In a key recognition of the prosecutorial authority of the state attorney general, a Rochester appellate panel has upheld a state prosecution for Medicare fraud arising from a Medicaid investigation.
The Appellate Division, Fourth Department, held last week that a state Executive Law provision allowing the attorney general to prosecute crimes "arising out of" an existing prosecution permitted the state to extend an investigation of Medicaid fraud into a probe of Medicare fraud. Significantly, the panel also held that the attorney general’s power to investigate fraud is not preempted by federal law.
