Subject: AIDS Fraud Victim Testifies Before Congress on Tuesday
From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 9 Jul 2000 12:12:56 EDT

For Immediate Release
July 9, 2000

Contact: Wayne Turner  
P: (202) 547-9404
E: [email-masked]
I:  www.actupdc.org

           AIDS FRAUD VICTIM TO TESTIFY BEFORE CONGRESS

Washington, DC -- A leading AIDS activist who founded a group of patients 
surviving a $2.2 million embezzlement scandal at the San Juan AIDS Institute, 
has been invited to testify at a Congressional hearing on federal AIDS 
programs.  

Jose F. Colon, co-founder of Pacientes de SIDA Pro Politica Sana (AIDS 
Patients for Sane Policies), will appear before the House of Representatives 
Subcommittee on Health and Environment on Tuesday, July 11, at 10:00 am, in 
room 2123 Rayburn House Office building.

The hearing will focus on the Ryan White CARE Act (H.R. 4807), a $1.6 billion 
dollar federal program designed to provide medical care and related services 
to low-income people living with HIV and AIDS.  The CARE Act, now due for its 
second, five year reauthorization, has been marred by a growing number of 
funding abuses and scandals.

In Puerto Rico, top elected officials have been implicated, including 
Governor Pedro Rosello, after investigations revealed more than $2.2 million 
in AIDS funds were diverted from patient care, and spent on luxury cars, 
maids, and political campaigns.  Five administrators have been convicted, and 
seven more pleaded guilty in the ongoing criminal probe.

"The San Juan AIDS Institute scandal is tragically not an isolated incident," 
comments Wayne Turner of the AIDS advocacy and protest group ACT UP/DC. 
"Funding abuses have long been the dirty little secret within the industry of 
AIDS service providers.  Now it's up to Congress to clean house."

AIDS activists have been demanding greater accountability from federal AIDS 
programs as reported abuses mount.  

The FBI is probing an AIDS clinic in Dallas after local auditors revealed 
tens of thousands of Ryan White funds were spent on shopping sprees to 
Neiman-Marcus, and calls to psychic phone lines.  A bookkeeper pleaded guilty 
in Orlando Florida to embezzling $500,000 for trips to DisneyWorld.  Los 
Angeles County auditors discovered millions in AIDS housing money, unspent 
and hidden in a back account.

Mr. Colon will urge Congress to strengthen oversight, and include 
accountability measures in the Ryan White CARE Act such as random federal 
audits of AIDS services providers, increased patient participation in the 
planning process, and the review of inflated salaries for some AIDS 
administrators.

"We must work to ensure that AIDS funding actually goes to help patients," 
Colon states from San Juan.  His group, Pacientes de SIDA Pro Politica Sana, 
maintained court house vigils during the recent fraud trials in Puerto Rico, 
highlighting the victims who died as a result of the scandal, including 
Colon's partner of seventeen years. "What happened to us must never be 
repeated."

For more information, or to arrange interviews with Mr. Colon, contact:  
ACT UP/DC at (202) 547-9404. And visit www.actupdc.org for background about 
AIDS fraud.

In San Juan, the Pacientes de SIDA Pro Politica Sana can be contacted at 
(787) 293-1155. Their web address is www.geocities.com/aidsanepolicies.

   #     #     #

=========================           

Michael Petrelis
 <A HREF="http://www.aids-statistics.com/">Welcome to AIDS-STATISTICS</A>
www.AIDS-statistics.com 
2215-R Market Street, #413
San Francisco, CA 94114