It Figures
$2.2 Million
Estimated value of the Vermont home, Florida condo and college tuition savings plans a former exec at Willis Management in Vermont allegedly bought with money embezzled from the captive insurance manager. Kenneth MacKay, former senior vice president, turned himself in to the FBI earlier this month. He has been charged in federal court with engaging in a scheme to commit bank fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors plan to seize the college savings and ask for forfeiture of the property.
$14.5 Million
Amount awarded by a Bay State jury to the family of a 30-year-old Chelmsford woman who died after undergoing thyroid surgery at Brockton Hospital. A lawyer for the family said the woman, Shannyn MacPherson, developed uncontrolled bleeding that resulted from air being trapped in her abdomen. The lead surgeon, Dr. John Ambrosino, was found negligent and responsible for MacPherson’s death in May 2001. A second surgeon, Dr. Julie White, was also found negligent, but not responsible for the death.
$259,000
Amount of grant money Virginia will receive under a U.S. Department of Labor program to train miners and improve safety at mines in the state. The agency says it has announced more than $8.2 million in grants this year, up from $7.9 million last year.
$200,000
Amount paid by Stockholm-based Cricket Lighters to settle a civil case over the deaths of three people in a 1993 fire in Pennsylvania. The fire was set by a 2-year-old playing with his mother’s lighter; the boy, his mother, and another 3-year-old perished in the blaze. The suit was brought by the boy’s grandmother, who argued the lighter should’ve had childproof features.
$25,000
Fine due to be paid by comedian-turned-candidate Al Franken. The former Saturday Night Live star, running for an open Minnesota Senate seat, failed to carry workers’ compensation insurance on the New York-based employees of his self-named corporation from 2002 to 2005. The state Workers’ Compensation Board says the fine hasn’t been paid despite a number of notices sent to Franken’s New York address; Franken said he never received one, but has agreed to pay the fine.