"US accuses Russian diplomats of fraud" by Larry Neumeister and Tom Hays | Associated Press, December 06, 2013
NEW YORK — Dozens of current or former Russian diplomats and their spouses enjoyed luxury vacations and spent tens of thousands of dollars on concert tickets, fine clothing, and helicopter rides as they lied about their incomes to get the government to pay their health care bills with money meant for the poor, federal prosecutors said Thursday.
‘‘Diplomacy should be about extending hands, not picking pockets in the host country,’’ US Attorney Preet Bharara told a Manhattan news conference. He called it ‘‘shameful and systemic corruption.’’
The diplomats were among 49 individuals charged in a complaint unsealed in federal court in Manhattan, though no arrests were made and only 11 of the diplomats and their spouses remained in the United States. The complaint said Medicaid, a health care program for the poor, lost about $1.5 million in the scheme since 2004.
The case is unlikely to go to trial because the defendants have immunity, Bharara acknowledged.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in remarks carried by the Interfax news agency in Moscow that ‘‘we are bewildered’’ that the US government publicized the charges before speaking to the Russian government.
I'm not. It was just a cheap shot to make Russia look bad and try to divert American anger at this corrupt and worthless government.
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