Sat Mar 23, 2024 11:33 pm by globalturbo
VA Hospitals Scandal. Civil RICO lawsuits for damages
11 June 2014 No Comment
n an interview last week with Michael Savage on The Savage Nation, Fox’s Judge Jeanine Pirro concluded that the nationwide Veterans Affairs (VA) scandals, where government officials allegedly falsified data to hide how long veterans were waiting to see VA doctors that led to preventable deaths and includes whistleblower intimidation, constitute a RICO action.
“What went on in the Veteran’s Administration and the fact that everybody knew what was going on, as far as I’m concerned … I’ve been a prosecutor, a judge, a DA for 30 years … This is an organized criminal enterprise …” the host of Justice with Judge Jeanine said. “The crime? Negligent homicide. When you know that someone is going to die— you are their guardian. They are in your care. That is criminal negligent homicide under the federal statutes of voluntary manslaughter. Falsifying records, tampering with evidence, obstruction by intimidation of the whistleblowers and it goes on and on. And as far as I’m concerned this is something where we can actually do a RICO. It’s almost like a mob family.”
RICO, the Racketeer Influence & Corrupt Organizations Act, is the most powerful law enforcement statute on the books. RICO stopped the mafia when every other law enforcement tool failed.
The Judge is correct. But there is an important distinction to RICO that was not articulated during that short, fast moving radio interview.
There are two types of RICO. Criminal RICO and civil RICO.
The most well known criminal RICO that took down members of the Gambino crime family, and encouraged junk bond king Michael Milken to pled guilty to six lesser, non-RICO, securities fraud offenses (he served 22 months in jail and paid $1.1 billion in damages), will not get past Attorney General Eric Holder.
As I document in my Clinton books, The Whistleblower and Following Orders, there is a special justice system that does not apply to everyday Americans. Waiting for the Justice Department or Washington politicians to act is a waste of time.
The second RICO, the lesser known civil RICO lawsuit is immediately actionable. It does not need the blessing of AG Holder or anyone in Washington to proceed. Everyday Americans can file a civil RICO lawsuit locally right now. See 18 U.S.C.A. §§1964—Civil remedies.
As I reported in: RICO Tool Kit: How to hold Washington accountable using the Racketeer Influence & Corrupt Organizations Act, one of the most well known civil RICO lawsuits was used to root out corrupt policemen at the Los Angeles Police Department. Substitute the bad cops with the individual corrupt government workers at the VA or elsewhere (like the IRS), LAPD with the government agency and off you go.
The act of engaging in criminal activity as a structured group is referred to as “racketeering.” RICO requires at least two acts of racketeering activity, establishing a pattern which occurred within ten years after the commission of a prior act of racketeering activity.
In civil RICO lawsuits the afflicted and injured parties are the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs have the names of the defendants—the staffers and administrators including those who received bonuses and were involved in cooking the books. Be sure to request a jury trial.
The beauty about civil RICO is it turns victims into prosecutors, “private attorneys general”, dedicated to eliminating racketeering activity and encourages potential private plaintiffs to investigate diligently. See Rotella v. Wood.
Be sure to check the limitations period in civil RICO lawsuits. There is a two-year statute of limitations in health care liability claims, so if this applies to you don’t procrastinate or you will forfeit your opportunity to seek justice. See TEX.REV.CIV.STAT.ANN. art. 4590i, § 10.01 (Vernon Supp.1997):
“All health care liability claims must be brought within two years of “the occurrence of the breach or tort or from the date the medical or health care treatment that is the subject of the claim or the hospitalization for which the claim is made is completed.””
Typically fraud civil RICO lawsuits have a four-year statute of limitations.
Civil RICO lawsuits can merge with others and be joined at the criminal level as more evidence of crimes is revealed in the discovery process.
Civil RICO does not interfere with or obstruct proceedings on a criminal RICO. As more evidence of crimes emerges, plaintiffs and their attorneys (if they have them, you can also file pro se) are under a legal obligation to report them to the appropriate investigative persons. If those persons, who took an oath to uphold the law, do not, they become co-conspirators in the civil RICO lawsuit.
To obtain civil equitable relief under 18 U.S.C. § 1964(a), the plaintiff must prove a defendant “committed or intended to commit a RICO violation by establishing the same elements as in a criminal RICO case, except that criminal intent is not required; and that there is a reasonable likelihood that the defendant will commit a violation in the future.”
In civil RICO it can be the underlings’ assets that become damages/compensation. A winning plaintiff may collect treble damages (damages in triple the amount of actual/compensatory damages) and reasonable lawyer fees. Only by holding these underlings accountable will they start naming names about who issued unlawful, fraudulent orders. From there these civil RICO lawsuits will work their way up the hierarchy to the top.
As history tells us, the Nuremberg “following orders” defense does not apply. As I documented in A Warning to Public Servants in the Obama Administration: It’s RICO time! No one, not even team-players, are immune. They are disposable.
Based on the number of vets who have suffered or died in delayed backlogs that according to Jacob Siegel at The Daily Beast “appear systematic and ordinary – and endorsed by some in positions of power in the Texas VA health system” a pattern exists.
An Inspector General report details how a number of staffers were involved in falsifying records and widespread scheduling corruption.
More evidence for civil RICO lawsuits can be found in this audit which discovered that 57,000 new patients are still waiting for appointments at Veterans Affairs hospitals and clinics.
Judge Pirro was correct. RICO applies.
As I wrote a year ago in RICO: How to Stop the Obama Administration Crime Wave, “The bottom line is this. You can’t get justice within the political system in America anymore because the politicians own it.”
So stop waiting for Washington to disappoint you again and start holding corruption accountable. Civil RICO is the peaceful, lawful means to restore the rule of law that has been corrupted by the political judicial process.
It is being used right now. Stay tuned for more civil RICO reporting.
An aside: Don’t forget to check out the Hillary 2016 Prison or POTUS? campaign, RICOBAMA wares, and my books.
*Photo Credit: Godfather. Paramount Studios — From my Kid Stays in the Picture Days
Thanks to: http://www.marinkapeschmann.com
11 June 2014 No Comment
n an interview last week with Michael Savage on The Savage Nation, Fox’s Judge Jeanine Pirro concluded that the nationwide Veterans Affairs (VA) scandals, where government officials allegedly falsified data to hide how long veterans were waiting to see VA doctors that led to preventable deaths and includes whistleblower intimidation, constitute a RICO action.
“What went on in the Veteran’s Administration and the fact that everybody knew what was going on, as far as I’m concerned … I’ve been a prosecutor, a judge, a DA for 30 years … This is an organized criminal enterprise …” the host of Justice with Judge Jeanine said. “The crime? Negligent homicide. When you know that someone is going to die— you are their guardian. They are in your care. That is criminal negligent homicide under the federal statutes of voluntary manslaughter. Falsifying records, tampering with evidence, obstruction by intimidation of the whistleblowers and it goes on and on. And as far as I’m concerned this is something where we can actually do a RICO. It’s almost like a mob family.”
RICO, the Racketeer Influence & Corrupt Organizations Act, is the most powerful law enforcement statute on the books. RICO stopped the mafia when every other law enforcement tool failed.
The Judge is correct. But there is an important distinction to RICO that was not articulated during that short, fast moving radio interview.
There are two types of RICO. Criminal RICO and civil RICO.
The most well known criminal RICO that took down members of the Gambino crime family, and encouraged junk bond king Michael Milken to pled guilty to six lesser, non-RICO, securities fraud offenses (he served 22 months in jail and paid $1.1 billion in damages), will not get past Attorney General Eric Holder.
As I document in my Clinton books, The Whistleblower and Following Orders, there is a special justice system that does not apply to everyday Americans. Waiting for the Justice Department or Washington politicians to act is a waste of time.
The second RICO, the lesser known civil RICO lawsuit is immediately actionable. It does not need the blessing of AG Holder or anyone in Washington to proceed. Everyday Americans can file a civil RICO lawsuit locally right now. See 18 U.S.C.A. §§1964—Civil remedies.
As I reported in: RICO Tool Kit: How to hold Washington accountable using the Racketeer Influence & Corrupt Organizations Act, one of the most well known civil RICO lawsuits was used to root out corrupt policemen at the Los Angeles Police Department. Substitute the bad cops with the individual corrupt government workers at the VA or elsewhere (like the IRS), LAPD with the government agency and off you go.
The act of engaging in criminal activity as a structured group is referred to as “racketeering.” RICO requires at least two acts of racketeering activity, establishing a pattern which occurred within ten years after the commission of a prior act of racketeering activity.
In civil RICO lawsuits the afflicted and injured parties are the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs have the names of the defendants—the staffers and administrators including those who received bonuses and were involved in cooking the books. Be sure to request a jury trial.
The beauty about civil RICO is it turns victims into prosecutors, “private attorneys general”, dedicated to eliminating racketeering activity and encourages potential private plaintiffs to investigate diligently. See Rotella v. Wood.
Be sure to check the limitations period in civil RICO lawsuits. There is a two-year statute of limitations in health care liability claims, so if this applies to you don’t procrastinate or you will forfeit your opportunity to seek justice. See TEX.REV.CIV.STAT.ANN. art. 4590i, § 10.01 (Vernon Supp.1997):
“All health care liability claims must be brought within two years of “the occurrence of the breach or tort or from the date the medical or health care treatment that is the subject of the claim or the hospitalization for which the claim is made is completed.””
Typically fraud civil RICO lawsuits have a four-year statute of limitations.
Civil RICO lawsuits can merge with others and be joined at the criminal level as more evidence of crimes is revealed in the discovery process.
Civil RICO does not interfere with or obstruct proceedings on a criminal RICO. As more evidence of crimes emerges, plaintiffs and their attorneys (if they have them, you can also file pro se) are under a legal obligation to report them to the appropriate investigative persons. If those persons, who took an oath to uphold the law, do not, they become co-conspirators in the civil RICO lawsuit.
To obtain civil equitable relief under 18 U.S.C. § 1964(a), the plaintiff must prove a defendant “committed or intended to commit a RICO violation by establishing the same elements as in a criminal RICO case, except that criminal intent is not required; and that there is a reasonable likelihood that the defendant will commit a violation in the future.”
In civil RICO it can be the underlings’ assets that become damages/compensation. A winning plaintiff may collect treble damages (damages in triple the amount of actual/compensatory damages) and reasonable lawyer fees. Only by holding these underlings accountable will they start naming names about who issued unlawful, fraudulent orders. From there these civil RICO lawsuits will work their way up the hierarchy to the top.
As history tells us, the Nuremberg “following orders” defense does not apply. As I documented in A Warning to Public Servants in the Obama Administration: It’s RICO time! No one, not even team-players, are immune. They are disposable.
Based on the number of vets who have suffered or died in delayed backlogs that according to Jacob Siegel at The Daily Beast “appear systematic and ordinary – and endorsed by some in positions of power in the Texas VA health system” a pattern exists.
An Inspector General report details how a number of staffers were involved in falsifying records and widespread scheduling corruption.
More evidence for civil RICO lawsuits can be found in this audit which discovered that 57,000 new patients are still waiting for appointments at Veterans Affairs hospitals and clinics.
Judge Pirro was correct. RICO applies.
As I wrote a year ago in RICO: How to Stop the Obama Administration Crime Wave, “The bottom line is this. You can’t get justice within the political system in America anymore because the politicians own it.”
So stop waiting for Washington to disappoint you again and start holding corruption accountable. Civil RICO is the peaceful, lawful means to restore the rule of law that has been corrupted by the political judicial process.
It is being used right now. Stay tuned for more civil RICO reporting.
An aside: Don’t forget to check out the Hillary 2016 Prison or POTUS? campaign, RICOBAMA wares, and my books.
*Photo Credit: Godfather. Paramount Studios — From my Kid Stays in the Picture Days
Thanks to: http://www.marinkapeschmann.com
