Father and Daughter Charged in Fraud Scheme that Allegedly Exploited a Vulnerable Adult

For Immediate Release

U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Columbia

Thursday, April 11, 2024

Defendants Allegedly Stole Victim’s Social Security Benefits

            WASHINGTON – Linda Laird, 59, and her father, James Blizzard, 80, both of Cordova, Maryland, are charged in a five-count indictment, unsealed today, with conspiracy to commit Social Security fraud and theft of public money, conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, mail fraud, financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult or elderly person, and fraud in the first degree against a senior citizen. The charges were announced today by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Daniel W. Lucas, Inspector General for the District of Columbia. The defendants appeared in District Court today and were released pending trial.

            The indictment was returned on April 9, 2024, by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. According to court documents, beginning in November 2017, Laird and Blizzard conspired and engaged in a scheme to deceive the Superior Court of the District of Columbia into appointing them as co-guardians and co-conservators of a vulnerable adult. At the time, the vulnerable adult was 81 years of age and suffered from severe cognitive impairments that rendered her incapacitated and required her to reside in a nursing home located in Washington, D.C. 

            While the vulnerable adult resided in the nursing home, Laird and Blizzard were required, in part, to act as fiduciaries and apply the vulnerable adult’s money towards her support, care, habilitation, and treatment. Instead, the indictment alleges, Laird and Blizzard used their authority as co-guardians and co-conservators to redirect U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) benefits intended for, and checking account funds belonging to, the vulnerable adult to their personal bank accounts for their own benefit. In total, Laird and Blizzard diverted more than $21,000 in Social Security benefits and obtained over $85,000 from the vulnerable adult’s bank account for their personal use. Laird and Blizzard did not use these funds to pay for the vulnerable adult’s care.

            This case is being investigated by the D.C. Office of the Inspector General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, the U.S. Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General, and the Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. It is being prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Facci, on detail from the D.C. Office of the Inspector General.

            An indictment is merely an allegation that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal laws and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

Updated April 11, 2024

Source:
Father and Daughter Charged in Fraud Scheme that Allegedly Exploited a Vulnerable Adult

Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta Delivers Remarks at Elder Justice Coordinating Council Meeting

Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta Delivers Remarks at Elder Justice Coordinating Council Meeting

Washington, DC - Tuesday, November 15, 2022

 

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery

Thank you for that warm welcome, Acting Assistant Secretary Barkoff. It is a pleasure to join you once again and to represent the Department of Justice at the Elder Justice Coordinating Council, alongside Andy Mao, the Department’s National Elder Justice Coordinator.    

I would like to thank Deputy Secretary Palm for the leadership role that HHS has played on the Council and for partnering with Council participants to protect older Americans from abuse, neglect and financial exploitation. 

For the past decade, combating elder fraud and abuse has been a top priority for the Justice Department. We remain committed to doing all we can to restore dignity to older adults who have been abused, and to repair the sense of safety and security for those who have been financially exploited or defrauded. Prevention, early detection and early intervention — combined with partnership at every level of government — are all necessary to combat elder abuse.

Let me begin with some updates since I last spoke to this group.

As outlined in our recent annual report to Congress, the Department pursued nearly 300 criminal and civil cases in the past year on issues ranging from COVID-19 fraud to grossly substandard care in nursing homes. We also returned millions of dollars to elder-fraud victims through asset forfeitures and other actions. At the same time, we developed tools for elder justice professionals on the front lines and devoted substantial resources to victim assistance, including by responding to a record number of calls on the National Elder Fraud Hotline. And the Department participated in public outreach on numerous elder justice topics to over 150,000 individuals, including members of law enforcement, legal aid attorneys, elder justice professionals and members of the public.

Collaboration and coordination at all levels of government have been key to the success of these departmental initiatives.  

First and foremost, this is reflected in our close partnership with other federal agencies. As many of you know, the Justice Department has focused much of our elder justice enforcement on transnational schemes, which comprised nearly 40% of our cases in the past year. Our whole-of-government approach has been critical to detecting and disrupting these schemes, which include grandparent scams, romance fraud, identity theft and lottery fraud. Our work to investigate, build and prosecute these cases has involved collaboration with the U.S. Postal Inspection Services, the Department of Homeland Security, the Social Security Administration’s Office of Inspector General, as well as the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

Our federal partners have likewise been instrumental in helping raise awareness on issues impacting older adults. For example, with the help of the Administration for Community Living, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the National Institute on Aging and others, we convened a three-day virtual symposium last April focused on the role that decision-making capacity plays in elder justice proceedings, where criminal and civil judges are frequently called upon to undertake the complex and nuanced task of trying to assess the abilities of older adults to make independent decisions about personal and financial matters. 

Equally critical for the department’s work has been our continued collaboration and coordination at the state and local level. Our federal initiatives have long benefitted from the assistance of our state and local law enforcement partners — and I am excited that the Council will be hearing today from some of our state partners who are so committed to this work. 

We also have several efforts in the works to strengthen these partnerships in the days ahead.  

One example of a successful collaboration is the National Nursing Home Initiative. Launched in 2020, this initiative is designed to coordinate and enhance civil and criminal enforcement related to nursing homes that provide grossly substandard care by drawing on a wide network of state and local professionals, including state Medicaid Fraud Control Units, adult protective services, Long-Term Care Ombudsmen, state and local law enforcement and many others. 

Next month, the initiative will launch a significant new training effort with state Medicaid Fraud Control Unit Directors across the nation. In a series of six virtual convenings, the Justice Department’s Elder Justice and Health Care Fraud Coordinators will meet with Medicaid Fraud Control Unit Directors to discuss the most effective ways to collaborate on priority substandard care cases and share best practices related to this enforcement work.

And just last month, the Justice Department’s Office for Victims of Crime announced the first of its kind effort to support a National Elder Justice Coalition Center to support the development of new state and tribal coalitions that will collaborate with federal agencies to coordinate elder justice work. The National Elder Justice Coalition Center will release a competitive solicitation early next summer to fund and support additional elder justice coalitions across the country.   

Finally, a bit of a coming attraction: I am pleased to announce that in the fall of 2023, the Justice Department will host an Elder Justice Summit specifically for state and local law enforcement. This Summit will provide a national platform for sharing strategies and best practices, information, and resources. Stay tuned for more information on this.

On behalf of the Justice Department, I want to thank you again for all that you have done and will do to advance the cause of elder justice. My colleagues and I look forward to continuing to partner with you on this important issue.   

Source:
Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta Delivers Remarks at Elder Justice Coordinating Council Meeting

How do hospitals handle patients who have nowhere to go?

By Zack Budryk

 

Much has been made of the "frequent flier" patients who return day after day to the emergency room, but some hospitals have another pressing problem: patients who they can't discharge long after their needs are met. 

 

Earlier in 2015, the District of Columbia's George Washington University Hospital admitted five patients in one month who could neither make their own healthcare decisions nor get in touch with loved ones or advocates, according to the Washington Business Journal. While the average length of stay at the hospital is five days, GW Hospital had no choice but to keep the five patients in the hospital for a total of 300 days.

"We became like a hotel, a boarding house," GW Hospital CEO Barry Wolfman told the publication. "This person is taking up a bed that could be used to care for someone else who needs it."

Wolfman reported the issue to the D.C. Hospital Association and found GW was far from the only hospital in the District with this problem. As a result, area hospitals have formed a "Guardianship Task Force," seeking to address a problem that, while not new, is escalating as the population ages and the healthcare industry's mental health resources fray.

A variety of factors can lead to patients being left in the lurch, from language barriers to mental illness to simply being abandoned by family, according to the article. The first step in such situations is to find the patient's next of kin or, failing that, a court-assigned advocate, which can take weeks. Even if the court assigns an advocate, the appointed person often drags his or her feet to make decisions on behalf of the patient, Patricia Dillard, head of GW's care management department, told the publication.

An average day of inpatient care at District of Columbia hospitals costs $2,500, meaning such patients could be running up a multi-million dollar price tag for providers. The prolonged hospitalizations are also dangerous for the patients, posing unnecessary risks of falls or hospital-acquired infections.

Since establishing the task force, GW's care management team has created a toolkit to help hold guardians accountable, providing information about expectations and responsibilities. The task force meets monthly to collect data in search of trends and improve hospital-court relations to streamline the guardian appointment process.

Full Article & Source:

How do hospitals handle patients who have nowhere to go?

A Proclamation on World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, 2022

 

June 14, 2022 • Statements and Releases

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

It is more vital than ever that we ensure our older adults can age with the dignity, security, and appreciation that every person deserves.  Honoring and respecting older Americans is a matter of basic human dignity and justice — it is part of the character of our Nation.  Yet every year, many Americans aged 60 and older experience abuse and neglect.  On World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, we join the international community to raise awareness and help end elder abuse here at home and across the world. 

Elder abuse takes many forms, such as financial, emotional, physical, and sexual harm, including intimate partner violence in later life.  It often comes in the form of neglect, abandonment, or exploitation.  It is estimated that approximately 1 in 10 elderly Americans are abused annually.  However, many of those who are abused suffer in silence, and many cases are never reported or brought to light.  In the past few years, while the pandemic isolated all of us to different extents, it especially exacerbated the isolation felt by too many older adults.  All of us have a role to play in preventing elder abuse and ensuring that our Nation’s seniors are able to age with dignity.  With a majority of elder abuse victims being women, my Administration is focused particularly on improving our support for all women and preventing and addressing gender-based violence that impacts older adults both domestically and abroad.

We must remain steadfast in our commitment to preventing elder abuse.  My Administration allotted $178 million through the American Rescue Plan and the COVID-19 recovery bill to improve and strengthen the work of Adult Protective Services (APS).  Additionally, my budget proposal for 2023 would provide ongoing support for APS and State Long-Term Care Ombudsman programs.  Our comprehensive, collaborative efforts to respond to elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation include initiatives to reform guardianship, support adult decision-making, crack down on scammers and fraudsters, and empower victims of exploitation.  Our commitment to supporting survivors of all ages is reflected in the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which includes dedicated Federal funds to support survivor service providers, law enforcement, and prosecutors working to respond to domestic and sexual violence experienced by older adults.

As we continue to build a better America, we must ensure that we bring everyone along.  That is why my Administration is committed to safeguarding the rights of those who live in retirement and shared residential settings.  I have called on the Congress to deliver significant reforms to improve the safety and quality of care in our Nation’s nursing homes.  Recognizing the critical work of caregivers, I have also proposed measures to create a strong and well-compensated caregiving workforce to advance the well-being of our Nation’s older adults.  By ensuring a high quality of life and care for older Americans, we can support every community and honor the dignity of every person. 

On this World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, let us recommit to delivering all older Americans the promise of a comfortable and peaceful life with dignity.  Let us reaffirm our commitment to a world free from the scourge of abuse and neglect.  Let us join the world in celebrating the essential role older adults play in our lives.  

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 15, 2022, as World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.  I encourage all Americans to be diligent, work togetherto strengthen existing partnerships, and develop new opportunities to improve our Nation’s prevention and response to elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fourteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-two, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-sixth.

                               JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR

 

Source:

A Proclamation on World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, 2022 

House Approves Ban On Electric Shock Devices For Those With Developmental Disabilities

by Michelle Diament

A bill that would ban the use of electrical stimulation devices to address self-injurious or aggressive behavior is now headed to the U.S. Senate. (Thinkstock)

Congress is moving to ban devices used to administer electric shocks on people with developmental disabilities in an effort to modify their behavior, a practice that advocates have long decried as torturous.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 392 to 28 last week to approve the Food and Drug Amendments Act, a broad bill reauthorizing programs at the Food and Drug Administration. Tucked inside the legislation is a provision that would put an end to the use of what are known as electrical stimulation devices, which send shocks through electrodes attached to the skin in order to condition people not to engage in self-injurious or aggressive behaviors.

The devices are believed to be used at only one facility in the U.S. — the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Canton, Mass., which serves children and adults with developmental disabilities as well as those with behavioral and emotional problems.

Disability advocates have worked for years to bar the practice. And in 2020, the FDA finalized a ban on the devices after determining that they pose an “unreasonable and substantial risk of illness or injury.” The agency cited evidence of psychological and physical risks including burns, tissue damage, worsening underlying symptoms, depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.

But the Rotenberg Center sued and last summer the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit found that the FDA had overstepped its authority and overturned the regulation.

The legislation now heads to the Senate where advocates say they are hopeful that the provision banning electrical stimulation devices will be included.

“Contingent electric shock for the purposes of behavior modification is inhumane and ineffective and has been condemned by the United Nations as torture,” said Julia Bascom, executive director of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. “We hope the Senate will act swiftly — folks subjected to these shocks have been waiting for far too long.”

Supporters of the Rotenberg Center, however, are not backing down on what they say is a last resort for individuals with severe behaviors who have not responded to other treatments.

“The parents and guardians of clients of the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center (JRC) will continue to fight to preserve the life-saving electrical stimulation device (ESD) treatment for our loved ones, for whom all other treatment options have been tried and failed,” the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center Parents Association said in a statement to Disability Scoop. “Were the proposed legislation to be enacted, it would destroy the significant gains that have been achieved due to this treatment and inevitably result in self-mutilation and the reemergence of other severe behaviors that will lead to irreparable harm, permanent disfiguration, or even the death of our children.”

Full Article & Source:

House Approves Ban On Electric Shock Devices For Those With Developmental Disabilities

Legal author's bar reinstatement bid rebuffed by D.C. ethics panel

By Mike Scarcella

(Reuters) - A disbarred author who has written extensively on the law has failed to show he is fit to resume practicing in the profession, a Washington, D.C., attorney ethics panel said in a report released on Wednesday.

The report from a hearing committee of the D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility recommended that the D.C. Court of Appeals, which administers attorney discipline in the nation's capital, deny Joel Joseph's petition to be reinstated to the bar.

The D.C. Court of Appeals in 2015 disbarred Joseph, 73, as a reciprocal penalty after a Maryland court took that action over allegations that he deceived state and federal courts in California about where he was living.

The committee called Joseph "an intellectually robust and curious person." Joseph has litigated public-interest cases and has written books on the Justice Department and the courts, including "Black Mondays: Worst Decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court."

Court rules allow attorneys to seek "pro hac vice" admission to represent a client in a state where the lawyer doesn't live or work. Joseph told California courts he was a resident of Maryland, where he had a bar license, when in fact he was living in California, the panel said.

"The nature and circumstances of petitioner's misconduct is serious and troubling," the ethics panel wrote in its report. "Lying to a court about his residency to obtain admission pro hac vice directly relates to [his] honesty, integrity and judgment."

Joseph did not immediately respond to messages on Thursday seeking comment.

The head of the D.C. bar's disciplinary office, Hamilton "Phil" Fox III, declined to comment.

The ethics panel said Joseph "has not proven that he recognizes the seriousness of his misconduct."

Joseph's "ongoing description of himself as a lawyer" after his 2011 disbarment in Maryland "is misleading to the public," the panel said.

At a hearing in his case in February, Joseph argued: "I can call myself a lawyer as long as I have a JD degree."

He criticized any continued effort by bar regulators in D.C. to prevent him from practicing.

"They should be busy going after the attorneys who are really cheating clients and doing bad things," he said.

In a filing, Joseph said his "punishment has been unreasonably severe."

The case is In the Matter of Joel D. Joseph, D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility, No. 21-BD-029.

Full Article & Source:

Legal author's bar reinstatement bid rebuffed by D.C. ethics panel

D.C. lawyer disbarred in Md. for continuing to practice law while suspended

By: Madeleine O'Neill

 

“Ms. Ekekwe persistently violated the two suspension orders,” Judge Steven B. Gould wrote in a 21-page opinion. “In doing so, Ms. Ekekwe effectively deprived (her client)—who was battling for custody of her son—the benefit of counsel.” (The Daily Record/File Photo)

Maryland’s Court of Appeals this month disbarred a D.C. lawyer who continued representing a client in a custody case after she had been suspended from practicing law in Maryland.

The high court agreed unanimously that Olekanma A. Ekekwe had “undeniably injured” her client and misrepresented her status as an attorney to both the client and a judge.

“Ms. Ekekwe persistently violated the two suspension orders,” Judge Steven B. Gould wrote in a 21-page opinion. “In doing so, Ms. Ekekwe effectively deprived (her client) — who was battling for custody of her son — the benefit of counsel.”

The court found that disbarment was appropriate because Ekekwe’s misconduct included intentional dishonesty and the unauthorized practice of law. Ekekwe has also been disbarred in D.C., records show.

Ekekwe could not be reached for comment. A phone number listed online for her D.C. law practice is no longer active.

Ekekwe had been a lawyer in D.C. since 2002 and in Maryland since 2010, according to the court’s opinion. In June 2019, she was suspended for three years in D.C. after the District of Columbia Court of Appeals found she had violated rules related to competence, diligence, communication, safekeeping property and declining or terminating representation.

In October of that year, Ekekwe’s law license was suspended in Maryland on a petition from the Attorney Grievance Commission that was based on the misconduct finding in D.C.

Even after her law license had been temporarily suspended, Ekekwe continued to represent a pro bono client she’d been assigned through the Women’s Law Center of Maryland, according to the opinion. Although Ekekwe had not entered an appearance in the client’s case, she represented the woman at an emergency hearing in November 2019 and did not inform her client, the judge or opposing counsel that she had been suspended, Gould wrote in the opinion.

In January 2020, Ekekwe again appeared in court in connection with the custody dispute. Under questioning from a judge, Ekekwe said she was “assisting” in the case and making just a “temporary appearance.” The judge postponed the hearing and referred the case to bar counsel, according to the opinion.

Ekekwe repeatedly failed to respond to letters from bar counsel before claiming that her suspension had not yet been active at the time of the November 2019 emergency hearing and that she had appeared at the January 2020 hearing as a paralegal, rather than a lawyer.

“Ms. Ekekwe’s paralegal theory strains credulity,” Gould wrote. “The Women’s Law Center appointed an attorney, not a paralegal, to represent (the client). Upon their suspension from practicing law, lawyers do not magically transform into paralegals imbued with the authority to represent clients.”

A hearing judge found no mitigating factors in Ekekwe’s favor. Ekekwe failed to appear at a June 2021 evidentiary hearing about her alleged misconduct.

The District of Columbia Court of Appeals also disbarred Ekekwe in January. The Court found that Ekekwe, who is referred to in the opinion as Ekekwe-Kauffman, had recklessly misappropriated funds belonging to four clients, among other violations.

“Ekekwe-Kauffman’s handling of entrusted funds evinces practically all of the hallmarks of reckless misappropriation,” the D.C. high court found.  “She commingled funds between her trust and operating accounts repeatedly and indiscriminately. She likewise moved money among her personal, business, and trust accounts, haphazardly covering shortfalls in each account by drawing on the balance of the others.”

Full Article & Source:

D.C. lawyer disbarred in Md. for continuing to practice law while suspended

D.C. court weighs scope of negotiation power for bar disciplinary office

By Mike Scarcella

(Reuters) - The D.C. bar’s disciplinary office has asked an appeals court to approve its power to negotiate lesser penalties for lawyers when disbarment is the presumptive sanction.

A three-judge panel of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, the highest local court in city that also oversees attorney misconduct disputes, on Wednesday weighed whether a three-year bar suspension for a lawyer accused of "reckless misappropriation" of client funds was unduly lenient.

Such an ethics charge carries the presumption of disbarment, but in the case before the court, the lawyer, Paul Mensah, negotiated a lower penalty with the D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel. The deal suspends his license for three years and requires him to show fitness to practice law if he ever wants to rejoin the bar. Disbarment in D.C. comes with a minimum five-year suspension, and proceedings can take longer to resolve than a negotiated penalty.

"What is the public perception going to be if we say that, 'Here's a lawyer who has engaged in misconduct and is willing to be immediately suspended,'" Hamilton Fox III, the top D.C. disciplinary lawyer, told the appeals panel. "But because we want to go through this process and have him disbarred, he's going to be allowed to practice for two more years. Removing that lawyer more quickly serves the interest of the disciplinary system."

D.C. Court of Appeals Judges Roy McLeese and Joshua Deahl, sitting with Senior Judge John Steadman, considered where and how to draw the lines governing how much discretion the disciplinary office should have in crafting penalty deals.

Fox did not immediately comment on Thursday, and Justin Flint of Eccleston & Wolf, a lawyer for Mensah, did not respond to a message seeking comment.

The panel judges spent the bulk of the hour-long hearing trying to glean the scope and impact of a 1990 decision from the appeals court.

That decision, issued before the D.C. bar had a system of negotiated discipline in place, said reckless or intentional misappropriation of funds should result in disbarment unless there are "extraordinary" circumstances.

"Our court, in dealing with negotiated cases, has always looked at the acceptable range," Steadman said at the hearing. "We have no range in this sort of case, misappropriation of funds, except in exceptional cases."

Mensah, a member of the D.C. bar since 2003, did not contest the claims that he misappropriated client funds in a personal injury matter and a debt collection lawsuit that settled in 2017 for $15,200.

His lawyer was aligned with the recommendation from the D.C. bar's disciplinary office that the D.C. appeals court approve the negotiated punishment.

"This case is the model for what this court wants to set forth for the bar," Flint said. "Knowing that he has a problem with this trust account -- admits to it, owns it, has remorse, hires a bookkeeper, and makes sure that everything is correct."

The case is In the Matter of: Paul T. Mensah, District of Columbia Court of Appeals, No. 20-BG-560.

Full Article & Source:

D.C. court weighs scope of negotiation power for bar disciplinary office

Bipartisan senators to hold hearing on 'toxic conservatorships' amid Britney Spears controversy

By Celine Castronuovo

Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Tuesday announced plans to hold a hearing next week on “toxic conservatorships” as the recent legal battle to end pop singer Britney Spears’s controversial court-ordered agreement has fueled bipartisan calls for federal reforms. 

Blumenthal, chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on The Constitution, tweeted that he and Cruz, the subcommittee’s ranking member, would be hosting a hearing entitled, “Toxic Conservatorships: The Need for Reform,” apparently referencing Spears's hit song “Toxic.”

“Britney Spears is one of hundreds of thousands of Americans in conservatorships that too often restrict their basic human rights,” Blumenthal wrote.

The announcement did not make mention of any specific individuals scheduled to testify at the hearing. 

Britney Spears is one of hundreds of thousands of Americans in conservatorships that too often restrict their basic human rights. That’s why @SenTedCruz & I are holding a hearing on September 28th on toxic conservatorships & the need for reforms. pic.twitter.com/cja6GUc5pt

— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) September 22, 2021

The Spears case has brought together lawmakers from both sides of the aisle as questions have been raised about whether conservatorships can cause undue harm for individuals who have their financial affairs or daily life placed under the control of a court-appointed guardian. 

The 39-year-old singer spoke out against her conservatorship in bombshell testimony in a Los Angeles Superior Court hearing in June, during which she called the 13-year court agreement “abusive," adding that it had left her "traumatized" and in "shock.” 

In June, GOP Reps. Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Burgess Owens (Ohio), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) and Andy Biggs (Ariz.) sent a letter to Spears inviting her to testify before Congress. 

Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Bob Casey (Pa.) also cited Spears’s comments in court in a letter calling on Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra and Attorney General Merrick Garland to provide more data on the U.S. conservatorship system.

Spears’s father, Jamie Spears, had repeatedly resisted stepping down as her conservator, though he reversed course in August by filing to remove himself from the court agreement, noting that while he believed there were “no actual grounds for suspending or removing” him, he did not “believe that a public battle with his daughter over his continuing service as her conservator would be in her best interests.” 

Her father went further earlier this month by filing to end the conservatorship, writing in a petition that “recent events” have “called into question whether circumstances have changed to such an extent that grounds for establishment of a conservatorship may no longer exist.” 

Days after the petition, the pop singer, who had previously said she had been barred from getting married or having more kids under her conservatorship, announced news of her engagement to her longtime boyfriend. 

Full Article & Source:

Bipartisan senators to hold hearing on 'toxic conservatorships' amid Britney Spears controversy

Collins, Gillibrand Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Protect Seniors and Caregivers Against Financial Fraud

In:  Press Releases

Posted Wed, 07/07/2021 - 12:39

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), members of the Senate Aging Committee, introduced the Senior Financial Empowerment Act, bipartisan legislation that would ensure that seniors and their caregivers have access to critical information regarding financial abuse. The bill would standardize and improve the way senior financial abuse is reported, establish a national hotline that would advise seniors on where and how to report fraud, and provide more resources to combat and prevent financial exploitation of seniors.

It is estimated that millions of seniors across the country are victims of financial scams and abuse every year – with scams related to COVID-19 alone costing consumers more than $460 million. Throughout the pandemic, the range of financial scams targeting seniors expanded as public health and economic anxiety grew. Fraudsters impersonated banks and lenders, offering support with utility bills, credit card debt, and other financial burdens.

“From scams originating overseas to exploitation by trusted family members and guardians at home, financial fraud targeting older Americans is a growing epidemic that is estimated to cost seniors nearly $3 billion annually,” said Senator Collins. “By cracking down on fraud, improving scam reporting, and providing additional educational resources to seniors, our bipartisan legislation would help us catch these ruthless criminals and prevent them from robbing seniors of their hard-earned life savings.”

“Giving seniors the tools they need to stay vigilant against financial fraud is the best way to protect their pocketbooks, and to put these fraudsters out of business,” said Senator Gillibrand.” I am proud to work with Senator Collins on the Senior Financial Empowerment Act, so that seniors and their caregivers can respond to, report, and prevent costly financial scams and abuse plaguing our senior communities.”

“Many of LeadingAge’s 5,000 mission-driven members have taken a leadership role in addressing elder abuse and financial fraud affecting older persons, and we know that older adults will benefit tremendously from the protections in the Senior Financial Empowerment Act. We thank Senators Gillibrand and Collins for their commitment to protecting older adults and we look forward to working with them and other sponsors to gain support and passage of this important legislation,” said Katie Smith Sloan, President & CEO of LeadingAge.

The legislation would help protect seniors from financial fraud by:

·         Centralizing services for consumer education and data on scams and fraud targeting seniors;

·         Improving reporting of suspected instances of elder financial abuse;

·         Educating certain entities regarding elder financial abuse;

·         Creating a grant program to prevent mail, telemarketing, and internet fraud;

·         Directing the National Institutes of Health to conduct scientific research on older adults’ increased vulnerability to scams; and

·         Designating a National Senior Fraud Awareness Week.

The legislation has been endorsed by AARP and LeadingAge.

Click HERE to read the text of the bill.

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 Full Article & Source:

Collins, Gillibrand Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Protect Seniors and Caregivers Against Financial Fraud

Sens. Toomey and Casey working together to protect the elderly | Editorial

By PennLive Editorial Board 

Editor’s Note: The editorial has been updated to correct the number of nursing homes currently on the list of Special Focus Facilities. 

If there is one thing we can all agree on, it’s the absolute imperative of respecting and protecting the elderly.

Whatever your political persuasion, right, left or in between, this is a basic human value that should transcend all differences. And it is heartening to see two U.S. Senators set aside their political differences and cooperate to end neglect and abuse of the elderly in nursing homes in Pennsylvania.

In response to the recent PennLive investigation, ”Still Failing the Frail,” U.S. Sens. Robert P. Casey Jr. and Pat Toomey have decided to work together to address apparent deficiencies in the oversight of nursing homes.

The senators have jointly penned a letter to Seema Verma, administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in Washington, D.C., raising questions about a federal program tasked with improving persistently failing nursing homes.

As PennLive reporter Daniel Simmons-Ritchie documented in “Still Failing the Frail,” some of the worst nursing homes in Pennsylvania have continued to be plagued with problems – including chronically low staffing, insect infestations, and poor care that has harmed residents – despite ownership changes and promises of tougher oversight by the Wolf administration.

Among those homes, one is a current member of the federal government’s “Special Focus Facility” (SFF) program. Nursing homes are selected as SFF if they consistently provide poor care.

A total of 85 of the nation’s 15,000 nursing homes have that designation (including four in Pennsylvania). Those homes are supposed to get extra scrutiny and can potentially lose their government funding if they don’t improve.

Toomey and Casey’s letter raises questions about the effectiveness of that program: many nursing homes have been on the SFF list for years, without any action being taken against them, as the federal dough continues to roll in.

“Neglect and abuse of this nature is altogether unacceptable,” Toomey and Casey wrote, “and through a robust system of monitoring, oversight, technical assistance and enforcement, it should be entirely avoidable.”

The senators are absolutely right. There is no reason nursing homes that do not properly care for their residents should remain open year after year, transferred from one shoddy owner to the next, treating our elderly as pawns in heartless business schemes that focus only on the bottom line.

In fact, there should be zero tolerance for negligence or abuse in any facility charged with caring for some of the most vulnerable people in our community. And Sens. Toomey and Casey shouldn’t rest until that is indeed the case, and authorities at all levels are held accountable.

To reinforce the seriousness of their interest in the issue, the senators set a deadline of March 27 for the federal agency to respond. That’s a clear sign they mean business and will not let this matter rest until they get the information they need.

Once they get their answers, the next step will be for these senators to move with all due haste to end the apparent negligence that threaten the very lives of the people we have a duty to protect.

While solving many of the problems identified in the PennLive’s series rests with the Wolf Administration and the General Assembly, Casey and Toomey should be applauded for stepping up to help at the federal level in a show of bipartisan cooperation.

Working together, Senators Casey and Toomey must keep the pressure on those at the federal level who can help strengthen oversight of nursing homes, as they have vowed to do in their letter.

We hope more political leaders will take note of the power of bipartisan cooperation for the common good – as Sens. Toomey and Casey are now modeling. And it’s not a bad idea for approving constituents to send a strong signal of their gratitude.

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Sens. Toomey and Casey working together to protect the elderly | Editorial

Judicial 'inappropriate conduct' is broader than isolated incidences, panel finds

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Washington (CNN)A special US judiciary working group set up last December after a prominent appeals court judge was accused of sexual harassment reported on Monday that "inappropriate conduct" in the nation's courthouses is "not limited to a few isolated instances."

Yet the eight-member group -- which met with scores of former and current employees of the judiciary and invited comment nationwide -- did not detail the magnitude of employee abuse in the US judiciary beyond saying it was "not pervasive." The group also did not note whether, during its five months of study, any action was taken against individual judges or other court employees.

The working group, which was established by Chief Justice John Roberts, made several recommendations in its report, including that:

• judges should put a greater priority on improving workplace culture
• the code of conduct should be revised to make clear what behavior is prohibited
• the complaint system should be made more transparent and accessible.

"The Code of Conduct should make clearer that judges cannot turn a blind eye to a colleague's mistreatment of employees," said the report filed to the Judicial Conference, which sets policy for the nation's federal courts.

 

The federal judiciary's #MeToo movement began after former law clerks and other staffers went public with sexual harassment claims against US Appeals Court Judge Alex Kozinski, who had served for more than 30 years in California.

 

Kozinski, who had been subject to misconduct allegations in 2009, retired in December after the new claims were made, beginning with a Washington Post story. A formal misconduct complaint was filed, but judicial officials declined to investigate because Kozinski retired.

 

A CNN special report in January, examining about 5,000 judicial orders arising from misconduct complaints over the past decade, found that rarely do the judges overseeing the complaint system find that a claim -- by a lawyer, litigant or employee -- warrants an investigation. Even rarer is for any judge to be disciplined. In most cases when a judge faced serious scrutiny, the CNN report found, the judge retired and ended all disciplinary proceedings.

 

Some lawyers and law professors who have spoken out about flaws in the judiciary's misconduct-complaint system and tracked the working group's progress praised its initial recommendations Monday yet noted the lack of findings about the scope of the problem.

 

"We really don't know anything more about the nature and extent of the problem," said University of Pittsburgh law professor Arthur Hellman, who has long studied federal courts and misconduct issues. Hellman wondered whether other reports of egregious behavior by a judge had emerged. "It's very troubling that we don't have an answer to that question," he said.

 

But Hellman lauded the group for recommending that avenues for filing complaints be clarified.

 

Washington lawyer Jaime Santos, a former law clerk on the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, where Kozinski was based, said she was pleased that more training was recommended, as well as greater transparency, so that the system encourages victims to come forward.

 

The CNN review found that while 1,000 orders related to misconduct are posted annually on federal court websites, they contain scant details and are not categorized in a way that would separate frivolous cases from those with merit. Simply filing a legitimate grievance can be difficult, as forms and instructions are not easily retrieved and explained throughout the 13 regional circuits.

 

The report released Monday acknowledged that people with valid complaints sometimes hit roadblocks in the judicial bureaucracy.

 

"The Working Group received anonymous anecdotal reports about harassment or other inappropriate behavior that were not properly addressed," the report said. "It is therefore vital that judges and court executives ensure, through educational programs, performance reviews, and other mechanisms ... that judges, executives, supervisors, and managers at every level throughout the judiciary demonstrate the same strong commitment to workplace civility."

 

The report also noted that, as in the Kozinski situation, any investigation or discipline for a judge is generally halted if the judge retires. The report noted that law clerks "expressed concern about the seeming lack of punishment for a judge who, under allegations of serious misconduct, retires or resigns and thereby terminates the disciplinary proceeding."

 

The Washington Post story that first brought attention to Kozinski highlighted an account from a woman who said that the judge, based in Pasadena, California, had asked her to look at pornographic images on his office computer. Several other women subsequently came forward with allegations about misconduct.

 

Kozinski resigned shortly thereafter, saying he "may not have been mindful enough of the special challenges and pressures that women face in the workplace."

 

When reached for comment on Monday, Kozinski's lawyer, Susan Estrich, responded in an email that Kozinski had no further comment. She added that "he denied the substance of the charges" and had resigned because "he did not wish to burden the judiciary or his former clerks with [an] investigation."

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Judicial 'inappropriate conduct' is broader than isolated incidences, panel finds