BY DANIEL GAITAN | daniel@lifemattersmedia.org
The former owner of Passages Hospice and its director of nursing pled guilty to fraud charges on Friday in Illinois federal court.
Passages owner Seth Gillman. (Credit: youtube.com)
Passages owner Seth Gillman
Seth Gillman, 47, an attorney and founder of now-shuttered Passages, pled guilty to one count of health care fraud as part of a multi-year scam. The for-profit hospice company was accused of over-billing the government for general inpatient care for patients who did not need it.
Gillman was indicted in May 2014 along with three other Passages employees, including former nursing director Carmen Velez, who also pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government, according to legal news service Law360.
Velez, 39, admitted to altering patient records to reflect a need for general inpatient care before the records were handed over to an auditor working on behalf of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Gillman faces 10 years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and restitution.
- See more at: Passages Hospice Founder Pleads Guilty, Faces Prison - Life Matters Media
Passages Hospice Founder Pleads Guilty, Faces Prison - L...
BY DANIEL GAITAN | daniel@lifemattersmedia.org The former owner of Passages Hospice and its director of nursing pled guilty to fraud charges on Friday in Illinois...
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Gillman is a tip of the iceberg and a conduit into the cesspool of elder cleansing. Here in Illinois, it is very apparent now why Jerome Larkin was so concerned about the MaryGSykes blog, Probate Sharks **** blogs. Passages (Gillman) is the tip of the iceberg; however, he knows all the players and their weaknesses - and their political and judicial clout!
It is time for honest government in Illinois and in the USA. HONEST government requires an HONEST investigation of the entire elder cleansing scandal from pillar to post! Gillman is privy to the entire cabal and his plea of guilty gives the United States the entry to put a whole lot of dishonest health care providers and their corrupt judicial protectors out of business.
Congratulations Attorney General Lynch! Thank you! Every senior citizen should be grateful to you and the work that was done to apprehend and investigate Gillman and his elder cleansing buddies.
Ken Ditkowsky
www.ditkowskylawoffice.com
Considering how widespread elder cleansing is and the fact that the GAO has written four reports to Congress and so many Americans have been crying about love ones being abused, exploited, isolated as their humanity and their property has been taken from them, this one case = while a great step forward - is puny!
What will the Justice Department do about Gillman's crimes? Will he get a slap on the wrist a "small fine" and be set free to pillage the ranks of the elderly and disabled once again? OR is this windfall going to be the Lynch pin (pardon the pun) of a sweeping assault and attack on the miscreant judges, lawyers and public officials who have been preying on the elderly?
As an example - The IARDC administered by Mr. Jerome Larkin has been aware of Lawyer Gillman's purloining of trust funds belonging to employees and clients of his company. The only action that Larkin has taken has been to attempt to suppress public disclosure by Ms. Denison, myself, and others. His words described the disclosure vehicle as akin to yelling fire in a crowded theater! JoAnne got a three year suspension, and I got four years because I wrote to the Attorney General of the United States.
The Civil Rights division of the Justice Department to my knowledge has not done anything and Larkin is still drawing his six figure salary at the IARDC. The cover-up continues unabated!
Judge Connors was elevated to the Appellate Court, and to my knowledge except of a 60M lien on Adam Stern even the acting miscreants have been given virtual immunity.
The lives that Gillman and his cohorts his co-conspirators and c0spongers have destroyed should result in more than a couple of years in prison. He should be required to provide law enforcement with all the information in his possession and that he has knowledge of concerning the Elder Cleansing Industry so that an HONEST complete and comprehensive investigation will rid America of this cancer!
Ken Ditkowsky
www.ditkowskylawoffice.com
Eric A. Rothner and dozens of nursing homes that he owns or controls have been “consistently delinquent” in paying Omnicare, violating a host of purchase contracts between the parties, the Des Plaines, Illinois-based pharmacy company alleges in a complaint filed in Cook County Circuit Court.
According to the suit,...
Owners -- but not in charge
October 01, 2009|By David Jackson | Tribune reporter
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Bryan Barrish and Michael Giannini take pride in their Elgin nursing home, Maplewood Care.
"We've owned that facility for 17 years and have 203 beds in that facility," Barrish said, "and over that time we've had well over 1,250,000 patient-days."
But when it comes to days like the one in January when a 21-year-old felon allegedly raped a 69-year-old woman, the complexity of Maplewood's business model allows Barrish to assert: "I have nothing to do with day-to-day operations at Maplewood Care and neither does Mike."
They are the owners who aren't in charge.
State records show Barrish and Giannini have an ownership or consulting role in 13 Illinois nursing homes. Each facility is run by a separate corporation, whose ownership is divided among family, business associates and trusts, state records show. Each corporation has a board of directors whose names are not public.
Each facility hires its own administrator to run day-to-day operations. For nursing home services from bookkeeping to dietary consulting, the facilities hire SIR Management Inc., a firm created 18 years ago by Barrish, Giannini and longtime nursing home partner Eric Rothner.
Attorneys for the three have said in court documents that SIR "manages" the homes, and three of the homes last year paid SIR a combined $1 million in "management fees," according to facility cost reports filed with the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services.
But when the homes face lawsuits alleging negligence, Barrish said, SIR is "dismissed (from the suits) every time, because we are not management."
An attorney for Barrish and Giannini cautioned the Tribune against mentioning SIR in an article about the alleged rape at Maplewood Care.
"Any reference to SIR would be disingenuous, unfair and defamatory," Howard Hoffman said by e-mail. "SIR merely provides consulting services to many long-term care facilities and has no operational responsibilities as to any of them."
After a reporter noted that SIR's Web site said it "manages the operation" of nursing homes owned by Barrish and Giannini, SIR's site was changed.
"Maybe we've used the term inappropriately," Giannini told a reporter. "But the definition of the management was consultant. It wasn't as defined by Webster's dictionary."
SIR also figured in a painful episode that threatened the future of the two men's business.
In 2002, Giannini and Barrish paid a $2 million settlement to the U.S. Justice Department after pleading guilty to felony money-laundering charges. Authorities alleged that they joined a 1995 conspiracy to make false claims for incontinence supplies. Also pleading guilty was Salvatore Galioto, who was listed as an organized crime associate in a 1997 Chicago Crime Commission chart.
Barrish said the plea was "a business decision," asking: "Do we fight it and risk 2,000 employees, 2,000 residents and partners and their future or do we make this agreement and be able to survive?"
Federal authorities could have excluded the partners from participating in federally funded health care programs for five years, court records show. But the lead prosecutor wrote a letter citing their cooperation in the case and urging that they not be barred. The two men reached agreements in which they gave up operational control over most of their nursing homes for five years, and ceded their positions directing SIR Management Inc.
Court records show Barrish and Giannini's wives took their places on SIR's board. The men entered into oral employment contracts with SIR that enabled them to "be employed so long as ... each desired," their attorney wrote in 2006 court papers.
The partners said those years-ago events have no bearing on facilities they now partly own.
"This was an isolated incident," Giannini said. "We were asleep at the wheel."
Ken Ditkowsky
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6:53 PM (38 minutes ago)
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Omnicare Sues Nursing Home Owner Over Alleged $28M Debt
By Lance Duroni
Law360, Chicago (August 11, 2014, 1:46 PM ET) -- Omnicare Inc. sued a prominent nursing home operator in Illinois court on Friday, alleging his facilities have failed to pay the company for more than $28 million of pharmaceuticals and other medical supplies over the past decade.Eric A. Rothner and dozens of nursing homes that he owns or controls have been “consistently delinquent” in paying Omnicare, violating a host of purchase contracts between the parties, the Des Plaines, Illinois-based pharmacy company alleges in a complaint filed in Cook County Circuit Court.
According to the suit,...
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