Does Weldon's Helicopter Have A Locking Gas Cap?

Fierce Healthcare has;

Medicare Fraudsters Seeking Refuge In Cuba

July 19, 2011 — 3:22pm ET | By Ron Shinkman

The number of criminals charged with healthcare fraud in South Florida has tripled since 2008, reports the Miami Herald, but many of those facing prosecution have been fleeing to Cuba and countries in Central and South America. The fraud eventually deprives hospitals of sorely needed Medicare revenue.

Despite the uptick in pursuing healthcare scammers, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has caught only 16 fugitives. The number that remains at large is about 10 times greater. Of the top 10 fugitives listed by the Department of Health & Human Services' Office of the Inspector General, seven are Cuban.

"They go to Cuba so they can't be caught,'' Rolando Betancourt, a Miami bail bondsman who has tracked one Medicare fugitive to Havana, told the Herald. "You can find anybody in Cuba; you just can't arrest them.''

Among the primary reasons: The United States has not had official relations with Cuba for more than half a century. Without diplomatic relations in place, negotiating an extradition treaty is impossible.

A report issued by the University of Miami and other experts suggested that Cuba was sheltering the perpetrators of Medicare fraud in exchange for payments of U.S. currency, notes the article.

For more:
- read the Miami Herald article
- check out the OIG's "Most Wanted Fugitives" list

Related Articles:
Healthcare fugitives featured on new OIG 'Most Wanted' list
Dow Jones sues to expose Medicare payment data on crooked docs
Medicare spending shifts suggest fraud migrates

Thank You Fierce Healthcare and Mr Shrinkman

And in Other J&J news, Pharmalot has;

J&J Special Committee: There Was No Wrongdoing

which inspired This comment from 'Observer'

“A committee is an alley down which the truth is taken … to die.”

And on the Cuba front?

2 new Vacant, Waterfront Lots in Florida don’t come cheap, - $8.45 Million - even if you’re William C. Weldon: CEO of J&J/Risperdal. And that recent Back Surgery CEO Weldon had – just in time to miss out on having to Testify, In Person, to Congress about Why so many of J&J’s Over The Counter products have been recalled - had to set him back at least another speck of pocket lint.

In Flat Year (2008) J&J CEO Scores $32 Million (thx WSJ)

Which has us betting there will be guards, perhaps armed ones, 24/7 watching the helo pad at the new Florida Weldon compound because we're hoping that when the smoke clears in Texas, or maybe the next State, the internal J&J hot potatoes tying Weldon and his Entire Board directly to TMAP will surface.