The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "fraudulent claims" ...
-
Home Health Hustler
This investigation exposed a woman using multiple identities to set up and operate fraudulent home health care businesses and bill the government. Their investigation found Irene Anderson, also known as Iya Edwards, was in the country illegally and ordered deported nearly twenty years previous, yet she was able to establish numerous home health care agencies and collect millions of dollars in government money. She received Medicare payments for patients who would not typically qualify for home care coverage and for patients who received no home health care at all. This story exposed lapses in federal healthcare and legal systems as well as in the state regulatory system home health care providers. The news team found several ex-employees who had reported fraud and abuse to the state, but nothing had been done. In fact, the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services claimed it conducted an investigation and found nothing, clearing the way for Anderson to continue to fraudulently bill the federal government. The investigation triggered an arrest, a federal raid, criminal charges, repayment of millions of tax dollars and promises of legislative change.
Tags: Texas; home health care; fraud; Medicare fraud; public records
-
Putting the Bite on Hospitals
"This story uncovered the details of a massive whistleblower lawsuit against Novation, the alrgest broker of medical goods in the country, which is accused of unethical contacting practices costing the government billions of dollars in fraudulent healthcare claims."
Tags: health
-
Blowing In The Wind
Two whistle blowers share the story of how State Farm Insurance "was systematically defrauding its loyal customers" in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Sisters Cori and Sherri Rigsby are State Farm insurance adjusters who told ABC News about how State Farm employees "were instructed to fraudulently alter customers' claim forms and even shred documents so the famous insurance company could avoid paying benefits to families who lost everything in the hurricane."
Tags: Hurricane Katrina; State Farm insurance; Cori Rigsby; Sherri Rigsby; whistle blowers
-
Allerca
Allerca is a biotechnology firm in San Diego, which claimed to have engineered the world's first hypoallergenic cats. Though the cats recieved a lot of media attention, this investigation was the first to take a hard look at the company and its founder, Simon Brodie. The investigation uncovered a string of debts, umpaid employees, court judgements, and a fraudulent and illegal fake charity website.
Tags: animals; biotechnology; public records; business; business ethics; Allerca foundation; cats
-
Broke and Abandoned
An investigation into claims that the California Department of Corporations ignored years of warnings about fraudulent practices, including allegations of securities fraud and grand theft, committed by D.W. Heath & Associates.
Tags: fraud; D.W.Heath & Associates; Department of Corporations; Riverside County; California Public Records Act
-
Premium Pensions
Three stories examine the abuses of California's generous public pensions system. "Chief's Disease," reveals that the highest ranking officers of the California Highway Patrol often made injury claims as retirement drew near, so their pensions were supplemented by workplace injury settlements. "Workers' comp judges cash in," showed that judges who decided worker's comp claims were themselves six times more likely to claim job related injuries than their judicial colleagues in other parts of the system. "How state law fattens pensions," deals with California's law that allows pensions to be calculated based on the single highest year of salary a public worker achieves. California is the only state in the country that has such a law. There is also supplemental material that followed the publication of the series.
Tags: public pensions; workman's compensation; fraudulent claims; state government; local government; public servants
-
Rent a Patient
In this hidden camera investigation, ABC News Primetime uncovers the nationwide medical insurance scam that sends healthy people to surgery for profit. So far, recruiting people to have unnecessary procedures done has cost the insurance industry billions of dollars in fraudulent claims. Recruiters pull people in with offers of free cosmetic surgery and, in many cases, they are required to have the expensive procedures far from home. "The story resulted in the indictment of one surgery center, where ABC News correspondent John Quinones was offered money to have surgery. On the day our report aired, the FBI raided that facility and three others."
Tags: medical insurance scams; suspicious claims; healthcare; cosmetic surgery; insurance fraud
-
At fault: Inside the culture of auto insurance fraud
This investigation reveals how auto insurance fraud has pushed premiums for Massachusetts drivers to among the highest in the nation. The series "connected the dots of an epidemic of fraud," from "frequent flyer" accident victims who pretend to suffer injuries in order to collect claims, to staged accidents in which people are recruited to file fraudulent claims, to lawyers and chiropractors who pay "runners" to solicit accident cases and victims of fake claims, to the criminal justice system and insurance companies that have failed to tackle the problem.
Tags: auto insurance fraud; car insurance; bodily injury claims; CAR; computer-assisted reporting
-
The GST Scam: Money for the Asking
This report revealed major fraud in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) System in Canada. The reporters discovered that hundreds of million of dollars were lost to fraudulent GST rebate claims every year.
Tags: fraudulent claims; manufacturer's tax; taxes; Canada; rebates; RADIO; CD; transcript
-
Grand Scam
A D Magazine investigation of the O'Brien Rottman Studio's Model and Talent Search, a talent scout company claiming to be "deeply connected in the entertainment industry," is ripping off gullible parents and starry-eyed children. O'Brien Rottman Studios, with agencies in LA, Dallas, San Francisco and Phoenix, charges parents eight times the industry price for acting and modeling classes that may or may not be need to make it big in Hollywood. In fact, D Magazine warns, association with this fraudulent company may cost potential stars their careers.
Tags: fraud; O'Brien Rottman Studio's Model and Talent Search; entertainment industry; child actors