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Majority of ICC’s ongoing 50 fixing cases linked to corruptors in India: Official

admin — Sat, 20 Jun 2020 16:57:17 +0000

Did the wide-ranging fallout of the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal work as a deterrent against corruption in Indian cricket? Not so, say anti-corruption (ACU) officials in the sport.

These officials say the corruptors now look to target the state leagues as well as lesser known live competitions – smaller in scale and involving more vulnerable players. “We have 50 investigations that we are undertaking and majority have links to corruptors in India,” Steve Richardson, coordinator of investigations, International Cricket Council ACU said in a webinar on Sports Law and Policy on Saturday.

Of late, no high-profile Indian cricketer may have come under the lens, but the player-bookie nexus goes unabated, he said. “Players are the final link in the chain. Problem is with people who organise corruption, who pay the players; who sit outside the sport. I can deliver eight names to Indian governing agencies who are serial offenders and constantly approach the players,” Richardson added.

But for Covid 19 applying the brake on all state leagues, many of them would have been on by now. The Karnataka Premier League (KPL) remains suspended and police investigations are on after some players and a team owner were charged with fixing. “The police has filed partial charge-sheets in KPL matter. We are in the process of examination of that evidence,” BCCI ACU head Ajit Singh said.

“The entire malice emanates from (illegal) betting. Just to make windfall gains illegally through betting, they approach participants (players, support staff, officials, franchise owners) and the amount of money involved is unimaginable – an annual turnover of R30,000-40,000 crore; including sports and other activities. In state leagues, we got betting examined on certain matches and we discovered it comes to the tune of more than 2 million pounds per match,” said Singh.

ACU officials say nothing will change until match-fixing is made a criminal offence in India. “Sri Lanka was the first nation that brought a match-fixing law. For that reason, Sri Lanka cricket is better protected now. In Australia’s case, we are very proactive. At the moment, with no legislation in place in India, they are operating with one hand tied up,” said Richardson.

A robust law would also help protect ICC events better. “In Australia, they can stop someone coming to their country before the tournament. India too has ICC events coming up with the T20 World Cup (2021) and the 2023 ODI World Cup. Legislation would be a game changer.”

Singh said there would be a strong deterrent if the pending Prevention of Sports Fraud bill became law. “Fans put in a huge amount of emotion and this (fixing) happens… It starts at an early stage; those who are in sports betting nurture these players and start using them later for fixing. It needs to be curbed. For that you need a strong law. Currently it is archaic, and some of the conditions are laughable.”

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Father Of Wanted College Student Linked To String Of Slayings Was Arrested For Sexual Assault

admin — Wed, 27 May 2020 21:48:47 +0000

The father of the University of Connecticut student and former high school football player in Fairfield County who is the subject of a massive manhunt for two slayings was arrested last month for sexual assault.

Robert Manfredonia, 54, of Waterbury, turned himself in at Newtown Police headquarters on Tuesday, April 28, after learning there was a warrant for his arrest, said Lt. Aaron Bahamonde.

He was arrested for an alleged sexual assault that occurred on Friday, April 10.

He was charged with sexual assault, risk of injury to a child, providing liquor to a minor, the arrest report shows.

According to the

New York Post

, the father is accused of providing alcohol to two teen girls, and then touching one of the teens when the other teen left.

He was released after posting a $50,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday, July 1.

Robert Manfredonia’s son, 2015 Newtown High School graduate Peter Manfredonia, 23, is still at large having last been seen in the Poconos region of Pennsylvania,

Peter Manfredonia is wanted, for two homicides, a home invasion, and a kidnapping.

Manfredonia, a senior at UConn, was last seen on Sunday, May 24, in East Stroudsberg, located in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, walking behind a Walmart where he had been dropped off by an Uber driver. A surveillance photo was later released by state police showing him walking on train tracks. (See the third image above.)

His family issued a statement on Monday, May 25, pleading with their son to turn himself in.

“It’s time to surrender,” his parents said. “You have your parents and your sisters and your family’s entire support.”

He is reportedly heavily armed with several firearms – pistols and long guns – and presumed dangerous, Connecticut State Police said.

The most current photos of the suspect, Peter Manfredonia.

Connecticut State Police

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The most current photos of the suspect, Peter Manfredonia.

Connecticut State Police

The younger Manfredonia is described as being 6-foot-3, with disheveled, black hair, brown eyes, and weighing approximately 240 pounds. He was last seen wearing a gray T-shirt, gray sweatpants, and carrying a duffel bag.

Anyone with information is asked to contact to call Derby police at 203-735-7811, state police at 860-896-3200 or the FBI at 1-800-CALLFBI.

Any sightings of Peter Manfredonia should be reported via 911.

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South Florida pharmacists charged in $87 million fraud case linked to former UF player

admin — Tue, 12 May 2020 10:02:41 +0000

Monty Grow, left, during his playing days with the Jacksonville Jaguars. The former Florida Gator was sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2018 in a military-related healthcare fraud case in Miami.

Herald archives

A couple of years ago, former University of Florida football standout Monty Grow was found guilty of pocketing $18 million in kickbacks for referring military service members and veterans to a local pharmacy that billed the U.S. government for unnecessary medications.

Grow, sentenced to 22 years in prison, has appealed his conviction.

But the federal investigation didn’t end with the ex-NFL player. It got bigger.

Miami prosecutors have charged two former employees with Pompano Beach-based Patient Care America with bilking $87 million from a military healthcare program run by the U.S. Department of Defense. The alleged scheme included patient referrals that Grow and several others steered to them through marketing companies over a one-year span, according to court records.

Matthew Smith, a pharmacist and former vice president of PCA, and Alisa Catoggio, a pharmacy technician, were charged in late April with conspiring to commit healthcare fraud by submitting bogus claims for prescribed drugs to the federal Tricare program for thousands of military service members and veterans who didn’t need them. The former PCA employees are accused of mixing ingredients to create expensive pain creams to treat the scars of military personnel with questionable prescriptions who were not charged any co-payments for the drugs.

The former football player, who owned a marketing firm, used telemedicine companies to prescribe the compound medications, paying them approximately $100 per telephone or video consultation. Grow and his associates filled out prescription forms, faxed them to telemedicine companies for signing by a doctor, and then sent them to the pharmacy.

According to court records, a pain cream prescription that costs the PCA pharmacy about $700 to fill could be reimbursed by Tricare for $16,000. Grow and his team of recruiters received $7,000 in commissions each time.

Of the $87 million that the PCA pharmacy collected from Tricare between 2014 and 2015, about half was kicked back to Grow, his team of associates and other companies for the patient referrals. In addition to healthcare fraud, both Smith and Catoggio are accused of paying and receiving healthcare kickbacks.

Prosecutor Jon Juenger, who handled the Grow case, declined to comment about the expanding pharmacy investigation. Smith’s defense attorney,

Ryan Stumphauzer, a former federal prosecutor who specialized in healthcare fraud cases, said his client “denies the criminal charges and looks forward to vindicating himself in court.”

Catoggio could not be reached for comment.

The Pompano Beach pharmacy business has been mired in controversy over kickback allegations involving the Tricare program for several years. In 2019, Patient Care America, CEO Patrick Smith and and pharmacist Matthew Smith, the former vice president of operations, agreed to settle a False Claims Act case with the Justice Department. PCA, along with a private equity firm, paid $21 million; Patrick Smith paid $300,000; and Matthew Smith paid $12,788. The payments resolving the civil case were based on the ability to pay, according to the Justice Department.

Patrick Smith, the CEO, was not charged criminally. But Matthew Smith, along with his assistant, Catoggio, were charged in the criminal case, which began with the prosecution of Grow and several others.

At Grow’s trial in 2018, the federal jury had to decide whether he intentionally defrauded the military healthcare program or was simply paid lavish but legitimate sales commissions by the pharmacy for referring thousands of patients to Tricare through his marketing company.

Grow’s lawyers urged U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno to be reasonable in his sentencing, which didn’t pan out. They pointed out that eight other defendants in the case — including former University of Florida star and retired NFL quarterback Shane Matthews — received punishment ranging from probation to less than two years. In the conspiracy to fleece the Tricare program, Matthews was sentenced to three months in prison for his bit role on Grow’s marketing team, lining up sales representatives who then landed patients for the PCA pharmacy.

At Grow’s appellate hearing via teleconference last month, his attorney David O. Markus argued that the doctors, not Grow, should be held responsible for the prescriptions. Markus argued that “in every single case a doctor had to approve of the prescription and the doctor was free to change it, alter it or not give it.”

“We have real doctors issuing real prescriptions to real patients who got their medicine,” he told the appellate panel in Atlanta. “Medical necessity was not an issue.”

Contacted by the Miami Herald on Monday, Markus expressed optimism about 48-year-old Grow’s appeal. “Both his conviction and sentence are extremely problematic,” he said.

Jay Weaver writes about bad guys who specialize in con jobs, rip-offs and squirreling away millions. Since joining the Miami Herald in 1999, he’s covered the federal courts nonstop, from Elian’s custody battle to A-Rod’s steroid abuse. He was on the Herald team that won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news in 2001. He and three Herald colleagues were Pulitzer Prize finalists for explanatory reporting in 2019 for a series on gold smuggled from South America to Miami.

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Four men charged in fatal retaliatory shooting linked to murder of ex-NFL player

admin — Fri, 04 May 2018 08:26:59 +0000

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) – Four men have been formally charged with capital murder and kidnapping 1st degree after being arrested by authorities on Wednesday, according to a release from Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

Aeriol Barbee, 27; Myzel Arbuckle, 22; Cortez Johnson-Clark, 24; and Jalen McIntyre, 21, are all facing charges linked to Darryl Thomas, who was shot multiple times and left near a dump in Lipscomb, Ala.

RELATED: Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office investigating after body discovered on Lipscomb dirt road

Police believe the reported murder was retaliation for the slaying of former Green Bay Packer and Alabama Native Carlos Gray on Monday.

RELATED: Sheriff: Kidnapping, murder victim killed in retaliation for murder of former NFL player

CBS 42 will bring you more information as it becomes available.

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