President of firm state hired to promote census defrauded Medicare, jury finds
In August, members of the Mississippi Complete Count Committee for the 2020 census scrambled to pull members together and find a marketing firm to flesh out an outreach plan to Mississippi’s hard-to-count communities. After hiring and rehiring a Biloxi-based public relations firm to do the work, questions emerged as the organization’s top official was found liable last week for more than $10 million in a Medicare fraud case.
The Office of the Secretary of State and the Department of Finance and Administration both awarded The Focus Group, a Biloxi-based public relations firm, contracts to develop marketing plans for the 2020 census.
Last week, a jury found Ted Cain, a South Mississippi businessman and president of The Focus Group, his wife and others liable of defrauding Medicare of more than $10 million, by charging the Stone County Hospital for work they never did, the Sun Herald reported.
Cain owns the hospital and can continue doing business but isn’t permitted to transfer assets before a March 26 court date. Because it was a civil trial, the defendants did not face criminal charges. The trial was aimed at recovering Medicare’s money, plus damages and fines.
Read more: https://mississippitoday.org/2020/03/19/president-of-firm-state-hired-to-promote-census-defrauded-medicare-jury-finds/