Injured Workers throughout America are having their lives destroyed because the DOL and DOJ protect insurance company crimes !!
WFAA - TV wrote this in their Peabody award winning series about Workers Comp that was featured on PBS:
“a remarkable number of Texans committed suicide because they could no longer endure the pain caused by their injuries and they had been repeatedly turned down for worker’s comp care. Some insurance companies send peer review doctors medical files “stripped” of records important to the possible approval of workers’ comp claims.”
(end of quotes)
During the time period of the suicides AIG Insurance Company rigged so many bids in Workers Comp cases they were fined 1.6 billion dollars !!!!
In 2006 the Securities Exchange Commission wrote :
"AIG will pay in excess of $1.6 billion to resolve claims related to improper accounting, bid rigging and practices involving workers’ compensation funds.”
No one was prosecuted by the Bush administration. Obama’s DOJ and DOL refuse to investigate the suicides and other crimes committed against sick and dying workers !!
The fines are often a small percentage of the profits from the crimes and the crimes are committed repeatedly !!
AIG Crime Patterns –
AIG also underreported premiums on Workers Comp policies allowing it to shortchange state insurance pools by making lower contributions :
Here’s a quote from Reuters.com :
“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.”
No one was prosecuted !!
All this occurred while AIG received $186 Billion dollars from taxpayers to prevent them from bankrupting !!
AIG also endangers the lives of civilian contractors who are injured while they support our troops in U.S. War Zones !!
Exhibit A proves AIG cancelled payment to a civilian contractor who shattered his hip and went through years of surgeries and rehabilitation !!
Exhibit C proves an AIG investigator used a fake DOL criminal investigator badge in Tasmania and endangered the lives of a disabled civilian contractor and his family !!
No one is ever prosecuted for any of the crimes you’ve just seen. The DOL will not even ask them to stop endangering lives !!
AIG also engaged in at least two cases of securities frauds. One is identical and simultaneous with a Prudential fraud !!
Exhibit B has links to contributions AIG gave Obama plus $79 Billion AIG spent lobbying in ten years
Injured Workers Lives Are Being Destroyed In Every State in the U.S.
WTVF-TV in Nashville wrote the following quotes :
“Dean Weidener suffered a stroke a month ago.”
“Weidener worked for a trucking company when he fell through a loading dock. Theresa Weidner said the company denied a doctor's request to check for herniated discs.”
“Dean, frozen by back pain and immobile for months, suffered a clot, which is why he's now in a Vanderbilt hospital bed.”
“Theresa said the test would have cost the company $4,500. Now Dean’s family faces millions of dollars in medical bills.”
(end of WTVF quotes)
WSMV-TV later reported that a court ruled that Mr. Weidner’s medical bills must be paid by Workers Comp, but just look at all the suffering and destruction that has been caused and may continue for the rest of this paralyzed young man's life !!
The Tennessean newspaper wrote about former Mt. Juliet football player Chris Williams who stood before a legislative committee and cried as he recalled how a back injury kept him from lifting his mother from the floor after she had a grand mal seizure. The Tennessean also reported that several workers testified before the House Consumer and Employee Affairs Committee and said they were fired after they were injured on the job and applied for benefits.
Part Two
There Were Zero Prosecutions of Insurance Companies in Texas and Tennessee !!
Texas
While writing about the injured workers suicides mentioned earlier WFAA TV in Texas also wrote the following regarding criminal prosecutions of insurance companies in Texas:
“the number of insurance companies referred since 2000? Zero.”
Tennessee Zero Insurance Company Prosecutions
When I learned about life threatening problems in Workers Comp cases I purchased a tape recorder for my telephone and recorded conversations with two State of Tennessee Workers Comp employees. They said many employers break laws so they can illegally deny paid medical treatment to injured workers.
One State employee told me that injured workers often lose all hope as their Workers Comp benefits are illegally blocked.
One State employee told me that injured workers often lose all hope as their Workers Comp benefits are illegally blocked.
I found a website for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Special Workers Comp Fraud Unit.
They were required to investigate crimes committed by employees, employers, insurance companies and anyone else violating workers comp laws.
The TBI was so proud of the employees they convicted they even had a press release web page that linked 18 pages of workers who were convicted and the fines and jail time they received.
The TBI had no press releases for employers or insurance companies convictions !!
I continued to challenge the T.B.I.’s failure to post insurance company and employer convictions in their press releases. Here is an exact quote from a letter I received from the T.B.I.'s Karen Alexander :
"The other question that you asked is why there are only press releases on employees who have been prosecuted. So far, only employees have been successfully prosecuted."
(end of quotes)
Please remember WFAA TV wrote that Texas also had zero insurance company convictions, so that’s two states that have completely failed to prosecute insurance companies for destroying the lives of many injured and dying workers !! Their families are often destroyed too !!
I’ve seen reports of other states with identical problems !!
You may want to save the rest for later and scroll now to exhibitsA,B, and C for AIG’s endangerment of injured workers and Obama contributions
Special Note For Investigators - Ms. Nancy Russell was the chief legislative assistant to Tennessee State Senator Douglas Henry. She told me that the T.B.I. said there had been no business/employer crimes in Workers Comp in 9 years, and that is why there have been zero employer convictions. I asked Ms. Russell who told her that and she said it was confidential.
According to a Report from WTVF NewsChannel 5, forty thousand Tennesseans miss a week of work because of injury. That would be approximately 360,000 cases in 9 years, and it is beyond belief that the TBI expects rational citizens to believe there have been zero business/employer crimes in Workers Comp cases.
According to a Report from WTVF NewsChannel 5, forty thousand Tennesseans miss a week of work because of injury. That would be approximately 360,000 cases in 9 years, and it is beyond belief that the TBI expects rational citizens to believe there have been zero business/employer crimes in Workers Comp cases.
Part Three – TBI Webpages Were Removed When I Mentioned Them
(You may want to save this for later and scroll now to the exhibits to see AIG’s endangerment of injured workers)
I published a summary and handed out over a thousand copies at the State Capitol when I discovered there were zero insurance company or employer convictions while employees were prosecuted.
The TBI Press Release web pages became unavailable a few days after I distributed these summaries.
Here’s an example of one of the unavailable addresses that I was linked to when I clicked on the TBI’s press release link. Please note the word trash the TBI inserted to the left of middle in internet addresses :
http://www.tbi.state.tn.us/Trash/Criminal%20Div/Workers_Comp/workers'_comp_press_04-27.htm
The T.B.I.’s Karen Alexander said the removal of all of the web pages was an unfortunate coincidence. A professional web designer told me the removal of these pages appeared intentional based on the use of the word trash in all of the addresses that suddenly became unavailable.
http://www.tbi.state.tn.us/Trash/Criminal%20Div/Workers_Comp/workers'_comp_press_04-27.htm
The T.B.I.’s Karen Alexander said the removal of all of the web pages was an unfortunate coincidence. A professional web designer told me the removal of these pages appeared intentional based on the use of the word trash in all of the addresses that suddenly became unavailable.
The Tennessee Department of Labor also removed multiple web pages shortly after I published them in the same summary.
I was very assertive about the failure to stop insurers and employers from destroying lives. Governor Bredesen’s press Secretary made false comments about me in TV and newspaper reports in Nashville.
Bredesen and previous Governor Don Sundquist were very aware of the mass destruction of lives of severely injured workers but they did nothing to stop this !!!!
In 2003 I asked the Davidson County Attorney General to investigate the insurance companies crimes and the TBI and State’s deadly obstruction of Justice.
After a lengthy delay I was told the TBI fraud unit had just been abolished.
State records prove the Special Workers Comp Fraud Unit’s staff of 11 only convicted 20 employees during the nine years they existed. That’s a cost of about $500,000 per employee conviction when you consider nine years of salaries for their staff of 11 !!!!!!!!
They wasted around ten million dollars of tax payers money before they were abolished, but nothing was ever done about the mass manslaughter that is still being committed by insurers and employers when severely injured and dying workers file claims !!
** Interesting note - Before the press release web pages were removed I noticed one of the 18 employee prosecutions involved an employee at Aladdin industries. This is a well known company that was created and owned by the family of Davidson County District Attorney Torry Johnson who refused to investigate the TBI’s failure to stop insurance company crimes!!
Exhibit D has more evidence regarding Tennessee’s legal requirement to stop insurance company crimes and their refusal to do this !!
Exhibit A
AIG also endangers injured civilian contractors in U.S. war zones !!
Here are quotes from a ProPublica article :
“Terry Marshall suffered back and hip injuries in May 2005 when he fell from the top of his truck while working for defense contractor KBR at a U.S. base in Iraq.
His hip shattered, he went through years of surgeries and rehabilitation. KBR’s workers compensation carrier, American International Group, faithfully paid Marshall’s medical bills and disability payments.
Then, this March, Marshall was surprised when AIG cut off his disability payments without warning. AIG told the Labor Dept. that Marshall had failed to attend a doctor’s appointment arranged by the firm
The problem? AIG itself had cancelled the appointment”
(end of proPublica quotes)
Exhibit B
President Obama received at least $119,670 from AIG as seen at :
American Generals parent company named American International spent approximately $79 million lobbying in ten years as seen at :
I am certain someone with campaign finance research skills can find many more contributions than I have found in brief searches of the internet
Exhibit C
An AIG investigator used a fake DOL investigator badge in Tasmania and endangered the lives of a disabled civilian contractor in U.S. war zones and his family !!
The contractor Marc Munro contacted me after I saw his video posted on the following injured war zone contractors website at :
I sent Marc a friend request and helped him decide to contact ProPublica with his story. We talked several times and he told me the A.I.G. investigator called him at 5 a.m. and asked him to confirm his name.
The investigator hung up the phone without identifying himself, and this was very disturbing to Marc !!!
Later that day the investigator openly followed Marc and almost caused a wreck by driving on the wrong side of the road.
The A.I.G. investigator did this while knowing that Marc has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from being in a car bomb blast in Iraq that killed 18. Marc’s ear drums burst but he still pulled someone from the flaming wreckage, but this is how A.I.G. treats war heros !!
The DOL and AIG are very aware that PTSD patients have a greatly increased suicide risk of exploding when great pressure is applied !!
The DOL and DOJ have done nothing about AIG’s reckless endangerment of Marc and his family even though it happened over two years ago !!
This is very disturbing because the DOL is also ignoring the crimes against injured workers, health care and extended care claimants and severely disabled Americans.
Here’s a link to the picture of the fake DOL ID that is used by the AIG investigator from Malta named Cabot Goslin !!
Exhibit D
The T.B.I. Annual Report provides more evidence that the T.B.I. Special Workers Comp Fraud Unit served big business and insurance companies while ignoring citizen’s rights. The annual reports state that since 1998 the Special Workers Comp Fraud Unit made 94 presentations to insurance companies and businesses across the State to educate them regarding Workers Comp fraud.
Tennessee Code 50-6-127 :As mentioned the Workers Comp Reform Act of 1996 absolutely required the TBI Special Workers Comp Fraud Unit to investigate all types of Workers Comp Fraud, including employer fraud. Here is additional Tennessee code that proves investigating employer fraud was required :50-6-127. Public awareness program concerning workers' compensation fraud - Investigations and referrals.
The commissioner, in consultation with the commissioner of commerce and insurance and appropriate law enforcement officials, shall implement a public awareness program concerning workers' compensation fraud. They also held additional meetings with insurance companies and businesses including semi monthly meetings. There is absolutely no mention of any kind of educational meetings that teach workers how businesses may illegally fire them if they become injured on the job. There is no mention of how businesses endanger injured workers lives by blocking paid medical treatment for work injuries. A fair public awareness program would also inform workers how businesses commit fraud.
Please notice the following State code requires the implementation of a public awareness program :
Tennessee Code 50-6-127 :As mentioned the Workers Comp Reform Act of 1996 absolutely required the TBI Special Workers Comp Fraud Unit to investigate all types of Workers Comp Fraud, including employer fraud. Here is additional Tennessee code that proves investigating employer fraud was required :50-6-127. Public awareness program concerning workers' compensation fraud - Investigations and referrals.
The commissioner, in consultation with the commissioner of commerce and insurance and appropriate law enforcement officials, shall implement a public awareness program concerning workers' compensation fraud. They also held additional meetings with insurance companies and businesses including semi monthly meetings. There is absolutely no mention of any kind of educational meetings that teach workers how businesses may illegally fire them if they become injured on the job. There is no mention of how businesses endanger injured workers lives by blocking paid medical treatment for work injuries. A fair public awareness program would also inform workers how businesses commit fraud.
Please notice the following State code requires the implementation of a public awareness program :
“The commissioner of labor and workforce development is authorized to refer an employer to the Tennessee bureau of investigation for investigation and for appropriate referral for possible prosecution if the commissioner becomes aware the employer had prior knowledge that it was subject to the workers' compensation law and the employer failed to secure payment of compensation as required by the workers' compensation law.”
When I first asked the State for help it didn’t take long for me to realize that there was absolutely no chance that a business would ever be convicted for a crime in a Workers Comp case in Tennessee. My first clue was the total lack of employer convictions. Shortly after I made this discovery Governor Sundquist’s Deputy Legal Counsel Kim Beal’s screamed at me on the phone because I persisted in asking why no employer had ever been convicted. I had a potentially fatal cancer in my eye while Ms. Beal’s was screaming at me.
WFAA in Dallas Texas reported that the Texas Workers Comp Commission also had zero convictions of insurance companies'.
When you combine this with the same type of failure in Tennessee it is evident there is a pattern of protection of these life threatening insurance company crimes !!
Conclusion - My eye cancer was covered by a disability policy that was a benefit of my employment and insured by Metlife, but I can not ignore the massive insurance company crimes that are destroying so many lives in Workers Comp cases in America and also destroying civilian contractors who are killed and injured in U.S. war zones around the world.
The evidence you’ve just seen is part of many more life threatening crimes that are posted at :
www.tendeadlycorporatecrimepatterns.blogspot.com
www.tendeadlycorporatecrimepatterns.blogspot.com
Sincerely,
Barry Schmittou
