The foundation affiliated with billionaire businessman and former presidential candidate Ross Perot has given $1 million to the Texas-based Planned Parenthood abortion business that was found to have engaged in millions in Medicaid fraud.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced on July 24 that his office had obtained a $1.4 million settlement against Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast for Medicaid fraud, with the settlement to be split between the state of Texas, the federal government, and the whistleblower who uncovered the fraud. But that hasn’t stopped the Perot Foundation from supporting the Texas arm of Planned Parenthood with a $1 million gift.
The total settlement is actually $4.3 million – almost $3 million more than previously known — meaning the amount of fraud the Planned Parenthood abortion company engaged in was likely a higher amount than that.
The Perot Foundation announced a $1 million donation to Planned Parenthood this week, at a time when lawmakers and some charities are distancing themselves from the major provider of women’s health services.
“For nearly 100 years Planned Parenthood has helped to educate men and women regarding family planning and general family health,” Margot Perot said in a written statement through Planned Parenthood. “Our family has supported this nonprofit for many years because we are impressed with the work they do — providing birth control, scientifically-based education, breast health exams, and basic life-saving healthcare for women who cannot afford services otherwise.”
The Plano-based Perot Foundation was started by Texas businessman Ross Perot, whose family has given more than $200 million to charitable causes. The Planned Parenthood gift is undesignated, said a spokeswoman for the Texas affiliate of the organization, so the funds can be used for the organization’s general mission.
“We are thrilled that this generous gift will enable us to continue providing basic, preventive health care,” Lambrecht said. “Thanks to the generosity of The Perot Foundation and other community members, Planned Parenthood is proud to be here for the Texans who count on us, no matter what.”
Last year, a former employee of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast has filed a whistleblower’s complaint with the Attorney General of Texas and the U.S. Department of Justice. The PPGC employee alleges that the abortion business engaged in an elaborate Medicaid fraud scheme.
Karen Reynolds, who worked as a “health care assistant” from 1999 to 2009 at the Lufkin, Texas, branch of the affiliate formerly known as Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas, submitted company memos and emails to support her charge that PPGC has engaged in a systemwide scheme to bilk Medicaid, Title XX, and the Women’s Health Program of tens of millions of dollars over the course of at least a decade.
Reynolds alleges bosses trained employees to bill government agencies for medical and family planning services not rendered, for services no reasonable medical personnel would provide, and – the biggest bombshell – for abortion-related services fudged to appear as if they were not.
