Change I Can Believe In: Scheniderman Edition

Now this I like:

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said he is creating a taxpayer-protection unit to target multi-state corporate tax fraud schemes, corrupt contractors and firms that rip off public pension funds.

The unit, which also will encourage whistleblowers to expose corruption, will be empowered by the state’s newly strengthened False Claims Act, which Schneiderman called “the strongest anti-fraud statute in the United States.” The revised act makes New York the only state that can bring false claims against those who commit tax fraud, Schneiderman said today at a press conference in Manhattan.

Schneiderman also will bolster his office’s Medicaid Fraud Control unit, taking advantage of a federal program that matches state investment by three-to-one. The money to expand the unit will come from recoveries, he said.

“Today’s announcement is a signal to anyone thinking of ripping off New York taxpayers,” Schneiderman said. “We will go after you with every tool we have.”

The enhanced False Claims Act, sponsored by Schneiderman when he was a state senator and approved by the Legislature last year, has a provision aimed at illegal off-shore tax shelters, he said in a statement when it passed. The provision is a first- in-the-nation state program to allow whistleblowers to go after what he called “millionaire tax cheats” that defraud the state of more than $350,000, he said last year.

Schneiderman said today the new unit also will pursue off- shore tax cheats.

If Schneiderman wants to catch off-shore tax cheats, he ought to start with an investigation of Mayor Moneybags.

Then everybody who gets listed in the next WikiLeaks document dump involving off-shore tax cheats in the Cayman Islands, which is set to come out any day now.

This is the kind of change I can believe in.

Rich, powerful, influential crooks being held accountable.