Posted inBusiness

Supplement makers settle fraud charges with Maine’s AG, FTC

AUGUSTA — Maine Attorney General Janet Mills says a health products company and its owner are settling charges brought by herself and the Federal Trade Commission that alleged they deceived consumers. Mills alleged Health Research Laboratories and Kramer Duhon marketed a pair of products using “false and unsupported claims.” One was called BioTherapex, a dietary […]

Posted inLetters, sj-web

Greed-driven villains

As a young boy growing on the backside of the Great Depression and the deprivation of World War II and its aftermath, I often questioned the driving force behind a social phenomenon called “supply and demand.” Recently, Hurricanes Harvey and Irma shattered and set long-standing hurricane records throughout the southeast. The devastation and human misery […]

advertisement
Posted inMaine

Feds: Sentence for Michael Liberty should be example for political donors

PORTLAND — Federal prosecutors will recommend that prominent developer and entrepreneur Michael Liberty serve six months in jail or under home arrest for illegally masking $22,500 donations to a presidential campaign. Liberty, 56, earlier this year pleaded guilty to making $22,500 in illegal campaign contributions, which court documents indicate benefited Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s […]

Posted inLewiston-Auburn

Judge dismisses all DHHS fraud charges against Lewiston man

AUBURN — In a stunning reversal, a judge ordered the dismissal of more than a dozen welfare fraud charges against a Lewiston man after prosecutors raised questions about documents possibly forged by state caseworkers. Applications for welfare benefits in the case may have been improperly filled out by several caseworkers at the Maine Department of […]

Posted inMaine

Brothers indicted for alleged welfare fraud at halal market

If guilty, Ali Ratib Daham and Abdul Kareem Daham face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Two brothers from Westbrook, Maine, are facing federal charges for operating massive welfare fraud at a grocery market. Acting U.S. attorney Richard Murphy said Tuesday that 40-year-old Ali Ratib Daham and […]

Posted inNation / World

New phone scam wants your ‘yes’ not your money

PORTLAND — A new telephone scam is attempting to steal voice recordings of people in Maine. Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, says the scam has been reported to the Senate Aging Committee’s fraud hotline. The fraudulent callers ask simple questions such as “Are you there?” and “Can you hear me” in the hopes of coaxing […]

Posted inLewiston-Auburn

Fraud watch: Beware bogus 'Medicare' calls

As Congress and the new Trump administration talk about repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), fraudsters are taking advantage of the confusion. The AARP Fraud Watch Network reports that fraudsters are posing as insurance company representatives, or someone from Medicare or another federal agency, calling consumers asking for personal information, sometimes money. “What […]

Posted inMaine

Trump lawyers, Dunlap certain there was no voter fraud in 2016 election

President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for “a major investigation into voter fraud” that seeks to probe a number of issues that Maine Gov. Paul LePage has also raised repeatedly. Neither man has provided a single provable example to back up their claims that election results were tainted. Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, who called […]