Carson Stands by 'Best Friend' Who Committed Health Care Fraud
Carson and Al Costa have been buddies for nearly two decades. Costa serves on the board of the Carson Scholars Fund and has helped Carson with real-estate investments that netted him hundreds of thousands of dollars.
When Costa pleaded guilty, Carson urged the judge to keep him out of prison, even though he would later declare that such offenses deserved 10-year prison sentences.
Alfonso A. Costa pleaded guilty to a felony count of health care fraud after an FBI probe into his oral surgery practice found he had charged for procedures he never performed, according to court records.
"Al Costa is my best friend. Al Costa is my very best friend," Carson said in a statement on Thursday after an Associated Press report raised questions about their relationship and the apparent double standard.
"I know his heart. I am proud to call him my friend. I have always and will continue to stand by him. That is what real friends do."
The statement did not address whether Carson's views on health-care fraud changed after Costa's sentencing.
In his 2013 book "America the Beautiful," Carson said physicians who "engage in fraud" should be subject to what he called "the Saudi Arabian solution."
READ MORE TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT "the Saudi Arabian solution." http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-elect...

Ben Carson would like to stand-by a Thief, a lawbreaker, a trusted man turned criminal and a admitted crook who stole from we the people and this man, Ben Carson who wants to be a Republican Presidential hopeful is standing such a personality.
Is this all the GOP has to offer? WOW!!!