The financial news that actually matters
A former college basketball player is accused of using invented cancer treatment, family danger and property crises to obtain nearly $2.2 million from multiple victims. The July federal indictment remains an allegation, and Kerr Kriisa is presumed innocent. The pattern nevertheless exposes a costly pressure tactic: repeated emergencies can turn trust into a stream of…
Eight people have been sentenced after a travel-insurance employee turned inside knowledge of claims processing into a $1.2 million fraud conspiracy. The largest restitution order is $1,199,149.32, a reminder that insurer losses can begin with trusted access rather than a fake policy sold to a traveler. A claims handler could approve the claims she helped…
A Big Ten Network engineering director turned routine equipment purchasing into an eight-year embezzlement pipeline involving about $4 million in Apple products. The loss exposes a wealth-protection risk for any organization whose owners, investors or retirees depend on a trusted employee to buy high-value, easily resold equipment. Procurement authority fed a resale operation Weston Goldstein…
A Santa Fe electrical-company owner saw retirement plans pushed back after a trusted employee stole at least $385,930. The federal sentence recognizes a business loss that became a personal retirement shock for the owner, not merely an accounting error inside a corporation. Payroll access became a seven-figure life disruption From roughly May 2017 through April…
A physician convicted in a nationwide telemedicine scheme has been ordered to repay Medicare $1,250,667.19. Trial evidence included brace orders signed for beneficiaries who were dead and for older patients who did not have the limbs the equipment supposedly supported. Twenty-six seconds replaced a medical evaluation Dr. David Antonio Becerril contracted with a telemedicine and…
A federal restitution order now recognizes losses suffered by 15 people in a romance-fraud conspiracy aimed at older Americans. The $220,485 debt is legally real, although an order to repay victims is not the same as immediate payment in full. A 63-month sentence put a number on 15 losses Abdoul Issaka Assimiou pleaded guilty in…
A former risk-adjustment employee who brought a Medicare Advantage case will receive approximately $2,467,500 from the federal recovery, according to the Justice Department. The award is tied to a $14.1 million settlement, but it is not a general bounty available to anyone who reports an ordinary billing mistake. Karen Bowers brought the case that produced…
An ambulance that Medicare approves is not a free ride. Original Medicare Part B generally leaves the beneficiary owing 20% of the Medicare-approved amount after the annual deductible has been met. The dollar bill depends on the approved charge, while coverage depends on medical necessity, destination and the risks of using another form of transportation….
A rent-free room offered by a relative can solve an immediate housing problem while reducing Supplemental Security Income. In 2026, SSA says living in another person’s home without paying a fair share of food and shelter may cut a recipient’s monthly payment by as much as $351.33. The rule turns informal family help into a…
Social Security beneficiaries can have federal income tax withheld from monthly checks, but the choice is not an open-ended percentage box. The agency permits exactly four rates: 7%, 10%, 12% or 22%. That rigid menu can leave a retiree choosing between a small balance due and a larger-than-necessary refund unless other income sources supply a…