{UAH} AP Exclusive: Carson invests with business associate convicted of fraud

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ben Carson has called for harsh criminal penalties for health care fraud, but the Republican presidential candidate and his wife also have kept millions invested with a close friend who admitted defrauding insurance companies, according to an Associated Press review.

Though the crime carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison, Costa was sentenced to house arrest and probation after Carson helped petition a federal judge on behalf of the man he described as "one my closest, if not my very closest friend."

That's different from the position Carson later took as he prepared to launch his presidential campaign. In his 2013 political treatise, "America the Beautiful," Carson wrote that anyone found guilty of health care fraud should face the "Saudi Arabian Solution."

In 2007, a few months before Costa was charged, records show that two corporations were established in Pennsylvania called BenCan LLC and INBS LLC. Carson and his wife are listed as the sole members of the companies. Though the Carsons live outside Baltimore, the mailing address on the incorporation forms was Costa's home address in Pittsburgh.

BenCan and INBS then paid more than $3 million to purchase an office building in suburban Pittsburgh. The mailing address listed on the deed matches the office of Costa's firm, as does the address where property tax bills are sent.

Carson was one of three people who also testified at Costa's 2008 sentencing hearing, stressing his friend's charitable work. He said they shared the "same values and principles" and their families vacationed together.

Though Costa was assigned to serve his sentence in his 8,300-square-foot mansion in nearby Fox Chapel, his lawyers repeatedly sought permission for him to travel. A few months after starting his sentence, Costa asked to travel to the White House for a ceremony where President George W. Bush presented Carson with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/7dbf61be9ac94bbe959e94addb6f7def/ap-exclusive-carson-profits-friendship-felon

Sincerely,

Brian M. Kwesiga

Sincerely,

Brian M. Kwesiga