Company accused of selling COVID-19 vaccines to rich gets $2M from Florida for Holocaust education – gulflive.com

A company that paid a $1.75 million settlement for allegedly selling COVID-19 vaccines to the wealthy, instead of administering them to the senior home residents in its care, was recently awarded $2 million by the state of Florida to develop an educational program for the states public schools.

It is unclear why the state is doing business with MorseLife Health System after it, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, purportedly targeted ineligible people for donations of $25,000 and more in exchange for vaccines meant for the most vulnerable in December 2020.

This specific vaccination program was designed to protect some of the nations most vulnerable individuals at a critical time when the COVID-19 pandemic was devastating that population, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Departments Civil Division, said in 2022 after the settlement was reached. The department will hold accountable those who misused vital pandemic relief programs for their own financial gain.

In a news release late last month, a nonprofit program developed by MorseLife Health System, a not-for-profit company that provides senior living residences and services in Palm Beach County, declared it was entrusted by Florida with a budget of just over $2 million for statewide Holocaust education across 67 districts.

The program was created in partnership with Next Generations of Holocaust Survivors, a nonprofit organization founded in 2004.

But Barbara Goldstein, the executive director of the Holocaust Education Resource Council, is concerned and says the announcement is misleading.

First, as a long-standing member of the Holocaust Education Task Force, whose core mission to promote Holocaust education in the state of Florida, Goldstein wanted to know why the task force wasnt consulted or included in any decision to enlist MorseLife.

According to documentation obtained by GulfLive.com, The Holocaust Learning Experience developed by MorseLife Health System submitted a project proposal to provide the service on Nov. 17, 2023, in paperwork signed by MorseLife CEO Keith A. Myers.

It was approved less than one month later on Dec. 13, 2023, with an allotted budget of $2,050,000.

This is the same organization that, in June 2022, agreed to pay the U.S. government $1.75 million as part of a settlement to resolve its potential liabilities under the False Claims Act for purportedly diverting a portion of its vaccine allotment, intended for vulnerable populations, to billionaires and millionaires for donations.

In December 2020, 40% of COVID-19 related deaths occurred in long-term health care facilities. With a limited vaccine supply, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched a program prioritizing vaccines for residents and staff of these facilities, through on-site clinics.

MorseLife signed up for the program and scheduled a clinic at its senior living facility in West Palm Beach for Dec. 31, 2020.

In text messages obtained by the Justice Department, in anticipation of the upcoming vaccination clinic, the CEO of MorseLife Health Systems told the organizations fundraising arm, the MorseLife Foundation, Go after the billionaires first, adding, Hell, were taking care of their life.

While the DOJ did not name the CEO, he is identified on the organizations website as Keith A. Myers.

Myers stated he was disappointed with foundation members for not asking for bigger donations referring to them in the text message as, little boys and girls in the foundation only asking for $25,000.

Go for the 25,000 Ill go for the billions; Im a little disappointed in the foundations mentality; I have delivered you 350 of the richest people in the country and youre still thinking $25,000 gift, he wrote. Do not be weak be strong you have the opportunity to take advantage of everyone who needs the shot.

In all, the DOJ alleged that 567 of the 976 people vaccinated at MorseLifes clinic on Dec. 31, 2020, were ineligible to participate in the program.

The settlement today exemplifies my office and its law enforcement partners strong commitment to combatting all forms of health care fraud-related schemes, especially those that exploit government resources designed to assist individuals who were acutely affected by the COVID-19 global pandemic, U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez for the Southern District of Florida, said in a news release issued at the time of the settlement. We will not relent in holding accountable those in South Florida who exploit health care programs intended to assist vulnerable populations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The integration of Holocaust lessons into K-12 public schools has been mandated since the passage of the Holocaust Education Bill by the Florida Legislature in 1994. In the 2023-2024 legislative session, Florida allotted funding of about $27 million across approximately 47 Jewish community organizations to provide a variety of services, and Goldstein said there are dozens of Holocaust organizations throughout the state that provide teachers with free resources for their Holocaust curriculum, including books, downloadable lesson plans, videos and speakers.

In 1998, the Florida Department of Education commissioned the Holocaust Documentation & Education Center to write the first statewide resource manuals on Holocaust studies for grades K-12. In addition to being available for download online, they also were distributed to all private, public and parochial schools in the state of Florida.

Theyre not the only Holocaust educators in Florida, Goldstein said, referring to MorseLife.

And, she said, its been a joint effort with all the various organizations collaborating and communicating, except she says, for one outlier: MorseLifes Holocaust Learning Experience.

Despite Goldsteins request for the organization to share its lesson plan, she claims she was denied on the grounds that it was private.

Everybody is alarmed about this, Goldstein said. Because all of the other Holocaust education centers share everything; we work together.

Gulf Live reached out to Florida Commissioner of Education Manny Diaz Jr. and MorseLife Health Systems CEO Myers for comment, but they did not immediately respond. Florida Holocaust Education Task Force Chair Michael Igel declined to comment.

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Company accused of selling COVID-19 vaccines to rich gets $2M from Florida for Holocaust education - gulflive.com