One of the alleged participants in am embezzlement scheme at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe is a woman currently in a relationship with a congressional candidate, according to a New Mexican report.
The Great American Insurance Company, the hospital’s insurance entity, has sued former Christus St. Vincent executive Richard Crabtree along with Loretta Mares, who is now in a relationship with Martin Chávez, the former three-term mayor of Albuquerque, N.M. He is now seeking the Democratic nomination for a Congressional seat. Mr. Chávez has said he knows nothing of the allegations against Ms. Mares and that his relationship with her began long after the alleged scheme.
Great American Insurance claims that beginning in 2002, Mr. Crabtree and Ms. Mares — who were in a relationship at the time — engaged in a scheme with other defendants by billing and collecting at least $3.2 million for hospital services that were not provided or were highly inflated. They then allegedly funneled those funds through corporations in which Ms. Mares had an ownership interest, including Net Link, World HCS, Com-Link, Information Document Management and Sanitec.
Mr. Crabtree was fired from the hospital in 2008. Ms. Mares and Mr. Chávez reportedly began their relationship in 2009.
Related Articles on Hospitals and Fraud:
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