coffee table book, Footnotes, which takes you through Cole’s first twenty years of advertising.

But now let’s contrast the Kenneth Cole uproar with the latest ad campaign from VitaminWater. Maybe you’ve heard that the National Consumers League (NCL, a watchdog group) has filed a formal complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over VitaminWater’s use of ad copy such as: “Flu shots are so last year.” The inference, of course, being that in some way, shape, or form VitaminWater is on a par—at the least—or superior to—at the worst—getting a flu shot.

The complaint from the NCL charges that such advertising is dangerously misleading. To add to that, ajc.com quotes Sally Greenberg, executive director of NCL as stating, “One of the reasons we went after them was the claims we so outlandish, downright reckless.”

Funny

VitaminWater (aka Glaceau VitaminWater) is owned by Coca-Cola—it’s founder, Michael Repole, sold it to Coke for $4.1 billion in 2007 and Repole’s recently made headlines for his interest in owning a stake in the NY Mets. Coca-Cola has responded to NCL’s criticism by saying that the ads are meant to be funny.

I can buy that—I like humor. But let’s look at the context here as well. Pick up a bottle of VitaminWater (note, not an endorsement here—just pick one up off the store shelf) and read the label. You’ll find things like “vitamins + water = all you need”. Or like the picture shown here, “that’s like brushing your teeth twice”—bet your dentist will like that one.

That’s not humor—that’s irresponsible.

Humor in advertising is that Staples “Most Wonderful Time of the Year” 30-second spot. Or take just about any Super Bowl ad—Pepsi, Doritos, Volkswagon, GoDaddy, Bud Light—they do “funny”. Betty White = Funny.

No one is going to experience undue harm as a result of having read Kenneth Cole’s tweet. What? Some Kenneth Cole fanatic is going to break a fingernail racing to click her mouse to get to Cole’s bit.ly link for his new spring collection? Please. On the other hand, when you put on a food or drink label that your product is “like brushing your teeth twice” when it’s not, well, that’s misleading. Ditto when you use display ads touting that “flu shots are so last year”.

What? I should drink sugar water instead?

Tags: Coca-Cola, false advertising, Fraud, FTC, Kenneth Cole, Misleading Advertising, National Consumers League, Responsible Advertising, Vitamin Water, VitaminWater
Posted in Consumer Fraud, Emerging Issues | No Comments »

Lawyers Beware – Devious Scam Can Cost You Big Time

July 15th, 2010. By AbiK

Seems there’s a new and not-so-little lawyer scam going on. No calling a law firm about a package found on a subway, here. This one’s more devious and it involves some big cash.

According to a report out of wbztv.comin NH, two lawyers were targets of an international internet scam recently. The scammers used internet messages, fake companies and counterfeit checks in order to retain–albeit fraudulently–the lawyers.

Here’s how it worked:

It’s sort of like a Moneygram scam, actually. The lawyers were told that the fake checks were either settlement money or retainer fees. The lawyers were then instructed deposit the “money” and to then wire some money to someone else involved with the case.

The scammers were even doing things like using faux law firm stationery to make it look like it was opposing counsel who had sent the check.

One of the lawyers targeted was fortunate enough to have raised an eyebrow—he did some snooping around and found out that the check was counterfeit. He then contacted the attorney general’s office and state banking officials.

The other lawyer was not so lucky. He went and deposited the check and wired half the amount of it, a whopping $240,000, to a fake client of the company that retained him. Guess what? The $240k was yanked from his account and now it’s bye-bye. His loss. And a big one it is.

According to wbztv.com, Assistant Attorney General Karen Gorham said no arrests are anticipated.

No surprise.

Unfortunately, with scams like these—just as withMoneygram scams—it’s very difficult to track down the perpetrator.

So lawyers beware…

Tags: Fraud, Lawyers, scam
Posted in Consumer Fraud | 2 Comments »

Legalese & Legal-speak: 10 for 2010

December 23rd, 2009. By Kristine B

With 2009 about to come to a close, it’s a good time to take a little breather and take a look at some of the words or phrases you often hear in relation to a lawsuit—but might not know what they mean. They tend to get glossed over as if everyone out there took Latin for 6 years and loves to speak in legalese. So as we get ready to kick off 2010, here’s 10 for ’10…ten common legal terms you oughta know for 2010 and beyond…in plain English…

Damages 

Most of us are used to thinking of “damage” as what happens after a tornado (or a couple of five year olds on M&M’s) hits town. But the weird thing about “damages” from a legal perspective is that it’s the AWARD that comes after the mess—and the lawsuit. Damages simply refers to money awarded as compensation for a legal wrong. Damages are either compensatory or punitive. Say what? It’s like Pandora’s box…keep reading…

Compensatory Damages 

Compensatory damages are awarded to compensate (so that’s where it comes from) the wronged party for money lost, expenses or pain and suffering due to a legal wrong committed by another party. Compensatory damages can include medical expenses, lost wages, loss of future earnings, property damage and pain and suffering. Compensatory = Compensation (well, Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: appeal, Compensatory damages, Damages, fiduciary, Fraud, jurisdiction, Negligence, Pleading Ignorance, Punitive damages, Statute of Limitations, tort
Posted in Pleading Ignorance | No Comments »