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Thomas Joseph
Member since Sep 20, 2014
Recent Comments
Re: “UVM Health Network Hires Former Human Services Chief Al Gobeille”
Carrese said, "He is a person of the highest integrity and we have no doubt he will follow the letter and spirit of the code of ethics."
Shortly before resigning from state government, former Secretary Gobeille was notified along with state and federal law enforcement of stunning new losses to employees of the Brattleboro Retreat as the hospital had terminated their Benefit Manager in January of this year. Despite being the key person overseeing the Retreat and the State of Vermont's "Memorandum of Understanding" related to the completed criminal fraud probe he was responsible for seeing to it the psychiatric hospital was engaging in lawful best practices.
The former Benefit Manager spoke with a current employee of the Retreat last week who is owed over $2,000 and the hospital has taken no action to acknowledge or return what she describes as "hundreds of thousands" in employee losses stemming from the Retreat taking fraudulent payroll deductions on employee benefits that had expired a decade earlier. Gobeille & Co. and many across state government and law enforcement are covering up massive fraud to protect the reputational risk of the hospital given the importance of the Retreat to provide needed care, and as a result of the state's huge financial investment in the hospital. Gobeille's silence and inaction as it relates to recent employee losses should speak for itself.
Posted by
Thomas Joseph
on 08/07/2019 at 9:12 AM
Re: “Vermont Democratic Party Staffer Ousted Over Alleged Embezzlement”
A few questions:
Was this referred to law enforcement? As it should have been?
Or did the Vermont Democrats together with their very own TJ Donovan, the Vermont Attorney General sweep this under the rug like he has other frauds?
Is Mr. Batham also resigning from his position on the Barre City Council?
Posted by
Thomas Joseph
on 08/02/2019 at 10:41 AM
Re: “Staff Turnover Bedevils Vermont Democratic Party”
Dear Rep. Johannah Leddy Donovan:
If you sense impatience, it's because people are dying. I applaud Mr. Pavek's willingness to run. He's passionate, and cares deeply for the issues he advocates. Mrs. Donovan, your posture is also evidence that it's time to enjoy life more without the worries of the legislature.
Maybe in retirement you can reflect on how you raised the Attorney General, TJ Donovan, and ponder how he could cover up a historic fraud & mislead every citizen in Vermont about the Brattleboro Retreat's decade of malfeasance. Maybe ponder how even after the Retreat's Benefit Manager was terminated in January 2019, for discovering the hospital had been taking fraudulent payroll deductions on employee benefits that had expired ten years earlier, "hundreds of thousands" was the quote from the former Benefit Manager, your son continued to do nothing despite stunning employee losses.
Your son was notified by email months ago, and forwarded the details of these new stunning losses which included a copy to the US Attorney's Office. Both the Attorney General and US Attorney Christina Nolan have done nothing. Governor Phil Scott and his General Counsel were notified, but have taken no action.
The cover up of wholesale fraud at the Retreat continues and I hope, the Leddy/Donovan families are proud of the involvement of the Attorney General.
Best,
THOMAS JOSEPH
Posted by
Thomas Joseph
on 08/02/2019 at 10:04 AM
Re: “Media Note: VTDigger Scores a Small Win on EB-5 Documents”
Please note, Anne Galloway censors my posts on VTDigger's website as she deleted one today that drew attention to the fact that no media outlet in Vermont has done much "digging" of the truth surrounding the nearly 3 year criminal fraud probe of the Brattleboro Retreat.
Ms. Galloway doesn't want you to know that she has conspired with her attorney Cornell (who was my 2nd fraud attorney in the Retreat litigation) and both have blackballed me in the Vermont media market and helped to ensure no digging is done on the multi-year criminal fraud probe of the Brattleboro Retreat.
Also, Seven Days and Vermont Public Radio also have refused to review the evidence and report on it also. VTDigger and others falsely claim to doggedly pursue the truth, when the reality is they selectively report the news despite the fact that the Retreat criminal probe was of longer duration than Jay Peak.
The State of Vermont has covered up the Retreat's malfeasance and the good news is after 8 years I am making progress with other media and I don't need VTDigger, Seven Days or VPR to report on the Retreat anymore.
Vermonters should ask themselves, why are alleged reputable news organizations passing up reporting on a decade of fraud at The Brattleboro Retreat?
Posted by
Thomas Joseph
on 03/09/2019 at 2:38 PM
Re: “Feds Say Burlington Pot Shop Owner Possessed Guns, Sold to Minors”
U.S. Attorney Nolan comes out of her bunker to take down a local pot operation and the public is supposed to feel safe? Meanwhile, Ms. Nolan has had direct evidence that hundreds of psychiatric patients were robbed at the Brattleboro Retreat as patients were denied refunds of credit balances spanning a decade but remains silent. Private payers lost a small fortune also (millions) but the state and federal governments have tried to pass the Retreat fraud off as just a Medicaid fraud. Nope, the Retreat double billed and embezzled from virtually everyone the hospital did business with as the reversal transaction reports in law enforcement's possession confirm, the Retreat was pocketing overpayments' for a decade using a devious manipulation of their accounting system. Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan is covering up wholesale fraud as he has never explained away the vast evidence I gave both the state and federal governments including handwritten admissions on many remittance documents where Retreat staff were admitting receipt of amounts they were not entitled to. Ms. Nolan came into office falsely claiming she would prosecute "crippling" frauds. So far, she hasn't prosecuted any crippling frauds, but has worked hard to cover up frauds by declining to prosecute some of Vermont's more prominent ones including at Jay Peak and The Brattleboro Retreat.
Posted by
Thomas Joseph
on 01/31/2019 at 3:37 PM
Re: “Vermont Officials Stifle Release of Documents by Former Employee”
Welcome to Vermont! Penelope is spot on. As the federal whistle-blower in The Brattleboro Retreat matter, there is no transparency anywhere in or outside of state government. Everywhere you look, state officials or the Attorney General's Office are claiming some form of "immunity" or concluding a 3-year fraud probe at the Retreat without providing the public any specificity. You won't get transparency from Governor Scott either. The Governor's Office was sent some evidence in the Retreat matter including examples of double billing and an Excel file that contained over 1,000+ mental health patients who had not received refunds of credit balances that in some cases were a decade or ten years old.
After nearly 8 long years chasing historic crooks I would encourage all Vermonters who discover malfeasance to look the other way if you find yourself in a similar position. It's just not worth it. The state and federal governments do nothing to protect your rights and often screw the whistle-blower out of any recovery.
Posted by
Thomas Joseph
on 12/02/2018 at 7:27 PM
Re: “A VTDigger Legal Fight Reveals That Key EB-5 Docs Are Missing”
An excellent piece. Anne Galloway and VTDigger deserve high praise for pursuing the public records issue. In a state with virtually no transparency, it's vital the public get the facts.
I've had a unique position the last ten years having dealt with many of our state officials in the Brattleboro Retreat fraud matter. The AG is also covering up the findings of his offices work in the nearly 3 year fraud probe.
Bottom line; citizens cannot trust our elected officials, period. AG Donovan, Auditor Hoffer and Governor Phil Scott have possession of vast amounts of evidence including troves of double billing documents evidencing wholesale fraud. Speaker Mitzi Johnson, Lt. Governor David Zuckerman and Senate Pro Tem Tim Ashe also have similar representative samples of the Retreat's many years of double billing but remain silent and are violating their oaths of office every day they continue that silence.
While Digger and others deserve praise for their work, they are also collectively responsible for helping the political establishment cover up wholesale fraud by their lack of reportage and digging as it relates to the Brattleboro Retreat - - and that, only harms the public's right to know.
The common theme across all of Vermont's dirty laundry is patent dishonesty together with egregious violations of the public trust by numerous public officials.