Farid Fata Gets 45 Years in Prison for Scamming Hundreds of Cancer Patients – NBC News

A Michigan oncologist who inflicted excessive and painful cancer treatments on hundreds of patients — many of whom didn’t have the disease in the first place — sobbed as he was sentenced Friday to spend what will likely be the rest of his life in prison, capping an emotional week in which a procession of victims told a federal judge how the scams had ravaged their bodies.

Farid Fata, who operated the racket from an empire of upscale clinics in the Detroit suburbs, began weeping before the punishment was even handed down.

Speaking publicly for the first time since his August 2013 arrest, Fata blamed greed and a “self-destructive” thirst for power.

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U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade of the Eastern District of Michigan called Fata’s scheme “the most serious fraud case in the history of the country.” No prior investigation, she said, included “the kind of stunning physical harm that we saw in this case.”

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In court papers, prosecutors said he scammed more than 500 patients, telling some they had cancer when they did not, giving too much or improper treatment to those who did, and persisting with painful and dangerous chemotherapy treatments who no longer needed it.

via Farid Fata Gets 45 Years in Prison for Scamming Hundreds of Cancer Patients – NBC News.

Thomas Cook given £3.5m payout over youngsters’ deaths – 10 times more than their parents – Telegraph

Travel company Thomas Cook received a payout – claimed to be as much as £3.5million – following the deaths of two children who died of carbon monoxide poisoning in Corfu – 10 times more than the compensation the youngsters’ parents each received. It comes as the company was found to have breached its duty of care at an inquest last week. Bobby Shepherd, six, and his sister Christi, seven, died from carbon monoxide poisoning in 2006 after a faulty boiler leaked deadly gas into the room where they were staying.

The Mail On Sunday has revealed legal documents show Thomas Cook went to the high court to apply for compensation from the owner of the bungalow, Louis Hotels, where it had sent its guests to stay. It applied for the costs of media advisers to help limit the damage to its reputation, refunds and compensation it paid to guests and loss of profits. The children’s mother Sharon Wood told the paper: “It seems our children’s lives are only worth a fraction of Thomas Cook’s reputation.

via Thomas Cook given £3.5m payout over youngsters’ deaths – 10 times more than their parents – Telegraph.