Where is the Department of Labor Watchdog?

The DoL’s OIG has been without a permanent Inspector General since July 13, 2009. 

Less than two weeks post IG  a video surfaced on this blog of Cabot Gosling, Vice President of Tangiers International, presenting an Injured War Zone Contractor that he was stalking a Photo ID when asked to identify himself.  The ID  clearly states that he is an agent of the US DoL.  

Under federal law, it is illegal to impersonate a government official, a crime punishable by up to three years in prison.

Wow, we finally caught these liars on video ! 

Michael Niss, former chief of the LHWCA, asked the DoL OIG to investigate after T Christian Miller published a story on the incident.

No report or decision was ever publicly issued.   Tangiers International continued doing business as usual, causing so many problems that even the ruthless AIG who funded them in the first place stopped using them.

We had to file a FOIA, Freedom of Information Act Request to find out what happened to this investigation.

What happened was not much. 

A few internal emails and phone calls within the DoL and one to Christopher Catrambone who owns Tangiers International.  Chez Catrambone stated that this was his US Department of Loss though he had previously stated in an email to the DoL that the US Embassy in Malta had authorized his use of the US Department of Labors’ logo and name.

The Injured War Zone Contractor who was stalked and took the video was never contacted.  Mark Munro shared his side of the story with one of our contributors:

Marc called me and told me that the AIG investigator called him at 5 am, asked his name, and then hung up and followed him and even went on the wrong side of the road in pursuit and almost wrecked.

Marc was in a bomb blast that killed 18, he has PTSD, and the AIG investigator placed Marc in great danger because PTSD patients are prone to outbursts when they are stressed, especially when it’s extremely negligent and intentional stress like the AIG investigator caused by calling Marc at 5 am and hanging up.

The investigation was limited to Tangiers side of the story despite how pitiful their cover was.  Even Miranda Chui stated that she thought they were probably lying.

Chris Catrambone and Tangiers International got a little slap on the wrist and a letter in their file.

Allowing AIG and Tangiers International to operate with such impunity and lack of oversight only emboldens them to cross the criminal/ethical lines as a matter of rule.  We are talking about seriously injured war zone contractors medical care here, peoples lives.  CNA and ACE are as guilty, if not more so.

Would the results of this “investigation” have been different with a permanent IG in place?  We doubt it.  The insurance companies carry more political weight than any IG could muster.  We saw this administration roll over for them within days of taking office.

Still, this lack of concern on the part of our Administration to the Oversight of the Department which holds Injured War Zone Contractors lives in their hands contributes to the criminal abuse by the insurance companies and their third party war profiteers Tangiers International, Tacticor, and Vetted International.

Project on Government Oversight:  Where are all the Watchdogs?

Office of the Inspector General Department of Labor

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) conducts audits to review the effectiveness, efficiency, economy, and integrity of all DOL programs and operations, including those performed by its contractors and grantees. This work is conducted in order to determine whether: the programs and operations are in compliance with the applicable laws and regulations; DOL resources are efficiently and economically being utilized; and DOL programs achieve their intended results.

The OIG also conducts criminal, civil and administrative investigations relating to violations of Federal laws, rules or regulations, including those performed by DOL contractors and grantees; as well as investigations of allegations of misconduct on the part of DOL employees.

In addition, the OIG is unique among Inspectors General because it has an “external” program function to conduct criminal investigations to combat the influence of labor racketeering and organized crime in the nation’s labor unions. We conduct labor racketeering investigations in three areas: employee benefit plans, labor-management relations, and internal union affairs.

Why Having a Permanent IG Is Important

OIGs are best positioned to be effective when led by a highly qualified permanent IG, rather than an acting official or no IG at all. Permanent IGs undergo significant vetting—especially the IGs that require Senate confirmation—before taking their position. That vetting process helps to instill confidence among OIG stakeholders—Congress, agency officials, whistleblowers, and the public—that the OIG is truly independent and that its investigations and audits are accurate and credible.

In addition, a permanent IG has the ability to set a long-term strategic plan for the office, including setting investigative and audit priorities. An acting official, on the other hand, is known by all OIG staff to be temporary, which one former IG has argued “can have a debilitating effect on [an] OIG, particularly over a lengthy period.” Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) has echoed that sentiment, saying “Even the best acting inspector general lacks the standing to make lasting changes needed to improve his or her office.”

AIG/Chartis stops writing excess workers’ comp

It had previously been predicted elsewhere that the DBA Insurance Companies would begin to crash as they lost the huge premiums they were taking in for Contractors working in the War Zones.

Take the money and run

Best Week Press Release

Big changes lie ahead for the excess workers’ compensation line, as the third-largest writer leaves the stand-alone market in the wake of rising medical costs and the possible impact of the Affordable Care Act, according to the latest issue of BestWeek U.S./Canada. Chartis said in February it stopped writing the business on a stand-alone basis.

“Workers’ compensation is in a very different place today than where it was 10 years ago,” said Russ Johnston, who runs U.S. and Canada casualty operations for Chartis.

AIG said one reason it was leaving the stand-alone business was the Affordable Care Act. AIG “concluded that there is increased vulnerability to the risk of further cost-shifting to the excess workers’ compensation class of business in particular,” the company said in a regulatory filing.

Under the ACA, some 33 million people will gain health insurance coverage at a net cost of $1.1 trillion. That increase in the insured population will result in an increased demand for doctors, resulting in a shortage of primary care doctors and some cost shifting, said Don Hurter, senior vice president of Chartis’ medical management services

What is Excess Workers’ Comp Insurance

Workers’ Comp Executive  Analyst says AIG Workers Comp Reserves are short (2010)

Shares in American International Group (NYSE: AIG) were taking a hit on Wall Street after a prominent analyst warned that three of its long-tail lines of coverage were significantly under reserved. The warning was issued by analysts at Bernstein Research who said the bulk of the reserve deficit is with its general liability and professional liability lines of coverage, but workers’ comp accounted for $1.8 billion of the total, according to published accounts of the research report.

Overall, the three lines amounted to an estimated $10 billion shortfall, while another $1 billion is spread across other lines. AIG spokesman Mark Herr says AIG is “not commenting” on the report and contacts at Bernstein Research were not available to elaborate on their findings.

Those findings could spell trouble for taxpayers who are on the hook for approximately $180 billion in financial aid to the troubled carrier. Taxpayers own 80% of the company and the value of their investment tumbled in trading on Monday in the wake of the report. Shares were off over 14% in late-afternoon trading to $28.52 a share.

While the report is troubling, the company had been showing signs of improvement. AIG and its Chartis general insurance unit recently closed the third quarter with $455 million in net income — the second quarter in a row in which it posted a profit. AIG had adjusted net income of $1.9 billion in the quarter compared to a $9.2 billion adjusted net loss last year. For its Chartis unit, which covers its workers’ comp operations, the company reported net operating income of $722 million. This is up from $105 million in the same period last year and was helped by $612 million in net investment income.

Premiums, however, were down for the unit. AIG says Chartis’ net written premiums amounted to $8.1 billion in the quarter – a 13% decline from the prior year period. AIG said the drop-off was due in part to a decision to hold the line on prices for its workers’ comp business, which accounts for 14% of its gross written premiums.

In California, AIG had nearly $576 million in written premiums in 2008 or 7.5% of the market. AIG companies filed for rate increases of 10% and 7% during the January 1 and July 1 filing periods last year. It hasn’t filed its 2010 rates. Companies in the AIG group filed for an 8% increase for its 2010 rates.

War is Brain-Damaging

The Defense Base Act Insurance Companies and the Department of Labor are as negligent as the Department of Defense when it comes denying the dangers of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury, and most negligently when a contractor suffers from both.

“a potentially lethal combination of post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. When the frontal lobe — which controls emotions — is damaged, it simply can’t put on the brakes if a PTSD flashback unleashes powerful feelings. Seeing his buddy’s leg blown off may have unleashed a PTSD episode his damaged brain couldn’t stop”

The New York Times Sunday Review

These vets suffer from a particular kind of brain damage that results from repeated exposure to the concussive force of improvised explosive devices — I.E.D.’s — a regular event for troops traveling the roads in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“It’s Russian roulette,” one vet told me, “We had one guy in our company who got hit nine times before the 10th one waxed him.” An I.E.D. explosion can mean death or at least a lost arm or leg, but you don’t have to take a direct hit to feel its effects. A veteran who’d been in 26 blasts explained, “It feels like you’re whacked in the head with a shovel. When you come to, you don’t know whether you’re dead or alive.”

The news that Robert Bales, an Army staff sergeant accused of having killed 16 Afghan civilians last week, had suffered a traumatic brain injury unleashed a flurry of e-mails among those of us who have been trying to beat the drums about this widespread — and often undiagnosed — war injury. New facts about Staff Sgt. Bales are coming out daily. After we heard about the brain injury that resulted when his vehicle rolled over in an I.E.D. blast, we were told that he had lost part of his foot in a separate incident. Then we learned that the day before his rampage, he’d been standing by a buddy when that man’s leg was blown off. There are also reports of alcohol use.

People with more appropriate professional skills than mine will have to parse these facts, but from what I have learned in my work as a storyteller, this tragedy may be related to something I heard about in my interviews: a potentially lethal combination of post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. When the frontal lobe — which controls emotions — is damaged, it simply can’t put on the brakes if a PTSD flashback unleashes powerful feelings. Seeing his buddy’s leg blown off may have unleashed a PTSD episode his damaged brain couldn’t stop. If alcohol was indeed part of the picture, it could have further undermined his compromised frontal lobe function

Please see the original and read more here

All’s Fair in Love and AIG WAR? No Ethics ?

Defense Base Act Claimants really are in another War Zone when they must file a DBA Claim.

As it turns out many, too many, of the Plaintiff’s own Attorneys are aiding and abetting the enemy

Last January ALJ  Berlin awarded the Dill Widow DBA Death Benefits in a very important PTSD/Suicide Claim.

This claim was denied for five years while Wade Dill’s  widow Barbara’s integrity was brutally attacked as though she had pulled the trigger herself.

KBR refused to supply Wade Dill’s medical records and other reports which would have exposed the state of mind he was in while still in Iraq.  But it is OK to defy discovery if you are AIG/KBR-SEII.  Do not try this yourself, you’ll lose your claim.

Dennis Nalick was the Attorney who brought this claim to a successful decision. 

Barbara Dill’s next Attorney, Bruce H Nicholson, refused to address misinformation in the records saying “you won the claim why would you want to mess with it”.

Mr Nicholson refuted any suggestion that this very important decision would be appealed.  He went so far as to tell the Widow that she should discontinue corresponding with those who assured her it would be.  Bad people we are, just trying to upset her needlessly.

AIG KBR SEII via Michael Thomas appealed the decision.

Mr Nicholson never responded to the Benefits Review Board on behalf of the Widow though he assured her he was on top of it and he and the widow corresponded regularly.

On February 28 the BRB overturned the ALJ’s decision, unopposed.  The widow was not represented at all.

Mr. Nicholson was though, prior to this decision, negotiating a “settlement” with Michael Thomas and AIG which would take this important PTSD Suicide decision out of this WAR as case law for all impending and future PTSD Suicide claims.  The same Mr Nicholson who posted here at the blog in response to the award:

“The decision represents a sound road map for work related contractor suicide claims and is unlikely to be overturned when followed.”

We ask, is no one in this wretched biased system held to any standard of ethical practice?

Mr Nicholson was responsible for representing the Widow and he did not.

Would it not have been a requirement of those who were involved in this to make the widow aware, to speak up?

We do not kid ourselves that this was simply a case of friendly fire.  There was too much at stake here.

Lawsuit seeks accounting of Fort Ord Reuse Authority money

Most of $100 Million of Federal Munitions Clean Up Money goes to AIG for Insurance

Fort Ord: Group files suit to get accounting of FORA’s $100M

Open space advocates filed suit Monday to get an accounting of how the Fort Ord Reuse Authority spent nearly $100 million in federal money.

Keep Fort Ord Wild is asking a judge to compel FORA to release documents it first requested under the Public Records Act in December. Molly Erickson, attorney for the group, said FORA responded with incomplete records and said it does not have or has destroyed the rest.

At issue is a $99.3 million grant, the Environmental Services Cooperative Agreement, issued in 2007 for cleanup of munitions and explosives on Fort Ord.

The records supplied say the majority of the money, $82.1 million, purchased an “environmental insurance policy.” Erickson said FORA representatives said they did not have a copy of the policy and didn’t have a right to request one unless a claim were filed.

FORA spokeswoman Candy Ingram said the policy is a fixed-rate contract with Chartis, formerly American International Group, to administer the cleanup work with independent contractors. AON insurance, in turn, underwrote Chartis, guaranteeing the job would be completed at cost by 2015.

Contracts between the two companies are private, she said. With few exceptions, FORA does not have purview over the individual invoices submitted as part of the ongoing work, she added

Medical bills can wreck credit, even when paid off

When CNA does not pay Walter Reed and it goes on your credit rating as a “Serious Delinquency to the Treasury Department”

When AIG does not pay Landstuhl and the government attaches your Social Security, your only source of income because they are denying your claim

When CNA, AIG, ACE “approve” your doctors and medical but do not pay the bills

When CNA does not pay laboratory fees that show up on your credit rating years later

When CNA approves your wheelchair but it is repossessed due to non payment

When a US DOL ALJ signs a useless order requiring CNA or AIG to pay your past medical bills and they boldly defy the order

Your credit has been irreparably damaged and it is you that must bear the extreme cost of their abuse, never the insurance company or those that help them get away with this

By Carla K Johnson AP  March 4, 2012

CHICAGO (AP) — Mike and Laura Park thought their credit record was spotless. The Texas couple wanted to take advantage of low interest rates, so they put their house on the market and talked to a lender about a mortgage on a bigger home in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs.

Their credit report contained a shocker: A $200 medical bill had been sent to a collection agency. Although since paid, it still lowered their credit scores by about 100 points, and it means they’ll have to pay a discount point to get the best interest rate. Cost to them: $2,500.

A growing number of Americans could encounter similar landmines when they refinance or take out a loan. The Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that sponsors health care research, estimates that 22 million Americans were contacted by collection agencies for unpaid medical bills in 2005. That increased to 30 million Americans in 2010.

Surprisingly, even after the bills have been paid off, the record of the collection action can stay on a credit report for up to seven years, dragging down credit scores and driving up the cost of financing a home. An estimated 3.4 million Americans have paid-off medical debt lingering on their credit reports, according to the Access Project, a research group funded by health care foundations and advocates of tougher laws on medical debt collectors.

Among them are Nathen and Melissa Cobb of Riverton, Ill., who tried to refinance their home last year. They didn’t qualify for the loan because of $740 in medical bills that had been sent to a collection agency. The Cobbs were surprised because the bills — nearly a dozen small copayments ranging from $6 to $280 — had been paid before they tried to refinance. The collection action took their credit score from good to mediocre and is likely to mar their credit report for years.

“I’m not one of those people trying to ditch out on my bills,” 34-year-old Melissa Cobb said. “I’m really frustrated.”

Medical bills make up the majority of collection actions on credit reports, and most are for less than $250, according to Federal Reserve Board research.

Please see the original and read more here

AIG Spending $153 million on Shariah just fine

“even the district court had to concede that after cash-strapped AIG received billions of dollars in taxpayer money … it provided two of its SCF [Shariah-compliant} subsidiaries with at least $153 million.”

WND January 30, 2012

The decision from a federal judge who suggested $153 million of U.S. taxpayer money spent supporting Islamic Shariah really isn’t anything really worth mentioning has been appealed to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and oral arguments have been scheduled April 20 in Cincinnati.

The case was filed against Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and others and is over the nation’s bailout with taxpayer money of AIG insurance, which operates multiple companies promoting Shariah-complaint insurance products, the same Shariah that serves as Islamic religious law and calls for cutting hands off thieves and execution for leaving Islam.

The specific lawsuit was filed on behalf of taxpayer Kevin J. Murray over the bailout, which has involved billions of taxpayer dollars. It’s being handled by Robert Muise and David Yerushalmi of the American Freedom Law Center.

At the district court level, the case was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Lawrence Zatkoff, who ruled that the case needed yet to prove that “the diverted funds were not de minimus in relation to the total amount…”

Read “The Stoning of Soraya M.” – the true story that inspired the movie

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines de minimus as “so minor as to merit disregard,” but the plaintiffs attorneys noted in their appeal brief that “even the district court had to concede that after cash-strapped AIG received billions of dollars in taxpayer money … it provided two of its SCF [Shariah-compliant} subsidiaries with at least $153 million.”

The lawsuit alleges that the U.S. government’s takeover and financial bailout of AIG was in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

According to the legal team, “Specifically, at the time of the government bailout (beginning in September 2008 and continuing to the present), AIG was (and still is) the world leader in promoting Shariah-compliant insurance products. Shariah is Islamic law, and it is the identical legal doctrine that demands capital punishment for apostasy and blasphemy and provides the legal and political mandates for global jihad followed religiously by the world’s Muslim terrorists.”

The legal team is arguing that, “By propping up AIG with taxpayer funds, the U.S. government is directly and indirectly promoting Islam and, more troubling, Shariah.”

See the original and read more here

US-owned Chartis Insurance cancels private death and disability insurance policies of 3000 Australian soldiers

The Telegraph January 30, 2012

A FOREIGN insurer has left taxpayers with a $2.1 million bill after cancelling the private death and disability insurance policies of 3000 soldiers, including many serving in Afghanistan

US-owned company  ( AIG) Chartis Insurance received a discretionary grant of $2.1 million from Defence last year so that the policies could be honoured until August this year, documents show. The grant was based on deployed force numbers and the number of Chartis policyholders in the ADF

The company said that as a result of a smaller than expected insurance pool and high cancellation and payout rates it would have to cancel two of the three types of policies it offers with 60 days notice.

“Approximately 3000 ADF members held Chartis insurance products, with a strong probability that many of the existing policyholders were and are currently deployed,” Defence said.

“Chartis stated in September 2010 it could not continue to incur significant losses and advised Defence that it intended to cancel policies, giving 60 days notice, irrespective of the time the policy has been owned or if the member is currently deployed in an area of operations or within Australia.”

Defence signed a funding deed last May to ensure policies affected by the decision would be secure.

“The grant ensured that extant policies will be honoured by Chartis until August 2012 providing sufficient time for policy holders to make alternative arrangements in light of the commercial decision taken by Chartis,” Defence said.

Chartis Australia chief executive Noel Condon denied the company had cancelled policies but admitted that because of the high number of claims during 2010 it had reduced the maximum payout figure from $750,000 to $250,000.

A Military Cutback We Can’t Afford: Fighting Tropical Diseases

Leishmaniasis at The Iraq Infections

“In the coming years leishmaniasis may become the most important condition you have never heard of among veterans”

Barbara Herwaldt, CDC, on Leishmaniasis

Contractors will be even less likely to be diagnosed and/or treated timely or effectively despite the possibility you can transmit this to your family

Peter Hotez & James Kazura at The Atlantic

In recent months, many politicians and presidential hopefuls have called for budget reductions, and many have specifically targeted military spending for cutbacks. Unfortunately, even programs proven to be cost effective are vulnerable to cuts. Medical research for our troops is no exception to this rule — programs such as the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) often find themselves low on the priority list despite their crucial role in saving the lives of our troops on the battlefield and here at home.

One important area of research is tropical medicine. During World War II and the Vietnam War, more than one million service members acquired tropical infections such as malaria, dengue fever, hookworm, and typhus, and many of these diseases continued to plague our veterans after they returned home. Today, American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan still face formidable tropical disease threats, especially from a disease transmitted by the bite of sand flies known as leishmaniasis, which can cause a disfiguring ulcer in one form, and a serious systemic condition that clinically resembles leukemia in another. In the coming years leishmaniasis may become the most important condition you have never heard of among veterans.

WRAIR’s leishmaniasis diagnostic laboratory is the only one of its kind in the world, so each time funding is slashed our military loses considerable expertise and capabilities in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of this devastating disease. For example, in the years prior to the Gulf War, the WRAIR leishmaniasis program was officially decommissioned and all research was halted. Only after cases of leishmaniasis among U.S. forces exposed to sand-fly bites in the Iraqi desert were the remaining leishmaniasis experts at WRAIR quickly assembled and tasked with making up for lost time. In 2002, the WRAIR leishmaniasis program was again dissolved only to be urgently activated once more with the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. The interruptions to the WRAIR leishmaniasis program are part of much larger budget cuts across all of WRAIR’s tropical infectious disease research programs. There is no end to the irony of such cutbacks given that they coincide with the activation in 2008 of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), charged with fighting the war on terror across the African continent. Today, sub-Saharan Africa has the largest number of cases of tropical diseases anywhere in the world. Many of these tropical infections, such as river blindness and African sleeping sickness, have been shown to destabilize communities and may actually promote conflict in the region.

Please see the original and read more here

Court OKs AIG’s $450 million workers comp settlement

A good recovery, but the settlement leaves a potential $550 million in unrecovered funds

Rueters December 27, 2011

A federal judge has approved American International Group Inc’s (AIG.N) $450 million settlement with rival insurers to end litigation accusing AIG of underreporting premiums on workers’ compensation policies.

AIG will make the payment after rivals accused it of understating its market share in workers compensation to state insurance regulators, allowing it to shortchange state insurance pools by making lower contributions. Rivals claimed the understatements dated back to the 1980s.

Many states require firms that sell workers compensation insurance to also fund pools to cover injuries for workers at companies that cannot obtain coverage on the open market, in some cases because their jobs are too risky.

District Judge Robert Gettleman in Chicago approved the AIG settlement on December 21, calling it “fair, reasonable, and adequate.”

Final approval will take effect when Gettleman issues an opinion addressing a variety of issues in the case, the judge wrote.

Liberty Mutual Group had opposed the settlement, saying it concealed the true nature of AIG’s underreporting and the resulting damages.

A Liberty Mutual spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

AIG last December agreed to pay $146.5 million in fines, taxes and assessments in a settlement with all 50 U.S. states over alleged workers compensation reporting errors.

The case is Safeco Insurance Co of America et al v. American International Group Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, No. 09-02026

Hat Tip to John Gelman at Workers Compensation blog