A former director of the Dominican Social Security Institute and former Dominican ambassador before the United Nations, Rafael Pantaleón González, is still under arrest. According to the Listín Diario, Pantaleón is sought by the U.S. government for an alleged US$15 million fraud against Medicare. He stood trial in New York in 1995 but returned to the D.R. before the sentence was levied. Attorney General Abel Rodríguez del Orbe told Hoy newspaper that the extradition agreement between the D.R. and the United States gives the Executive Branch 60 days to extradite González Pantaleón. Family members say he is innocent, and rather a victim of a complot by a Mr. Harold Siegel who falsified Pantaleón’s signature. In the fraudulent scheme, Siegel would deliver low cost goods to senior citizens and report these as more expensive items. Siegel presented to the FBI a video that shows Dr. Pantaleón receiving money from Siegel, supposedly for the service of signing the fraudulent claims. The most recent Dominicans extradited were Francisco Medina (Freddy Kruger) and Maximo Antonio Reyes, in August 1997. The U.S. has requested the extradition of 38 other Dominicans, accused of various crimes.
