Since 2009, President Obama has been sayingnumerous times, “If you like your health-care plan, you will be able to keep your health-care plan”, but as it turns out, those statements were false and accordingto Andrew McCarthy on Saturday, that amounts tofraud.
McCarthy explains that Justice Department guidelines, set forth in the U.S. Attorneys Manual, recommend prosecution for fraud in situations involving “any scheme which in its nature is directed to defrauding a class of persons, or the general public, with a substantial pattern of conduct.”
McCarthy asks, “How serious was this lie.”
“So, for example, if a schemer were intentionally to deceive all Americans, or a class of Americans (e.g., people who had health insurance purchased on the individual market), by repeating numerous times — over the airwaves, in mailings, and in electronic announcements — an assertion the schemer knew to be false and misleading, that would constitute an actionable fraud — particularly if the statements induced the victims to take action to their detriment, or lulled the victims into a false sense of security,”said McCarthy.
US Code on fraud and false statements covers the definition and charges associated with making false statements under false information and hoaxes and false statements relating to health care matters.
In 18 U.S.C. 1038, it states:
“(1) In general. - Whoever engages in any conduct with intent to convey false or misleading information under circumstances where such information may reasonably be believed and where such information indicates that an activity has taken, is taking, or will take place that would constitute a violation of chapter 2, 10, 11B, 39, 40, 44, 111, or 113B of this title, section 236 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2284), or section 46502, the second sentence of section 46504, section 46505(b)(3) or (c), section 46506 if homicide or attempted homicide is involved, or section 60123(b) of title 49, shall - (A) be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both; (B) if serious bodily injury results, be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both; and (C) if death results, be fined under this title or imprisoned for any number of years up to life, or both.”
In 18 U.S.C. Section 1035 which relates to “False statements relating to health care matters”, the lawstates:
“(a) Whoever, in any matter involving a health care benefit program, knowingly and willfully - (1) falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact; or (2) makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements or representations, or makes or uses any materially false writing or document knowing the same to contain any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry.”
McCarthy pointed out, “Well, how would the Justice Department be dealing with it if it had been uttered by, say, the president of an insurance company rather than the president of the United States?”
The cases of USB and Bank of America, which were sued by Attorney General Eric Holder’s office, have presented hypocrisy when it relates to the President false statements.
In those cases, McCarthy said, “The complaints filed in court by prosecutors allege that these financial institutions defrauded investors in the sale of mortgage-backed securities by failing to disclose important facts about the underlying mortgages.”
McCarthy also pointed out the case of the Justice Department indicting Martha Stewart for fraud over press statements that did not disclose damaging information about her company.
“Ms. Stewart, naturally, was fearful that truthful statements would send the stock price plummeting. Obama, by comparison, was not lying merely to prevent a company from losing value,” said McCarthy. “His fraud was, first, to induce passage of a plan designed gradually to destroy the private health-insurance market — a plan that barely passed and never would have been enacted if he’d been honest.”
“Barack Obama is guilty of fraud, serial fraud, that is orders of magnitude more serious than frauds the Justice Department routinely prosecutes, and that courts punish harshly. The victims [of Obamacare] will be out billions of dollars, quite apart from other anxiety and disruption that will befall them,” McCarthy said.
“The president will not be prosecuted, of course, but that is immaterial. As discussed here before, the remedy for profound presidential corruption is political, not legal. It is impeachment and removal. “High crimes and misdemeanors” — the Constitution’s predicate for impeachment — need not be indictable offenses under the criminal code. “They relate chiefly,” Hamilton explained in Federalist No. 65, “to injuries done immediately to the society itself”.
No comments:
Post a Comment