Ben Carson Profits From Ties With Convicted Felon
Ben Carson Profits From Ties With Convicted Felon
https://timedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/ben-carson-ties-felon.jpg?quality=75&strip=color&w=1100 800w, https://timedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/ben-carson-ties-felon.jpg?quality=75&strip=color&w=1100 800w 2x" data-loaded="true"> Mark Wilson—Getty Images U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Ben Carson speaks at Liberty University, on November 11, 2015 in Lynchburg, Virginia. Carson's friend plead guilty to a felony count of health care fraud
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WASHINGTON — Republican presidential contender Ben Carson has maintained a business relationship with a close friend convicted of defrauding insurance companies and testified on his behalf, even as the candidate has called for such crimes to be punished harshly.
Pittsburgh dentist Alfonso A. Costa pleaded guilty to a felony count of health care fraud after an FBI probe into his oral surgery practice found he had charged for procedures he never performed, according to court records.
Though the crime carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison, Costa was able to avoid prison time after Carson helped petition a federal judge for leniency.
That’s different from the position Carson took in 2013 as he prepared to launch his presidential campaign, saying those convicted of health care fraud should go to prison for at least a decade and be forced to forfeit “all of one’s personal possessions.”
At Costa’s 2008 sentencing hearing, Carson described the dentist as “one my closest, if not my very closest friend.”
“We became friends about a decade ago because we discovered that we were so much alike and shared the same values and principles that govern our lives,” Carson told the judge, adding that their families vacationed together and that they were involved in “joint projects.”
“Next to my wife of 32 years, there is no one on this planet that I trust more than Al Costa,” Carson said.
Costa has served on the board of Carson’s charity, the Carson Scholars Fund, and continues to lead the charity’s fundraising efforts in the Pittsburgh area to provide $1,000 college scholarships to children in need.
Before his criminal conviction and the revocation of his license to practice dentistry, Costa built a multimillion-dollar fortune through commercial real estate. Investments Carson and his wife made through Costa earn the couple between $200,000 and $2 million a year, according to financial records that Carson was required to file when he declared his candidacy.
Costa also continues to promote his involvement with Carson’s charity as part of his real estate business, prominently featuring the logo of the Carson Scholars Fund on the company’s website. His son has worked with Carson’s presidential campaign and a political committee founded by the retired neurosurgeon.
Doug Watts, the campaign’s spokesman, said Wednesday he was unable to immediately respond to specific questions about land deals involving Carson and Costa. The AP contacted Watts on Tuesday and again Wednesday.
“I will confirm they are best friends and that they do hold business investments together,” Watts said.
Costa did not respond to messages seeking comment.
The breadth of the two men’s business ties has not been previously reported, partly because details can be obscured in property and incorporation records. Costa’s company and its affiliates own properties in at least five states and overseas.
In 2007, a few months before Costa was charged, records show that a pair of corporations was established in Pennsylvania called BenCan LLC, and INBS LLC. Carson and his wife are listed as the sole members of the companies. Though the Carsons live outside Baltimore, the mailing address on the incorporation forms was Costa’s home address in Pittsburgh.
BenCan and INBS then paid more than $3 million to purchase an office building in suburban Pittsburgh. The mailing address for the corporations listed on the deed matches the office of Costa’s real estate firm, Costa Land Co.
That September, federal prosecutors charged Costa, accusing him of fraud committed over a nearly five-year period, according to court records. Investigators determined that Costa’s dental practice charged more than 50 patients for procedures that had not been performed, resulting in a loss of more than $40,000 to insurance companies.
After Costa pleaded guilty, 40 of his family members, friends and dental patients wrote letters to the judge as character witnesses. Carson was one of three people who also testified at Costa’s 2008 sentencing hearing, stressing his friend’s charitable works and vouching for his personal integrity. Also testifying on Costa’s behalf was Jerome Bettis, a beloved former Pittsburgh Stealers running back who had helped bring home a Super Bowl trophy to the city two years earlier.
The government urged the judge to make an example of Costa.
“Reduction of a sentence based on good works by a wealthy person can create the appearance that a defendant’s financial resources and prominent connections can skew the justice system in ways not available to persons of lesser means,” a prosecutor told the judge.
In the end, Costa got no prison time. He was sentenced to one year of house arrest and 100 hours of community service, and ordered to pay more than $294,000 in fines and restitution. Costa later got 12 months shaved off his three-year probation.
Though Costa was assigned to serve his sentence in his 8,300-square-foot mansion in nearby Fox Chapel, his lawyers repeatedly returned to court to seek permission for him to travel. A few months after starting his sentence, Costa asked to travel to the White House as one of 10 invited guests at a June 2008 ceremony where President George W. Bush presented Carson with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The judge denied that request, though Costa was later allowed to take a month-long trip to the Italian coast while on probation to handle what his lawyer described as urgent business at a resort he owns.
Carson’s appeal for leniency toward Costa contradicts the draconian criminal penalties he called for in his 2013 political treatise, “America the Beautiful.” In his book, Carson wrote that anyone found guilty of health care fraud should face what he called the “Saudi Arabian Solution.”
“Why don’t people steal very often in Saudi Arabia?” Carson asked. “Obviously because the punishment is the amputation of one or more fingers. I would not advocate chopping off people’s limbs, but there would be some very stiff penalties for this kind of fraud, such as loss of one’s medical license for life, no less than 10 years in prison, and loss of all of one’s personal possessions.”
Despite the tough-on-crime message, Carson and his wife kept their investment with Costa in the years since his conviction. Tax bills for the Pittsburgh office building owned by the couple are mailed to Costa Land Co. A recent lease for a portion of the property was signed on the Carsons’ behalf by the president of Costa’s company.
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Do as I say, not as I do ?
The American way.
Ben Carson's best friend is a criminal. Of course , you might be able to say that about Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, maybe even Bernie Sanders. Americans don't like to acknowledge white collar crime or acknowledge the extent of personal business corruption in this country, even though in a Gallup survey five years ago 2 out of 3 Americans said business corruption is "widespread". We tend to keep this in the shadows.
Ben Carson told a judge that someone who he knew was a business cheat , after the man had plead guilty to fraud, that the man was a man of personal integrity. What does that tell us about Ben Carson ?
I thought it was the liberal position to forgive and forget after a felon has served his time. That's what Hillary says.
The man stole 40,000 dollars , and is also a real estate developer. I wonder how many people he has cheated in his real estate business. I know the number is not zero. Powerful and prominent people get away with a lot. Americans would rather look down on the poor and the street thief and junkie.
@johnrussell :
The man stole 40,000 dollars , and is also a real estate developer. I wonder how many people he has cheated in his real estate business. I know the number is not zero. Powerful and prominent people get away with a lot. Americans would rather look down on the poor and the street thief and junkie.
Yes John, powerful people in positions of power get away with a lot. I don't think people look down on the poor and the street thief and junkie as much as they do these people, but the street thief and junkie usually have a more valid reason for committing there crimes and less resources to defend them and keep them out of prison. Then there are those who have so much power and are so intertwined in the corruption of a group of people they are only thrown to the wolves as a last option.
Jarrett Towers
I thought it was the liberal position to forgive and forget after a felon has served his time.
You seem to be forgetting Costa never served any time. Unless you consider being confined to a 8,300 sq. ft. mansion, with an occasional trip to Italy to tend to business at one of your resorts as "serving time."
(Btw,you've made a really bad attempt at taking a Right Wing position on a indefensible issue)
Are you trying to say if he had high up Democrat friends it would have been any different? Also, does this mean you break from the liberal mantra whenever it's convenient? Or do you feel that same way about BO's relationship with convicted criminals? Pretty Ironic and hypocritical article considering what it's about and who posted it.
The link won't load for me-- I'll try it later, ok?
@96ws6 :
Are you trying to say if he had high up Democrat friends it would have been any different? Also, does this mean you break from the liberal mantra whenever it's convenient? Or do you feel that same way about BO's relationship with convicted criminals? Pretty Ironic and hypocritical article considering what it's about and who posted it.
A little from the link:
Chicago's sordid political machine churned out another felon last week. Ho hum. That's business as usual in the Windy City, unfortunately. As news bulletins blared the latest political casualty, Northsiders and Southsiders alike shrugged—seemingly inured to the steady stream of arrests, indictments and convictions that too often define what Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass aptly terms "The Chicago Way." This conviction, however, represents more than an average garden-variety corruption scandal. The demise of crooked businessman and political fixer Tony Rezko may very well end the political career of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Perhaps more significantly, it adds another name to the expanding roster of Sen. Barack Obama's disgraced friends, donors, and associates.
Prior to Wednesday's verdict, the national Obamedia paid scant attention to the relationship between their preferred candidate and Mr. Rezko, who was convicted on 16 of 24 federal counts. A jury found Obama's longtime friend and financier guilty of aiding and abetting bribery, mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering—all of which will likely contribute to a lengthy prison sentence. The federal convict and the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee have known each other for the better part of two decades, with the former raising approximately $250,000 for the latter's various campaigns. After Rezko first offered Obama a job in the early 1990s, a friendship and political alliance was born; the two men shared dinners, joint outings with their wives, and a lucrative political network. Rezko served on Obama's financing committee during his 2004 campaign, helping to raise approximately $160,000 for the aspiring U.S. Senator. Shortly thereafter, dark clouds began to gather over Chateau Rezko.
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And this doesn't even touch on the person who seems to have the most influence in the White House, Valerie Jarrett, who received millions of dollars toward improving the housing in Chicago. After receiving all that money the housing was still torn down.
So, $40,000 doesn't look so bad from a business acquaintance although I do not support either, I realize there is a big difference, one is a Democrat and one is a Republican.
Forgive, but don't forget. Protect yourself!
And I'm not even a fan of the forgiving part...unless they've actually paid their debt to society and those they wronged.
Most important line in this article:
“We became friends about a decade ago because we discovered that we were so much alike and shared the same values and principles that govern our lives,”
When we piece this with his Mannatech (also a fraud situation ) involvement and the belief that many have that his campaign is a personal money making operation and we see a pattern of Ben Carson as potentially a con man. He has probably gotten away from his original ideals of only wanting to serve God and help people.
Someone is conspicuously missing from this conversation ... hmmmm.
He has probably gotten away from his original ideals of only wanting to serve God and help people.
I don't believe Ben Carson ever in his life held any such ideals.
Funny you were so silent about BO's relationships with convicted criminals. Hypocrite?
Yeah, but I know lots of people convicted of non-violent felonies that are geologists and practicing... So, knowing them and being friendly is one thing-- and I would call them my friend-- but I wouldn't go to court to defend them, I guess. From my view of them, they are nice people. I don't know doodly about their crimes...
I guess what I'm saying is that none of us know all about all of our friends and their past. That Dr. Carson went to court to defend the guy, looks like they were more than friendly acquaintances. Was the guy that Obama knew a friendly acquaintance, or a close friend? I don't know enough about the story...
Funny you were so silent about BO's relationships with convicted criminals.
Did Obama submit an affidavit to the courts attesting to Rezkos' or any other convicted felons' fine character, or state how they became friends after discovering they ".....were so much alike and shared the same values and principles ..."?
When we piece this with his Mannatech (also a fraud situation ) involvement and the belief that many have that his campaign is a personal money making operation and we see a pattern of Ben Carson as potentially a con man.
You're getting soft John. Carson is not potentially a con man, he is ex-post-facto a con man.
He has probably gotten away from his original ideals of only wanting to serve God and help people.
I could be wrong, but I can't believe a man of Carsons' questionable morals ever intend to 'serve' God, rather like most other evangelicals, he uses others belief in God as a means to earn money.
The same goes for his wanting to 'help people'. There is nothing in Carsons' past to indicate that he did not have any intention but to make significant financial gains from his endeavors to 'help' people.
Most important line in this article:
“We became friends about a decade ago because we discovered that we were so much alike and shared the same values and principles that govern our lives,”
Ben Carson ---->
Most important line in this article:
“We became friends about a decade ago because we discovered that we were so much alike and shared the same values and principles that govern our lives,”
I guess I can no longer say I don't believe a word the man says.
Now, you know I'm not fond of Ben Carson. And, I'm not defending him. BUT--
When I was in college, I had a friend who was a Vietnam vet. He was from Symsonia, MO. He was a really nice, fully adult guy, who played nicely with the children, (us). He was a good student, acing all those courses in geology that I struggled with, (Invertebrate Paleontology comes to mind...). Anyway, he always had money-- not pots full, but enough for coffee for everyone, every now and then-- but then, I thought he had GI money, and could, on occasion, afford it. He always had a new used car, too. Well, that could be explained by his mother, who he said owned a used car dealership... So many things, didn't seem to add up, but he explained them away, and I believed him.
He was a bank robber. It was on the radio about a small bank being robbed in a tiny town near my college town, and the police had him within 1 10th of a mile, and lost him in the woods. Huge manhunt detailed on the radio. We all listened to it, goggle-eyed.
Finally, he pulled a job, wrecked his car in the getaway, and shot himself in the head. Spent the next 30 years in prison. He got out, and died shortly thereafter of a sudden heart attack.
I had no idea. Not until my Grandpa's 83rd birthday, and I was having a small party for him. Mama and Grandpa were late getting there, and, as I eagerly anticipated their arrival, the FBI came knocking on my door. I told them, I'll tell you everything I know, but please, would you get out of here, so I can celebrate my Grandpa's birthday? Since I had balloons and a happy birthday banner up, they were very polite, and left.
So, does that make me a criminal?
Does it make you a criminal? No. But it's an apples and oranges comparison. Carson is helping a wealthy one percenter like himself get out of a stiff sentence for doing something that Cardon himself has preached against. Not only that, but the punishment Carson previously suggested to fit the crime is way more stiff than the punishment Carson is helping his pal avoid.
Thanks, Hal! I have on occasion, talked against bank robberies-- but now that I think about it, not since I realized he was one... Of course, that was 40 years ago, a LONG time ago!
So, does that make me a criminal?
No. But you didn't know your friend was a bank robber. (and no one is saying Carson is a criminal)
Also, you co-operated with the FBI and told them "everything you knew", Carson, apparently successfully, assisted his best friend by telling the courts what a wonderful guy Costa is.
Ben Carson is running for the GOP nomination as candidate for President of the United States, so everything he has done, everyone he has ever associated with, has been close friends with and/or been in business with, is subject to scrutiny.
Thankfully Carson isn't going anywhere. The guy has so many 'skeletons' he makes Hillary look like Mother Theresa.
Maybe the jerks will put up Donald Trump, after this last 'Debate', Trump has all but completely eradicated any hope of carrying the Hispanic vote, handing the election to Mother Theresa.
Thanks, Jerry! To my mother, it was guilt by association. But, ALL of us knew him. ALL of us drank his coffee, rode in his car, shared class notes, and studied together. At least I wasn't the only sap!
Your story is not really comparable Dowser. Carson and this man are still good friends AND business associates. Maybe the crook is reformed after he served his probation , and maybe he is not a crook anymore, but I wouldn't bet anything on it. And Carson says this is one of his best friends. Even Obama never claimed Tony Rezko was a good friend.
Thanks, John-- I understand exactly what you're saying.
I still think of this fellow as my friend, albeit a dead one. He never told me anything that would get me in trouble. Thankfully!
No, of course you're not and neither is Dr. Carson. If we're going to go there, let's look at Bill Clinton's pardon list as he left office, Marc Rich comes to mind. No one seemed to be in much of an uproar on the left side of the aisle about that one.
I coached baseball with a really big fella (heavy and couldn't walk well), he won the NYS Lottery once many years ago. Got busted robbing a convenience store, turns out he had a (big) gambling problem. Pretty sure that doesn't make me a criminal.
Thank you, Gary! ALL of us, including the professors, were taken in by this... He was a charming, kind, fellow. Any weirdness to him, we attributed to the fact that he had suffered so much in Vietnam...
"As the unprecedented , nothing-in-history- ever-has-been-like-it-before vetting of Dr. Ben (The Blade) Carson grinds on, the scourge of the secular progressive movement is proving to be something of a target-rich environment .
The attraction of a brilliant neurosurgeon to the dingier precincts of his profession—this guy, Mannatech—is one of the more curious things about him. There are two possible reasons for this, and I think they're both true. The first is that there is something dangerously messianic to his personality that enables him to justify everything he does, including consorting with con-men and thieves, because he's the one doing the consorting, and whatever he does is justified through his brilliance, his biography, and/or his close personal relationship with certain Nazarene carpenters. The second is that he cannot see the flaws of anyone who sees the world the way he does. Make the right mouth-noises about "values" and the Bible, and you can be dismembering your grandmother in the backyard with a circular saw, and Dr. Ben will sit down and chat over economic policy with you. Neither of these is a trait we ought to encourage in our public officials.
Nothing suspicious there. Move along, ya heathen bastids.
Coincidences. The friends of Doctor Ben are full of them."
Coincidences. The friends of Doctor Ben are full of them."
Great comment John, excellent research. I wish I had found that article, I think you should seed it as a new discussion on NT.
I really don't care whether Ben Carson's or anybody else's best friend is a criminal. Carson is not responsible for anybody's behavior but his own and I won't judge him by the company he keeps or otherwise condemn him through guilt by association. However, I do care that Carson thinks everyone but his friends should be subject to the severe penalties he believes are appropriate for heath care fraud. So now Carson is a hypocrite. This is in addition to being: a self-described homicidal psychopath; a liar; a loon who feels free to re-write history and science based on his personal conversations with God; and has a skill set (neurosurgery) that will be of no use whatsoever. What's not to like?
Obama golfs with Bill Clinton, a perjurer so dishonest that the State of Arkansas won't even allow him to practice law there.
Obama golfs with Bill Clinton, a perjurer so dishonest that the State of Arkansas won't even allow him to practice law there.
It seems the fact that Clinton is a ex-two term President of the United States and present worldwide philanthropist, bringing help to underprivileged nations, completely escapes you and somehow compares to a two-bit shyster Dentist that has been convicted of fraud.
Actually your comment does us all a service Sean, you keep us aware of of the twisted logic and extremes you guys will go to justify the totally incompetent, grossly unacceptable, so called candidates you have vying for the GOP nomination.
A total non-rebuttal.
Obama associates with a person who Arkansas deemed so lacking in character that Arkansas had to protect its citizens from doing business with him. And you can't rebut that.
A total non-rebuttal.
Of course it is, you don't agree with my comment so it's a "non-rebuttal" as far as you're concerned. So, we'll move on and just give you a rebuttal you will have to accept.
Obama associates with a person who Arkansas deemed so lacking in character that Arkansas had to protect its citizens from doing business with him. And you can't rebut that.
I overlooked this stupid comment before, but it just dawned on me that Arkansas had lifted that suspension years ago:
Clinton Eligible, Once Again, To Practice Law
By JOSH GERSTEIN , Staff Reporter of the Sun | January 17, 2006
Read more
President Clinton will be eligible this week to reclaim the law license he gave up as a consequence of the inaccurate responses he gave under oath to questions about his relationship with a White House intern.
Your attempt to compare what Clinton said under oath about not laving an extra-marital relationship, to Carson vouching for and remaining close friends with a scam artist, is pathetic.
Anyway, whatever Clinton did or said in 2006 has no bearing on Carsons' character in 2015, Dr. Ben Carson is a snide, slimy con artist ..... and you're trying to defend him. Think about that Sean.
Guess Ben had better be more careful with the friends/business associates he picks.
Guess Ben had better be more careful with the friends/business associates he picks.
I don't think it would make any difference beyond how it would affect his income. I'm sure he has no expectations of winning the nomination, he's just running because the media gave him sufficient exposure to make him look like a viable candidate, so being the opportunist that he is, he jumped on the GOP [ Donate Here ] bandwagon.
Once Carson's many weaknesses come more fully into light, his support will fade into non-existence. This is a candidate weak on so many levels that I can't imagine his support is solid. But if I'm wrong, then congrats repubs, you've blown it again.
Profit is good It would be more concerning if he was losing money.