Ben Carson profits from ties with convicted felon

Ben Carson, center, is flanked by Al Costa, right, and then Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome Bettis at a 2005 charity auction. (Andy Starnes/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)

 Breaking from the Associated Press: “Carson has maintained a business relationship with a close friend convicted of defrauding insurance companies and testified on his behalf, even as the candidate has called for such crimes to be punished harshly. Pittsburgh dentist Alfonso A. Costa pleaded guilty to a felony count of health care fraud after an FBI probe into his oral surgery practice found he had charged for procedures he never performed, according to court records. Though the crime carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison, Costa was able to avoid prison time after Carson helped petition a federal judge for leniency. That’s different from the position Carson took in 2013 as he prepared to launch his presidential campaign, saying those convicted of health care fraud should go to prison for at least a decade and be forced to forfeit ‘all of one’s personal possessions.’”

SOURCE: Washington Post Powerpost