The Sun interviewed two crypto experts about what cryptocurrency is, what investors should know about digital currencies, and why they can be riskier than traditional investments.

Jimi “Fitz” Fitzgerald is the host of “The Crypto Fitz Show and Podcast” where he decodes complicated financial terms. Daren Firestone is a partner at Levy Firestone Muse, where his practice focuses on representing whistleblowers in the crypto industry. Their answers have been edited for space and clarity.

Is crypto a digital stock market?

FITZ: Sort of. Stock markets are numerous and very different around the world. In the U.S. we have the Dow, S&P 500, NASDAQ, Russell 2000, and many others. Traditional stock markets are closed more hours than they are open. The crypto market is a worldwide 24/7 marketplace with all buying and selling out of the same pool of assets.

FIRESTONE: There are digital markets, called exchanges, where you can buy and sell crypto. These markets are similar to stock markets. However, the question of whether crypto is similar to stock is a matter of great controversy. Courts have decided whether cryptocurrencies are securities [and stocks are a type of security] on a case-by-case basis. Nearly every court has decided that the crypto it analyzed was a security. But the Securities and Exchange Commission is currently rethinking whether it agrees with these courts. The decision it makes will affect how crypto is regulated.

Is crypto investing risky? Why?

FITZ: Crypto investing is very volatile because of its accessibility to billions of people simultaneously around the world, yet no different than the risk of traditional finance markets that always go up and down.

FIRESTONE: Most crypto companies do not release audited financial statements. Some do not reveal the identities of their executives. Some have no home offices. Many are located in jurisdictions where there is little recourse if your money is stolen. So, it’s difficult to know what you’re investing in, and if you’re ripped off, it’s hard to get your money back. Also, cryptocurrencies are easy to create and often hyped by paid celebrities or crypto-influencers [who often don’t reveal their compensation]. That means there are a lot of unverifiable claims made by people with large followings. Finally, cryptocurrencies often have large, rapid and unpredictable price swings that are more likely to be tied to a tweet than to business fundamentals.

Why don’t you need a license to trade crypto?

FITZ: Exchanges and money service companies need licenses to trade crypto but individual retail investors do not if they are trading peer to peer.

FIRESTONE: Who qualifies as a broker-dealer under the securities laws and, therefore, must register with the SEC is another matter of great controversy that turns on whether cryptocurrencies are securities. Generally speaking, underwriters, brokers, market makers and other dealers doing business in securities in the United States must register as broker-dealers. But if a cryptocurrency is not a security, then no registration with the SEC is necessary.

Why does the value of crypto change?

FITZ: Cryptocurrencies are no different than a stock. Many variables affect the price including market cap, number of tokens [or digital currency] issued, what the utility is of the crypto [how easily you can trade the currency], is there a buzz about the token and what personnel are behind the project. Remember, the only truly decentralized [meaning not owned by a company but instead by users] crypto commodity is bitcoin with a capped supply of 21 million with no company or employees. Just millions of computer nodes around the world running the immutable, cross border, peer-to-peer network.

FIRESTONE: The value of crypto, like anything else, is equal to what someone will pay for it. In general, people pay more for crypto when they think they will be able to sell it at an even higher price. Many factors enter into that determination, including market trends, world events, interest rates, endorsements, strategic partnership announcements, etc. This is true for stocks as well. The main difference is that the price of a stock is typically somewhat related to the company’s expected future earnings. In crypto, that is rarely the case.

Can you trace where crypto investments go?

FITZ: Yes. Each transaction on a blockchain has a unique algorithm identifier of letters and numerals. An individual has a send and receive key unique to that person [similar to a digital password] and the only way to connect the private keys to that person is if their private key has been revealed.

FIRESTONE: It is very difficult to trace crypto, especially when someone wants to cover their crypto tracks. To trace, you need to know how to use often complicated or expensive crypto tracing software. Even if you are a crackerjack tracer, criminals who want to hide their tracks have numerous tricks at their disposal to throw you off, including, mixers, security enhanced tokens, chain-hoping, over-the-counter transactions, using non-Know Your Customer exchanges [which are required to verify the identity of customers’ financial companies or exchanges], and so on. There’s a reason why crypto is the preferred currency of money launderers, sanctions evaders, cybercriminals, corrupt politicians and so many other criminals: It’s difficult to follow the money.

Have a news tip? Contact Riley Gutiérrez McDermid at rmcdermid@baltsun.com, 443-571-6987 or on X as @rileymcd.

Justin Rieger tried a variety of cryptocurrencies throughout 2023, but emptied most of the wallets The Sun found into bitcoin and ethereum wallets by 2024. During that time, investors he had promised to make rich began to suspect that the Carroll County school coach and Christian youth group volunteer was running a massive and illegal investment scheme.

The Sun also found three different bank accounts Rieger directed investors to deposit money into.

One cryptocurrency wallet The Sun found retained nearly $24,000 in cash. At least one of the wallets linked to Rieger was associated with a phishing scam, and his cryptocurrency footprint could be linked to two more scams involving digital currencies, according to a cryptocurrency analyst who reviewed Rieger’s trail at The Sun’s request.

Investors The Sun spoke with accused Rieger of running a widespread “Ponzi scheme,” in which he paid “returns” to early investors using funds from new investors, generating little — if any — actual income. The Sun’s investigation has thus far uncovered investors in six states who say they were defrauded.

Investors from Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania provided bank, Venmo, PayPal and cryptocurrency transactions to The Sun for review and verification of their investments with Rieger. Together, they accounted for at least $400,000 invested with him; some began investing with him when he was just 18. They say other investors account for millions more invested with Rieger.

The Sun reviewed financial records, contracts, emails and text messages to independently verify investors’ involvement with Rieger.

While some did get back the money they put in, far more lost all or the vast majority of the funds they gave Rieger. They fear it may be gone forever.

The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Feb. 11 that Rieger is the focus of a financial fraud investigation as well as a child sex abuse investigation. However, none of the abuse took place in the school system, Carroll County Sheriff’s Office Major David Stem said.

The sex abuse investigation will close due to Rieger’s death. The financial fraud investigation is ongoing and detectives are still gathering evidence, Stem said. He asked anyone who believed themselves defrauded by Rieger to contact Det. Sean O’Meara at the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office.

Investors The Sun spoke with said the loss of their funds was devastating. In some cases, it was the only money they had saved.

“I put off things I could have done with that money,” said Mike Arbogast, a West Virginia-based small business owner who invested with Rieger. “Instead, I was trying to do something smart for our future.

“Now, I think about all the opportunity that I’ve lost,” he said. “The years I spent scrimping and saving and being frugal. It’s just gone.”

‘Where is the rest of it?’

The $23,000 The Sun found sitting in one of Rieger’s wallets is “a drop in the bucket,” Arbogast said. “Where’s the rest of it?”

Arbogast and his wife come from working-class families, he said. “We don’t have generational wealth or money coming out of our ears.”

Arbogast invested roughly $110,000 with Rieger, starting with a $50,000 investment in April 2023, according to documentation he provided for review. Arbogast had never invested with day traders before, and said he believed Rieger was trading on the stock market on his behalf — but he knew that a friend had seen big returns, and he hoped he would, too.

“I’d never written a check that big before,” Arbogast said.

Two days later, Rieger posted on Facebook about his brand-new truck — one with custom work done at a local car dealer known for selling custom cars and trucks, Krietz Auto.

Arbogast said he worried that he had just been taken for a ride — but his fears were quelled when two weeks later, Rieger texted Arbogast, saying he’d “just passed $1,000 in profit.” Arbogast provided screenshots and a screen recording of texts between the two for review.

“Definitely a slower start than I wanted,” Rieger prefaced the text with.

Two weeks later, Rieger texted Arbogast again.

“Wanted to update you that your balance is $54,210.12.”

“Thanks for the update, Justin!” Arbogast texted back. “Sounds like you’re making some good progress.”

Four weeks later, Rieger texted Arbogast again.

“Hey Mike!” He wrote. “Just crossed the $60,000 mark today!”

Rieger routinely pressured Arbogast to invest more and more with him, text messages between the two show. Every few weeks, Rieger would text Arbogast, asking him to set up monthly investments through Venmo.

“With every update he gave, he was like … ‘this would be a really great time if you’ve got more money to dump in.’”

Arbogast tried sending Rieger a few thousand dollars through Venmo, but ultimately, decided against doing that regularly, texts show. Instead, Arbogast gave him another large chunk of money in the fall of 2023 — $40,000, per his bank statements.

Arbogast never tried to withdraw the money he invested with Rieger, impressed, he said, by the high returns Rieger promised: 20% in a month, an astonishingly high percentage by any standard.

Noted Ponzi scheme mastermind Bernie Madoff guaranteed investors returns on the S&P 500 of 10-20% a year, with an average return of 16.3%, Madoff told The Wall Street Journal in 1992.

In contrast, the average return investors can expect to see on blue-chip stocks is between 7% and 10%.

When Arbogast heard Rieger had died by suicide, he said his first thought was how terrible this was, what a tragedy.

But soon, he realized he didn’t know how to access his money. Arbogast called Interactive Brokerage, the firm he believed Rieger was investing through, only to learn that Rieger was not a broker with them, and did not have an account under his name or Arbogast’s name.

Interactive Brokers declined to comment on the record in response to The Sun asking if Rieger was or had been associated with their brokerage, and if so, how his investors could recover their funds.

Arbogast doesn’t know where the $110,000 he invested with Rieger is, he said, and he doesn’t know if, or how, he’ll get it back.

Arbogast joined a private Facebook group created by and for people who had invested with Rieger and were looking for their money. He says 33 people are members of the group, and many say they invested more than $100,000 with Rieger.

Joanna Floros, who also invested $25,000 with Rieger, according to receipts she provided to The Sun, had one question.

“Is the money frozen?” she asked, wondering if it could be used to make some investors whole again.

Expert: Rieger’s transactions rife with ‘hallmarks of crypto scams’

Investors who sent money to Rieger’s multiple cryptocurrency wallets provided a look into some of Rieger’s online trading activities, in multiple cryptocurrencies including ethereum and bitcoin. While some wallets logged transactions in U.S. dollars, others logged them in different currencies or blocks, making it impossible to say how much Rieger kept in these wallets at any given time.

The Sun found that at least one wallet Rieger directed investors to transfer money to had logged one trade as early as 2009, though it began seeing more frequent and higher-amount trades in 2016.

It is unclear if Rieger or an adult opened the wallet on his behalf, as he would have been 7 years old at the time of its creation, yet it is evident he was using it regularly by 2021.

Rieger’s wallets were mostly dormant after receiving deposits, and largely emptied out. His bitcoin wallet The Sun found with more than $23,815.09 was still trading in small amounts as recently as Feb. 17, likely an “autotrade” Rieger set up before his death.

The Sun provided Rieger’s wallet and account numbers to France-based cryptocurrency analyst and digital currency expert Courage Kimber for analysis.

Kimber, a former management consultant, federal contractor and project manager for Fortune 500 companies, is a Web3 consultant, a decentralized version of the internet, and regularly privately consults as a cryptocurrency analyst and global strategist.

After reviewing the account numbers of crypto wallets sent to her, Kimber told The Sun one of the transactions undertaken on cryptocurrency blockchain Polygon is clearly associated with a phishing scam and two others may also be suspect.

Kimber analyzed records collected by reporters at the request of The Sun and linked to investor transactions with Rieger without knowing to whom the wallets belonged.

Kimber said that when other cryptocurrency users interacted with the suspicious string of transactions, “their wallets were drained.” It is unclear if those users were Rieger’s local investors or other, unknown online traders.

“The Polygon transaction … was associated with a phishing scam. It appears to be linked to an untrustworthy project token,” Kimber said.

“There was a scam going around with the airdropping of NFTs and once users interacted with it their wallets were drained,” she said. “There was also a popular scam with USDC-NFT Voucher scam, where users would receive a NFT voucher and be directed to a website to claim the NFT voucher and it would request private key details to gain access to the user’s wallet. The other scam was the fake USDC swap.”

Smart contracts are digital contracts that work automatically once the terms of the contract are met, while fake tokens trick users into handing over their financial details so scammers can empty their digital wallets.

The wallets she reviewed also engaged in trading activity that appeared to swap U.S. stable coins for assets with no value, Kimber found.

Cryptocurrency investment schemes rife with abuse

Experts said that for regular investors, much of the cryptocurrency world can be confusing or opaque, making it ripe for scams and abuse.

“This really goes back to the combination of the hype and confusion around cryptocurrency as a whole,” said Mason Wilder, research director of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

While it is widely known that people have gotten rich from trading in cryptocurrency, most don’t understand the market and assume it is too difficult for them to learn about, Wilder added. That, combined with the stereotype that young people have figured out how to profit off this market, he said, can be a deadly combination.

“With the lack of regulation in crypto and digital asset space it opens the door for these kinds of scams,” he said.

Rieger’s investment scheme had a lot of hallmarks similar to a classic Ponzi scheme, Wilder said: It spread through word of mouth or preexisting relationships; Rieger told investors they had large, fast returns on income; he pressured them to invest more with him or keep him connected to other investors; and there was a lack of transparency around how he selected, managed or traded investments

These signs, as well as complicated investments can send up red flags for a savvy investor, Wilder said.

“A lot of times the industry or field the investments are centered around are complicated fields or investment strategies because people tend to ask fewer questions when it’s something they just assume goes over their head,” he said. “Cryptocurrency is good for that. Fraudsters love complicated context.”

“Most broker-dealers and investment advisors [will] qualify their investors by asking some information about annual income or minimum amount held in savings. It didn’t seem like there was any qualification of investors; he’d just take anybody’s money,” Wilder said.

He pointed out that Reiger’s contracts were suspicious, as well, written up as they were as simple Microsoft Word documents.

“The fact that he didn’t seem to have any certification or licensing is concerning, too.”

Kate Cimini is the investigative editor with The Baltimore Sun. Contact her at 443-842-2621 or kcimini@baltsun.com.

Justin Rieger, 22, has been accused by investors across at least six states of defrauding them. The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office confirmed this week that Rieger is the focus of a financial fraud investigation as well as a child sex abuse investigation.

The sex abuse investigation will close due to Rieger’s death. However, the financial fraud investigation remains open.

“We have received information that leads us to believe that Mr. Rieger may have been involved in some sort of fraud involving personal finances,” said Carroll County Sheriff’s Office Major David Stem in an email. “We are continuing to investigate this to determine if any crimes have been committed, if Mr. Rieger was involved in an investment scheme, and if so, to what extent.”

Rieger invested money on other peoples’ behalf in at least six states, The Sun confirmed Wednesday. He also worked as a substitute teacher with Carroll County Public Schools, as well as a volunteer leader with Christian organization Young Life. He was placed on leave from both following an accusation levied against him in early January.

It is not clear what the allegation against him was.

However, some who invested with Rieger told The Sun he ran “a Ponzi scheme,” defrauding them and many others.

Five people interviewed by The Sun invested at least $300,000 with Rieger; they believe many others invested even more. While some did get back the money they put in, far more lost the vast majority of the money they gave Rieger. They fear it may be gone forever.

The Sun reviewed contracts, deposits and withdrawals, emails and text messages between them and Rieger in order to verify their investments.

Several who invested with Rieger said they specifically invested with him in cryptocurrency.

One investor, Joana Floros, provided the identifying numbers of cryptocurrency wallets she transferred her money into, which The Sun was able to use to review Rieger’s activity on the crypto registry Blockchain.

Investors who sent money to Rieger’s multiple crypto wallets provided a look into some of Rieger’s online trading activities, in multiple cryptocurrencies including ethereum and bitcoin.

The Sun examined six cryptocurrency transactions between investors and Rieger to specify blockchain and wallet destinations, but can only trace the contents of two of those wallets, which contained ethereum and bitcoin. The Sun found that Rieger had a cryptocurrency account open since 2009, though he began trading more frequently and in higher amounts in 2016.

The Sun found he had emptied a crypto wallet as recently as November 2024. One trade was made in a bitcoin wallet on Feb. 12, more than a week after his death. It may have been an automated transaction.

Some currencies Rieger told investors he was trading in, but which could not be verified Thursday, include polkadot, solana, questcoin, zombie and other alternative currencies that rapidly gained and lost value.

Such currencies are sometimes popular with day traders looking to earn money on sharp swings in value but are largely worth far less than an American penny.

“We are feverishly working to find accounts, where money may be stored, credit cards and things like that,” said Stem. “We’re still sorting through tons of financial avenues and records and uncovering things as we go along.”

Stem urged people who believed themselves to have been defrauded by Rieger to provide officers with documents, receipts or information on cryptocurrency wallets they sent money to.

“Don’t be embarrassed to come forward,” Stem said. “We want to give you the information to recover any monies you may have lost.”

It is unclear if Rieger was the sole person with access to the password to the cryptocurrency accounts The Sun examined. Without an account password, there is no way to access such accounts again.

The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office plans to continue the financial fraud investigation in the hopes of flushing out more potential victims and possibly even “making them whole again.”

Rieger’s wife, Anne Rieger, née Saunders, had publicly posted in support of her husband in the weeks before his death. In the posts, she shamed the community she said abandoned him.

“I long for the day when we can both freely speak up about what has happened,” she wrote. “No weapon formed against us shall prosper.”

Anne Rieger did not respond to questions about allegations of financial fraud carried out by Rieger sent this week.

Attorney Nicholas R. McDaniels emailed The Sun on her behalf.

“Anne remains devastated by the recent and unexpected death of her husband, and we are respectfully requesting that she be afforded privacy,” McDaniels wrote. “At this time, however, Anne is actively working with the authorities to make sense of this tragedy and, as such, we are unable to offer any further comment.”

Got a tip? Contact investigative editor Kate Cimini at 443-842-2621 or kcimini@baltsun.com.

Locally active in philanthropy, both via individual donations and through the Mangione Family Foundation, the Mangiones gave millions to Baltimore’s various institutions and nonprofits, including more than $1 million to the Greater Baltimore Medical Center and more to the American Citizens for Italian Matters, Baltimore Opera Company and others. Loyola University, which counts Mangione alumni among their ranks, has an aquatic center named after the family, and GBMC previously had a high-risk obstetrics unit, since closed, that bore their name.

Their story is a uniquely American one: The Mangiones went from deep poverty to massive wealth in just three generations, with one cousin, Nino Mangione, now a Republican member of the Maryland House of Delegates.

Despite an eventually deep portfolio of development properties and government contracting for 20 years, the family patriarch, Nicholas Mangione Sr., said he still faced prejudice for his background when he attempted to buy land to build the Turf Valley Golf and Country Club, now the Turf Valley Resort, in Ellicott City.

“Tongues started wagging,” Mangione told The Baltimore Sun in 1995. “People [were] wondering where an unknown Italian could get the money for a $5 million project. In those days, there were no Italians in real visible positions [in Howard County].”

Mangione said the implication was that he must have backing from the mob, so he countered sharply.

“People thought I needed money from the Mafia to buy this place. They asked me what family I belonged to,” he said. “I told them, ‘I belong to the Mangione family. The Mangione family of Baltimore County.’”

The family is now defending its name again. On Monday, members released a statement on social media expressing dismay at Luigi Mangione’s arrest, saying they were stunned by the news.

“We only know what we have read in the media. Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest. We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved,” the family wrote. “We are devastated by this news.”

The family did not respond to a request for comment via a family attorney or their foundation.

From poverty to philanthropic elite

How they went from the Depression-era streets of the city’s Little Italy to its philanthropic elite is straight out of a Horatio Alger novel.

Nicholas Sr. was born in Baltimore’s Little Italy, and spent his first eight years in a one-room apartment with an outdoor privy, according to a 2008 Sun article. He earlier told The Sun his Italian immigrant father, Louis, could neither read nor write, and worked in the city water department until he died of pneumonia.

Today, the Mangione family is a sprawling one, with a business empire to match: Nicholas Sr., made the beginning of the family’s fortunes in the post-World War II years as a bricklayer and contractor.

He built up his business holdings throughout the following decades, with his wife, Mary, growing their family to include five sons, five daughters, and 37 grandchildren, including Luigi.

The family’s holdings range from construction to commercial real estate to local radio station WCBM-AM and a majority stake in Lorien Health Services, which operates multiple assisted living facilities in Maryland.

Aside from the Turf Valley Resort, with its 10,000-square-foot ballroom, 220-room hotel, and 85-seat amphitheater, the Mangiones also own the Hayfields Country Club in Cockeysville and a slew of companies registered in Maryland.

Its family foundation had net assets of $4.4M as of its 2022 tax filing, the most recent on record. The Mangione Family Foundation’s stated focus is supporting, “Organizations for any of the following purposes: religious, educational, charitable, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, fostering national or international amateur sports competition (as long as it doesn’t provide athletic facilities or equipment), or the prevention of cruelty to children or animals.”

Politically active across the aisle

Politically, the Mangiones have been active across the aisle.

Luigi Mangione’s parents, Louis and Kathleen Mangione donated $35,935 to state and local politicians from 2005 through 2023, according to data from the State Board of Elections. Half went to Nino Mangione’s campaign account for his state delegate races from 2018 through 2023.

Other donations went to Howard County executives Calvin Ball and Ken Ulman, both Democrats, and Allan Kittleman, a Republican, along with additional high-profile candidates of both parties, including former Govs. Martin O’Malley and Robert L. Ehrlich, and former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon.

Large family

The immense number of Mangiones also was briefly confusing for Baltimoreans on Monday.

Aside from Nicholas Sr. and Mary Mangione’s 10 children and 37 grandchildren, city counts at least two other Mangione families, who were briefly inundated with phone calls from the media and queries from former schoolmates and acquaintances.

One of Luigi Mangione’s two sisters is a physician at the University of Texas Southwestern, according to her LinkedIn profile. Another sister is a visual artist. Neither sister responded to requests for comment.

His mother, Kathleen, comes from a family that owns a funeral home, the Charles S. Zannino Funeral Home in Highlandtown, the Baltimore Fishbowl reported, and now runs a travel agency, KZM Boutique Travel, which had removed its website as of Tuesday evening. His father, Louis was groomed to help take over the family’s business empire, according to a 2003 Washington Post article.

Have a news tip? Contact Riley Gutierrez McDermid at rmcdermid@baltsun.com or Frank Gluck at fgluck@baltsun.com.

For days, social media has been peppered with praise for a suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City, with some calling the still unnamed shooter “a national hero.”

“On TikTok, people performed ballads dedicated to whomever the shooter was. On Bluesky, they marveled over his ebike escape and the backpack found in Central Park full of Monopoly money that allegedly belonged to him,” Wired reports. “There was a look-alike contest held in New York City. On Spotify, there were dedicated playlists. Fanfic sprang up on Archive of Our Own.”

By Tuesday morning, just hours after prosecutors filed murder charges against former Towson resident and Gilman School valedictorian Luigi Nicholas Mangione, 26, thousands of Baltimore commuters were greeted along southbound Interstate 83 by a handmade banner that protested U.S. health care policy.

The sign, which hung from an overpass just south of Cold Spring Lane, read, “Deny Defend Depose” — words found on the ammunition used to gun down Thompson last week — followed by “Health Care 4 All.”

It’s part of the bitter messaging that’s been bubbling up amid debate about health care in America since the CEO attack that captured the country’s attention.

“Awful news about that murder but at least it’s fueling a discourse on social media that will surely change a lot of minds on health care policy,” one post on X read.

The banner along the Jones Falls Expressway makes reference to a strategy by large insurance companies to avoid paying claims. It also was similar to the title of a 2010 book critical of the health insurance industry, “Delay, Deny, Defend: Why insurance companies don’t pay claims, and what you can do about it.”

How Luigi Mangione became a talking point

Since Mangione was arrested at an Altoona, Pennsylvania, McDonald’s Monday morning, frustration with the health insurance industry has seeped out on social media and elsewhere in society. And so has backing for Mangione.

On platforms such as X, Instagram, TikTok and Reddit, #freeLuigiMangione gained traction on Tuesday. Some comments have been alarming in their apparent justification of the killing.

“Thoughts and prayers to the family of billionaire guy who got rich off of hardworking Americans’ insurance premiums and then signed their death warrants instead of giving them the peace of mind they paid for,” one post read.

Another blamed the victim for murdering “millions of people nationwide.”

As UnitedHealthcare CEO, Thompson was the face of the nation’s fourth-largest health insurance company by revenue in 2024.

Thompson was repeatedly named and pictured on television after a Senate report released in October found that Medicare Advantage patients’ requests were denied frequently by United. The company said the report was flawed.

“The report sharply criticizes the country’s three largest Medicare Advantage insurers — UnitedHealthcare, Humana and CVS — for allegedly limiting access to post-acute care to maximize profits,” Healthcare Dive reported at the time.

“The insurers leveraged algorithmic tools to sharply increase claims denials for MA beneficiaries between 2019 and 2022, according to the report published … by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations,” the outlet said. “They most often denied coverage to patients in nursing homes, inpatient rehab hospitals and long-term hospitals, the report found.”

Thompson also made headlines in May when he was sued for alleged fraud and illegal insider trading by the Hollywood Firefighters’ Pension Fund, who claimed Thompson, former CEO Andrew Witty and Executive Chairman Stephen Hemsley colluded to hide a US Justice Department antitrust investigation and pump up its stock price ahead of a merger with Change Healthcare.

Thompson had vigorously denied any involvement in that activity, but his estranged wife, Paulette Thompson, made a statement to media last week that he had mentioned receiving threats.

Pennsylvania police begin to receive backlash

Later on Tuesday, Altoona police said they were investigating threats made against the department and local citizens who were involved in Mangione’s arrest, according to a report by WTAJ.

“This is clearly a very polarized case,” Derek Swope, deputy chief of the Altoona Police Department, said. “We have received some threats against our officers and building here. We’ve started investigating some threats here against some citizens in our community.”

Some  reportedly tried to raise money for Mangione’s defense on GoFundMe, but the platform removed such attempts.

“GoFundMe’s Terms of Service prohibit fundraisers for the legal defense of violent crimes,” a GoFundMe spokesperson said in an email. “The fundraisers have been removed from our platform and all donors have been refunded.”

Mario Macis, a professor of economics at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School and core faculty at the Hopkins Business of Health Initiative, said research he has worked on this year and last shows a deep mistrust of private health insurers and pharmaceutical companies. Trust of doctors, nurses and even hospitals is higher, he said.

Causing the mistrust is a perception that insurance companies are motivated not by the best interests of their patients but by the need to make money, leading them to deny claims, Macis said.

“It’s a tragedy, what happened, and important to understand the context,”  he said.

Insurers deny about 10% to 20% of claims each year, he said, “but if you are one of those families who have a medical claim denied, it can mean financial ruin. We should take this very seriously.

“Even before this shocking incident that happened, there has been a need for more transparency on the part of insurance companies, how they process claims and what the rules are for denying claims,” Macis said.

Critics of American health care companies counter that UnitedHealthcare is one of the 10 largest companies in the world, treating 50 million people and with a revenue of $281 billion last year and a market capitalization of around $520 billion. Expecting corporate executives to be prepared to confront the public became a popular theme on social media Monday and Tuesday, with many users calling Mangione a “hero.”

What to do if you are denied insurance coverage

But Maryland residents should not feel that they’ve hit a dead end when struggling with insurance and claim problems, said Vincent DeMarco, president of Maryland Health Care For All. Under state law, a claim can not be denied because of cost but can be denied if found not medically necessary. Under a change passed during the last legislative session, carriers must justify denials and provide doctors’ justification.

And two state agencies will go to bat for health insurance consumers, including the Insurance Division, led by the acting insurance commissioner, and the Health Education Advocacy Unit in the Maryland Attorney General’s office.

“Certainly there’s always been frustration when health claims are denied,” DeMarco said. “And we hear that loud and clear. But a lot of Marylanders don’t know that these resources are there.”

Efforts are being made to reduce the price of high-cost prescription drugs as well, he said.

“The fact is that health care costs are high, and one reason is because of exorbitantly high prescription drug costs,” he said.

A 2019 law sought to make high-cost drugs more affordable in state and local government plans. DeMarco said Health Care for All is pushing to expand that affordability to the larger market in the upcoming session.

Sun reporter Todd Karpovich contributed to this story. Have a news tip? Contact Lorraine Mirabella at lmirabella@baltsun.com, (410) 332-6672 and @lmirabella on X, or Riley Gutiérrez McDermid at rmcdermid@baltsun.com and (443) 571-6987.

Together, they might make for one of the nation’s tensest Thanksgivings yet — or you could consider eating some psychedelic mushrooms to up your overall sense of well-being and sail right through it, two advocates told The Baltimore Sun.

The legality of doing that in Maryland saw a major boost forward this year when Gov. Wes Moore signed Maryland Senate Bill 1009 into law, enacting the Task Force on Responsible Use of Natural Psychedelic Substances, which will look at how to enact a legal framework for introducing sales of psychedelics into the state.

“The Task Force will study naturally derived substances such as psilocybin, psilocin, dimethyltryptamine, and mescaline and is tasked with making recommendations on use, permitting, education and safety, access to treatment, and regulated support to enable equitable and affordable access to psychedelic substances,” health care provider Healthesystems said.

How Marylanders respond to legalized psychedelics is yet to be determined. But two industry experts told The Sun that in places where mushrooms are legal, they‘re an excellent fit for creating less stressful holidays.

Gary Logan, and Robert Grover, are founders of The Journeymen Collective, an alternative wellness collective that conducts guided retreats for clients who use psilocybin.

Conducted in the mountains outside of Vancouver, Canada, Logan and Grover say that taking “magic” mushrooms is a logical choice for stressed-out Americans looking for ways to make an already strained Thanksgiving a much calmer, thankful affair.

“It can open up a greater perspective to more easily recognize the blessings we’ve been given,” Logan said. “There is often a new appreciation for personal and professional relationships.”

That America has recently been through what one political analyst told The Sun was a “painful slog of an election season” is in no doubt.

With voters almost as closely divided as they were in 2016, and a Democratic administration flipping back to a Republican administration bolstered by majorities in both houses of Congress, political scientists said they are concerned about how civil this year’s national gathering may be.

Flavio Hickel Jr., assistant professor of American Politics at Washington College, said that while it depends on the individual group’s personal and political dynamics, the stress and worry that permeated much of the election could now condense into one super feud in families that had members who voted different ways.

Hickel said even single-party voting families may find it hard to stay civil on Thanksgiving.

“In general, yes, I expect Thanksgivings to be more tense this year. It was a very contested election,” Hickel said.

“Even in a group where everyone is a Democrat, discussions of why Democrats lost can invoke strong feelings and breed tension, let alone the strong feelings and tensions that could emerge if Democrats and Republicans discuss the election results and future around the dinner table,” he said.

Logan, the psychedelic guide and founder, said that while he wouldn’t advise actually eating mushrooms at the meal, the properties that come along with this type of plant-based substance are ideal for defusing confrontations.

“While it certainly would be interesting to mix in the mashed potatoes at the Thanksgiving table, we wouldn’t advise that,” Logan said.

He said that for Marylanders, looking into guided experiences might be the first step toward having an even better holiday season in 2025.

“So, if this year you started looking into a guided retreat now, by next time you sat down at the Thanksgiving table you may have an entirely different outlook on the people around it, yourself, and the holiday,” he said.

Matt McDermott, president of Humble & Wallop, a strategy and creative firm in Hampden, said that in Baltimore, as in anywhere else in the U.S., this is a particularly delicate year for avoiding or confronting politics at gatherings like Thanksgiving.

As these issues have become more personal to people, they are more likely to see a debate centered around them, he said.

“The fear that this administration has a mandate that could lead to the greatest assault on human rights since Jim Crow. Women’s rights,” McDermott said about the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.

“Trans rights. Immigrant rights. We’re not talking about economic policy or defense budgets,” he said. “We’re talking about a right to exist, [like] life, liberty, happiness. As a husband of a strong, successful woman and a father of a trans teen, I couldn’t shrug off a dinner-table hot take that argues against their rights.”

Hickel gave the following tips for Baltimoreans across all political backgrounds for Thanksgiving.

• One solution is to simply not talk about politics and/or set ground rules that politics shouldn’t be discussed.
• If you feel a sense of resentment at others in the group who are of a different political persuasion than yourself, it may be helpful to remind yourself that at the end of the day they are human beings that you want to spend holidays with.
• Politics doesn’t define them, just as it doesn’t define you. We are more than our politics.

“If political conversations are unavoidable, try to remember that it is unlikely you will be able to convince a partisan opponent through one conversation/argument,” Hickel said  “If you aren’t trying to win the argument, then you are less likely to get irritated when you can’t.”

If using all those tips and avoiding a conversation isn’t possible, then perhaps consider just bringing up taking or buying legalized mushrooms as a topic for the whole gathering to consider, Grover suggested.

“Again, I wouldn’t suggest just trying it at your Thanksgiving table but it might make for an interesting conversation to tell your family you were thinking of trying a guided magic mushroom journey,” he said.

“They might not understand it but in reality many of them could probably benefit from it,” Grover said.

And if that still doesn’t work? Well, there’s always a foolproof way to make yourself thankful and welcome at holidays this year.

“Bring pie, but leave the politics at home,” McDermott advises.

Have a news tip? Contact Riley Gutiérrez McDermid at rmcdermid@baltsun.com.

The letter to Attorney General Anthony Brown noted that the Center for Voter Information was not planning on sending additional mailers in Maryland ahead of Election Day on Tuesday, but chided the office for alleging its “social pressure” strategy was intimidating voters.

The Washington, D.C.-based Center for Voter Information and the Voter Participation Center sent “voting report cards” to Marylanders that described whether they voted in the previous four elections. The report cards also listed the voting histories of two neighbors on the same street while redacting their names and addresses.

Brown’s office sent a cease-and-desist letter to the nonprofits on Thursday, alleging that the mailers “intimidated and threatened” Maryland residents and threatened to “expose” them if they didn’t vote.

“Let me be clear: these unnerving letters are unacceptable, and Maryland voters should know that their decision to vote this Election Day is entirely theirs to make,” Brown, a Democrat, said in a news release.

The mailers also contain a statement that the center “will be reviewing these records after the election to determine whether or not you joined your neighbors in voting.”

“It is not ‘intimidating’ or ‘threatening’ to promote voting by discussing neighborhood participation rates and stating that the records will be reviewed after the election to determine whether the recipient joined their neighbors in voting,” attorney Scott E. Thomas wrote in his response to Brown’s letter.

He called Brown’s cease-and-desist message an “effort to suppress constitutionally protected GOTV activity,” and noted that Attorney General’s office had included quotes from text messages not affiliated with the nonprofits.

Maryland law permits a requestor to receive a copy of the voter registration list with voters’ election participation history but prohibits actions designed to influence or attempt to influence a voter’s decision to vote through the use of force, fraud, threat, menace, intimidation, bribery, reward, or offer of reward, according to the release.

“The recipients to whom our office has spoken have uniformly described feeling intimidated, threatened, shocked, and ill-at-ease by this mailing,” the attorney general’s office said. “This threat to publicly expose the recipient’s voting record violates both Maryland and federal laws.”

The nonprofits have described their mail and digital campaigns as encouraging voter participation and making it easier for people to register. Information about voter registration and participation is public in most states, including Maryland, and is often used by political groups and other get-out-the-vote efforts. That data does not include for whom the voters ultimately voted.

The groups described themselves as nonpartisan, though their founder, Page Gardner, and CEO, Tom Lopach, are both former Democratic strategists.Their strategies have more commonly been targeted by Republican officials across the country.

Have a news tip? Contact Dan Belson at dbelson@baltsun.com, 443-790-4827, on X as @DanBelson_ or on Signal as @danbels.62. Contact Dillon Mullan at dmullan@baltsun.com, 302-842-3818 or @DillonMullan on X.

Braxton, who graduated from Glen Burnie High School, was supposed to have received the circular bronze star in September at the intersection of Church Circle and Duke of Gloucester Street, in front of the historic Maryland Inn.

However, Ruby Blakeney, executive director for the organization, said it will “no longer be honoring [Braxton] with a star” because the singer “walked away.”  Blakeney said the star was already created and paid for before Braxton allegedly backed out.

When asked how the stars are paid for, Blakeney said the plan is to follow a model similar to the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, which charges $75,000 for the creation, maintenance and installation of the star, according to the group’s web site. Blakeney said it would cost “much less” for a star on the Maryland Walk of Fame, although she declined to specify how much.

Blakeney previously told a reporter she was considering legal action. However, it is unclear if the organization will pursue a lawsuit. Joseph Barksdale, attorney for the Maryland Walk of Fame, did not return a request for comment. Antavius Weems, Braxton’s attorney, declined to comment.

Blakeney said the Maryland Walk of Fame will honor a different recipient and the star will now be located on West Street in Annapolis in front of the Graduate Hotel, which is not in the historic district, but still part of Ward 1.

Harry Huntley, a Democrat representing Ward 1, said Friday that he had not heard of the project, however, he “looks forward to learning more about it.”

“There are plenty of questions about liability, maintenance and installation,” he said.  “The job of the alderman is to work with those who want to invest in the city while balancing the needs of residents, visitors and businesses.”

Blakeney declined to say who the new recipient will be but said “the community will be very pleased.”

Blakeney said she had a personal relationship with Braxton.

“While we are disappointed in what has transpired, we are moving forward and excited to announce the next recipient of a Star on the Maryland Walk of Fame,” Blakeney said in an email statement. “I love Ms. Braxton, we are family, however, this is business-related. I would like to put it behind us and move forward.”

In July, former Alderwoman Elly Tierney and other city leaders expressed concerns about Braxton’s star not matching downtown’s historic character. While the location has now changed, placing a star in the downtown historic district is not entirely out of the question, with Blakeney saying that “we will revisit the historic district at a later date.”

“It would have taken too long to make it happen, in the timeframe at that time,” Blakeney said in an email.

Blakeney says she thought up the project about four years ago. At the time, she was a volunteer for a group looking to highlight artists in Annapolis. Blakeney suggested Braxton, but the project never came to fruition.

Blakeney said her hope is that the Walk of Fame will draw crowds to view the stars and patronize nearby businesses. The Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles has more than 2,700 stars and has inspired cities such as Las Vegas, Palm Springs, Florida, and Fargo, North Dakota, to establish their own versions.

Braxton, 56, sang in the Glen Burnie High glee club in the mid-1980s and attended Bowie State University. Her music career started after producer Bill Pettaway discovered Braxton singing in her car at a gas station in Annapolis, according to Judy Buddensick, former spokesperson for the Maryland Walk of Fame committee. In addition to her seven Grammys, Braxton has appeared in movies and starred in “Braxton Family Values,” a 2011 reality television series about her family.

Diagnosed with lupus in 2008, Braxton is a spokesperson for Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, a Canadian company that makes a drug to treat lupus and has an office in Rockville.

Have a news tip? Contact Megan Loock at mloock@baltsun.com or 443-962-5771. 

That company, Synergy Marine Group, has had equipment that asphyxiated, killed or injured multiple people, including instances of crew members falling overboard, being struck by errant mooring lines or who are still missing, USA TODAY reported Tuesday.

“A USA TODAY review of global maritime incidents, ship inspection data, casualty reports and other publicly available documents reveal accidents, dangerous equipment and a string of injuries and fatalities — the latest of which claimed six lives when the Dali crashed into and destroyed the Baltimore bridge in March,” the paper reported.

The paper found that 17 people were involved in fatal incidents related to Synergy equipment, and another three dozen have been injured.
Three people are still missing after Synergy-related problems since January 2019, USA TODAY reported.

The investigation found that in 2022, a man died when a stack of 660-pound steel plates fell on him, according to German authorities, and separately, two men died that year after being smothered by hydrogen sulfide in Denmark.

Synergy is now the world’s third-largest shipping company and scrutiny of the business has grown after its vessel the Dali smashed into Baltimore’s major shipping artery, killing six construction workers, and brought the area’s port to a near-standstill.

Data from maritime incidents the International Maritime Organization and the U.S. Coast Guard were also used in the paper’s findings, it reported.

Synergy did not respond to a request for comment from The Baltimore Sun.