By Kelli Kennedy
Associated Press
MIAMI (AP) -- A whistle blower wants the Florida Supreme Court to bar Attorney General Bill McCollum from participating in a multimillion-dollar health care fraud settlement because of campaign contributions he received from the company that stole the money.
Sean Hellein, who helped federal authorities in their investigation against his former employer, WellCare Health Plans Inc., has filed a petition with the court alleging the company's political contributions to McCollum and the state's Republican Party make it impossible for McCollum to represent the public in settlement talks.
Hellein, who could receive up to 25 percent of the settlement under federal law, says McCollum's participation would put taxpayers at risk of losing millions in recovered funds.
Tampa-based WellCare has said it expects to settle civil damages under a federal False Claims Act for about $137.5 million, according to a federal Securities and Exchange Commission document filed in June. The company also agreed to pay $80 million last year to avoid criminal prosecution in an elaborate scheme to defraud the Florida Medicaid program.
But Hellein's attorney, Barry Cohen, says WellCare stole more than $400 million from the state between 2002 and 2007 in a "systematic raiding" that "could not have occurred without the knowledge and help of certain public officials." Cohen said that includes McCollum, who recently lost the Republican primary for governor and will be leaving office in January.
Although WellCare's settlement will be with federal officials, the state attorney general will have to agree to it, said Cohen, who filed Hellein's petition Friday.
A spokesman from McCollum's office declined comment.
"We are waiting for further direction from the court," said Ryan Wiggins, spokeswoman for the attorney general's office.
An Associated Press analysis of campaign records shows that WellCare, its subsidiaries and executives gave $2.4 million to Florida politicians and parties in the 2004 and 2006 elections. More than 95 percent of it went to Republicans.
During that period, the Republican-controlled Legislature and then-Gov. Jeb Bush enacted a nationally watched plan that funnels more state and federal Medicaid spending through private companies like WellCare. Critics say those companies profit most when they provide the least care to patients.
About $60,000 was earmarked for McCollum's 2006 attorney general campaign, Hellein alleges in court documents.
WellCare gave $25,000 to the Republican Party of Florida in September 2006 and the party cut McCollum a check for the same amount the same day, Hellein alleges. The health care company donated $30,000 to the party in July 2006 and the party gave McCollum about $35,000 over the next few days, Hellein says.
State party spokesman Daniel Conston called the allegations "absurd."
"The RPOF simply does not earmark contributions nor would a contribution cause a GOP leader to turn a blind eye to a potential crime," he said.
Hellein, who was a financial analyst for WellCare, spent more than a year wearing a wire and gathering information for the FBI as part of an investigation that included a raid on the company's headquarters in 2007.
Prosecutors said the company inflated expenditures by submitting fake documents to the state. Under some mental health care contracts, WellCare was paid a flat per-patient fee and required to spend at least 80 percent of it on care. Any amount left over beyond 20 percent was to be repaid to the state, but the bogus expenditures allowed WellCare to keep that surplus.
WellCare wanted to get rid of the 80/20 requirement. Company lobbyist Mark Ryan told management "the matter was being handled" and he had "great confidence" the requirement would be "going away," according to court documents.
Based on those statements, Hellein said McCollum, the head of the Agency for Health Care Administration and other state politicians agreed to amend a Senate bill to get rid of the 80/20 law.
"The mood in WellCare management changed and they no longer worried" about the overpayments, according to court documents.
The bill passed in 2007, but was vetoed by Gov. Charlie Crist.
The dealings reveal a "system of personal political favors, legislative quid pro quo and legalized bribery so extensive that it has permeated the entire system and legal and legislative process," Cohen said.
Published: Wed, Oct 6, 2010
