Former Czech prime minister indicted; will stand trial for fraud and more

Former Czech prime minister indicted; will stand trial for fraud

Former prime minister of the Czech Republic and billionaire, Andrej Babiš, will stand trial after Czech prosecutors indicted him over an alleged 2 million euros fraud involving European Union subsidies for a farm in 2007.

Babiš allegedly transferred ownership of the farm from his conglomerate Agrofert, making it eligible for small business subsidies from the EU. Agrofert then regained possession of the farm after it had received the EU funding. Babiš denies any wrongdoing. The move to indict Babiš came after the country’s lower house voted to lift his immunity from prosecution.

Babiš’ party lost a bid for reelection in 2021 following the release of the Pandora Papers, which revealed how he’d used shell companies to buy luxury properties. (See “Former Czech PM, Andrej Babiš, to face trial in EU subsidy fraud case,” by the Associated Press in The Guardian, March 2, 2022, and “Andrej Babiš: Czech parliament lifts immunity of former prime minister over fraud,” Euronews with AP, AFP, March 3, 2022.)

Drilling for fraud

A trip to the dentist is usually nobody’s idea of a good time — especially if that dentist is breaking his patients’ teeth for an insurance scam.

Scott Charmoli, a dentist in Grafton, Wisconsin, was convicted in March of five counts of health care fraud and two counts of making false statements. Charmoli schemed to convince his patients they needed crowns. He then broke their teeth with a drill and sent pictures of his handiwork to insurance companies. The insurance companies would reimburse Charmoli for his patients’ new and unnecessary crowns.

To scam insurance companies, Charmoli unnecessarily installed over 1,000 crowns and billed the companies more than $4.2 million. According to The Guardian, Charmoli often targeted vulnerable patients such as cancer survivors or people in abusive relationships. Nearly 100 of his former patients have sued him for medical malpractice. (See “Dentist found guilty of damaging patients’ teeth to boost profits,” by Gloria Oladipo, The Guardian, March 16, 2022.)

U.S. DOJ chief prosecutor named to tackle pandemic fraud

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has named Associate Deputy Attorney General Kevin Chambers as director of a task force charged with investigating and prosecuting the many frauds that have plagued COVID-19 relief funds. The new role is meant to enhance the task force’s efforts and coordinate the analysts, data scientists, agents and attorneys working pandemic-relief fraud cases.

As of March, the DOJ’s efforts to clamp down on COVID-relief fraud have resulted in criminal charges against over 1,000 defendants with alleged losses exceeding $1.1 billion. A good portion of that — 500 defendants and more than 340 cases with losses of over $700 million — was related to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDL). (See “DOJ names chief prosecutor for pandemic fraud task force,” by Myah Ward, Politico, March 10, 2022, and “Justice Department Announces Director for COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement,” DOJ, March 10, 2022.)