ATLANTA – Former Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine has been indicted on federal charges of conspiring to commit health-care fraud and money laundering, the Justice Department announced Friday.
According to information presented to a federal grand jury, Oxendine conspired with Dr. Jeffrey Gallups and others to submit fraudulent insurance claims for more than $2.5 million in medically unnecessary tests ordered from a lab in Texas. Gallups already has pleaded guilty to health-care fraud.
As part of the health-care fraud scheme, the lab company agreed to pay Oxendine’s insurance services business a kickback of 50% of the net profits from eligible specimens submitted by Gallups’ practice, which amounted to $260,000.
Oxendine allegedly used a portion of the kickback money to pay debts on behalf of Gallups, paying a $150,000 charitable contribution and $70,000 in attorney’s fees.
“Patients go to their health-care provider for treatment with the expectation that their treatment or test is necessary, not a scam for fraud,” U.S. Attorney Ryan Buchanan said.
“These allegations describe someone who was more motivated by personal greed than their duty to provide appropriate and necessary care to patients,” added Keri Farley, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Atlanta office. “The FBI, along with our partners, will continue to investigate health-care fraud to ensure these individuals who willingly defraud the American people are brought to justice.”
Oxendine, 60, of Duluth, was elected insurance commissioner in 1994 on the Republican ticket and served four terms.
He ran for governor in 2010 but finished fourth in the Republican primary.
Oxendine was accused of spending campaign contributions on personal items during that gubernatorial bid. The Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission resolved the longest running campaign finance case in the state’s history earlier this month, approving a $128,000 settlement agreement.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Less than six months ago, Gov. Brian Kemp announced plans for an electric vehicle manufacturing plant east of Atlanta he touted as the largest economic development project in Georgia history.
That record fell Friday as Kemp unveiled an even bigger EV facility, a Hyundai plant west of Savannah expected to create 8,100 jobs when fully built out, 600 more than the Rivian project announced in December. The project also will include a battery manufacturing facility.
“We are proud to welcome Hyundai Motor Group to Georgia as we forge an innovative future together,” Kemp said during a signing ceremony at the plant site off Interstate 16 in Bryan County. “With this announcement … we will continue working to make Georgia the premier destination for quality companies who are creating the jobs of today, tomorrow, and beyond.”
“The U.S. has always held an important place in [Hyundai Motor Group’s] global strategy,” added Euisun Chung, executive chairman of the Korean auto manufacturer. “We are excited to partner with the state of Georgia to achieve our shared goal of electrified mobility and sustainability in the U.S.”
Hyundai will invest $5.54 billion in the new plant, and non-affiliated suppliers will invest another $1 billion.
State and local economic development leaders have been working on landing Hyundai for some time. The 2,923-acre “mega-site” was purchased jointly by the state and the Savannah Harbor-Interstate 16 Corridor Joint Development Authority last year.
Kemp held initial conversations back in 2019, his first year in office, when he traveled to South Korea with top officials from the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., met with Chung and other Hyundai officials last November on a trip to South Korea.
“This multibillion-dollar opportunity for Georgia will create thousands of jobs and grow Georgia’s reputation as a world leader in automotive and clean energy manufacturing,” Ossoff said Friday.
Hyundai expects to begin construction on the new plant in January, with full production expected in the first half of 2025. Wages for the advanced manufacturing jobs the plant will create will be competitive with the local market.
In choosing Georgia, Hyundai cited speed-to-market, workforce, and the state’s ability to meet the company’s carbon neutrality standards. Additionally, Georgia is home to an existing network of Hyundai subsidiaries and suppliers.
Kemp’s second big economic development win in less than six months comes just days before the Republican governor faces former U.S. Sen. David Perdue in the GOP gubernatorial primary.
Perdue has criticized the $1.5 billion in incentives the state has committed to spend to lure Rivian to Georgia. During a recent debate, Kemp responded that the 7,500 jobs the Rivian plant is expected to create justify the level of incentives the state offered.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
Family members Helen Hines, Mary Margaret Hines Doyle, and James Harris “Hap” Hines unveil a portrait of late Georgia Supreme Court Justice Harris Hines (photo credit: Supreme Court of Georgia)
ATLANTA – The Georgia Supreme Court hosted a ceremony for the unveiling of a commemorative portrait of former Chief Justice Harris Hines on Thursday.
A quintessential Atlantan, Hines attended Midtown (formerly Grady) High School and Emory University, where he majored in political science. He graduated from Emory Law School in 1968. He then moved to Cobb County, where he lived for the rest of his life.
Hines began his judicial career when then-Gov. Jimmy Carter appointed him to the Cobb County State Court in 1974.
Hines went on to win a seat on the Cobb County Superior Court before then-Gov. Zell Miller appointed him to the Georgia Supreme Court in 1995.
Georgia-born artist Suzanne Royal painted the portrait. The portrait unveiling was originally slated to take place in spring 2020 but was postponed by COVID.
“I truly believe you caught his twinkle,” said Hines’ daughter, Mary Margaret Hines Doyle, of the portrait.
Another former Chief Justice, Harold Melton, described Hines’ “commitment and fidelity to the law,” saying his mentor was “enraptured’ by the law.
Hines also set a congenial tone on the court, Melton said.
“The legacy that continues today is a legacy of each justice being a complete justice, bringing their full thoughts, having honest opinions, and then having time together in real fellowship,” Melton said of Hines’ impact on the Supreme Court.
Melton also paid tribute to the support Hines’ widow Helen provided the justice over their long marriage.
It was Mrs. Hines who encouraged her husband to reach out to Melton after Melton was featured in the Marietta Daily Journal for his work in student government at Auburn University.
Hines took Melton out to lunch, starting a mentorship that would last for years.
“Hard work, courtesy, integrity, and kindness are the real legacy Harris leaves,” said Mrs. Hines of her late husband.
Hines served on the Supreme Court until 2018, resigning in August of that year. He was killed in a car crash a mere two months later.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Georgia’s unemployment rate held steady at 3.1% last month, equaling the all-time low set in March, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday.
Joblessness in the Peach State was five-tenths of a percentage point lower than the national rate for April of 3.6%.
Georgia added 19,000 jobs last month to reach an all-time high of 4.76 million.
Job growth was particularly strong in the transportation and trade sector, which surpassed 1 million jobs for the first time in the state’s history. More than 500,000 of those jobs were in retail trade.
“Much of that growth stems from strong consumer demand for goods and services, as seen in additional job increases in accommodation and food services and administrative and support services,” Georgia Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler said Thursday.
Initial unemployment claims were down 1,659 last month to 17,423. Over-the-year first-time jobless initial claims fell by 115,980, or 87%.
Industries with more than 10,000 job postings include health care, with 36,000 openings; manufacturing with 23,000 jobs posted; and retail trade with 18,000 openings.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
A Confederate monument in downtown McDonough was removed almost two years ago. (Credit: Henry Herald)
ATLANTA – A Civil War heritage preservation group has the right to sue Henry and Newton counties over the removal or planned removal of Confederate monuments, a lawyer for the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) told the Georgia Supreme Court Thursday.
Legislation the General Assembly passed in 2019 authorized “any person, group or legal entity” to challenge any acts in violation of the law, which prohibited the desecration or removal of historic monuments from public property.
Kyle King, representing the SCV, also cited Georgia’s Open Meetings Law, which allows citizens to sue government entities over violations without having to prove they suffered any direct harm.
“That’s essentially what’s being done here,” King said.
But the Georgia Court of Appeals didn’t see it that way when it ruled last year that the SCV lacked legal standing to sue the two counties because its members could not show removing the monuments harmed them directly.
The SCV then appealed to the state Supreme Court.
Patrick Jaugstetter, a lawyer representing Newton County, argued the Open Meetings Law should not be used as a precedent in the SCV case because the lawsuit seeks to recover damages – the costs to repair and replace a removed monument.
In lawsuits involving the Open Meetings Law, plaintiffs seek a civil penalty to enforce a “public right,” he said.
“Damages exist only to address injury,” Jaugstetter said. “These plaintiffs have not established [an injury].”
The Confederate monument in downtown McDonough was removed in July 2020 following a vote by the Henry County Commission.
It was part of a nationwide trend to remove statues honoring the Confederacy and Confederate leaders during a summer of street protests following the murder of George Floyd, a Black man from Minnesota, by a white Minneapolis police officer.
The Newton County Commission voted at about the same time to remove the Confederate monument from historic Covington Square. But it remains standing pending the outcome of the court case.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
