Carson Business Partner Was Convicted Of Defrauding Insurance Companies
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Ben Carson was a character witness for Al Costa in a 2008 sentencing hearing. The Pittsburgh dentist was convicted of defrauding insurance companies.
“Al Costa is my best friend. Al Costa is my very best friend. I know his heart. I am proud to call him my friend. I have always and will continue to stand by him. That is what real friends do,” Carson said in a Thursday statement first obtained by Bloomberg…
Costa pleaded guilty to one felony count of health care fraud in connection with charging patients for procedures that he did not perform and costing insurance companies a loss of $40,000. The AP reported that Carson described Costa as “one of my closest, if not my very closest friend” during the hearing.
Though Costa could have been sentenced to up to 10 years in prison, he ultimately was sentenced to a one-year house arrest.
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“Next to my wife of 32 years, there is no one on this planet that I trust more than Al Costa,” Carson said at the hearing, according to the AP. Carson was one of three character witnesses who testified on behalf of Costa. Another was former Pittsburgh Steelers star Jerome Bettis.
In Carson’s 2013 book “America the Beautiful,” Carson advocated for tough punishments for those who are guilty of medical fraud.
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