GOP candidate Carson makes millions with convicted Pittsburgh dentist

The GOP's leading presidential candidate on Thursday stood by a Western Pennsylvania friend who pleaded guilty to health care fraud eight years ago, but didn't address questions about his business ties to the convicted felon.

“Al Costa is my best friend,” Ben Carson said in a statement to the Tribune-Review.

“I am proud to call him my friend. I have always and will continue to stand by him. That is what real friends do,” said Carson, who according to a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey is supported by 29 percent of GOP primary voters, 6 percentage points ahead of Donald Trump.

Costa, a former dentist who had offices in Oakland and Murrysville, pleaded guilty to filing inflated insurance claims from 1996 to 2001. A federal judge sentenced Costa to three years' probation, including a year of house arrest, and ordered him to pay nearly $300,000 in restitution and fines. His probation was later reduced by a year because he served more than 400 hours of community service with the Carson Scholars Fund.

Costa has been active for years in the foundation started by Carson. This past May during a reception at Heinz Field, at which Costa and Carson both spoke, 273 Western Pennsylvania students in fourth through 11th grades were recognized as Carson Scholars. First-time scholars, of which there were 108, received $1,000 college scholarships, while returning winners were recognized for their continued academic and humanitarian achievements. The local contingent represented more than a fifth of the 1,295 Carson Scholars nationwide.

Carson submitted a letter and testified as a character witness on Costa's behalf before he was sentenced — speaking highly of Costa, who did not return messages, but stopping short of asking the court to give his friend a lighter sentence.

In the October 2007 letter, Carson wrote, “Next to my wife of 32 years, there is no one on this planet that I trust more than Al Costa,” noting they became friends about a decade earlier because they discovered they were “so much alike and shared the same values and principles that govern our lives.”

Carson said their families vacationed together and they were involved in joint projects.

In his 2008 testimony, Carson said Costa was “the spearhead” behind his foundation's Pittsburgh activities and a key player in the national organization. When an attorney told Carson, “I take it you like him,” Carson replied, “I love him.”

Carson's support appears at odds with a statement he made in his 2013 book, “America the Beautiful,” in which he calls for harsh punishment of people convicted of health care fraud.

“Why don't people steal very often in Saudi Arabia? Obviously because the punishment is the amputation of one or more fingers,” Carson wrote. “I would not advocate chopping off people's limbs, but there would be some very stiff penalties for this kind of fraud, such as loss of one's medical license for life, no less than 10 years in prison, and loss of all of one's personal belongings.”

Pennsylvania's Department of State revoked Costa's dentistry license in February 2009, records show.

“(Carson) never says to the judge that you should not give (Costa) what he has coming to him. It's how in Carson's mind he can rationalize his view of being tough on crime with the idea that he doesn't want to abandon his friend,” said GOP strategist and Washington-based media consultant Bruce Haynes.

“He's having it both ways a little bit, but I think it's difficult for anyone when a close personal friend or loved one is engaged in this kind of activity. You're both frustrated by it and you grieve for them,” Haynes said.

During the period when the fraud occurred, Costa sold his business to an associate and began doing dentistry work only sporadically, focusing instead on his Downtown-based Costa Land Co. By then, the value of his real estate portfolio totaled more than $100 million, with properties stretching from Pittsburgh to Italy, court records show.

“I don't think anyone would blame a man for doing for supporting a friend, but it's a problem if he's still doing business with a convicted felon,” said Washington-based Democratic strategist Dane Strother.

Investments Carson and his wife made through Costa before charges were filed earn the couple between $200,000 and $2 million a year, according to financial records that Carson filed when the neurosurgeon declared his candidacy for president.

Records with Pennsylvania's Department of State show the two companies created by the Carsons — BenCan LLC and INBS LLC — incorporated using the address of Costa's former 8,368-square-foot home in Fox Chapel. The companies later spent $3 million to buy a commercial building on Mt. Lebanon's Cochran Road, county records show.

A Squirrel Hill address for Costa Land Co. is listed as the tax bill mailing address, according to county records.

“With Carson, there seems to be a dripping faucet of questions,” said Steffen Schmidt, a political science professor at Iowa State University.

Carson has faced media scrutiny in recent weeks over aspects of his biography, from violent incidents that he said occurred during his youth to a scholarship offer he said he received from the United States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., where all students attend for free in exchange for their service.

“That can become a serious problem,” Schmidt said, noting it detracts from campaigning, upsets the carefully crafted image and can begin to chip away at the donor base.

However, in a campaign email sent Thursday, Carson used the reports to ask supporters for an “emergency donation.”

“If you've been watching the news, you've seen that the media is in full attack mode,” the email read. “I always knew this campaign would be tough, but the media is now going off the rails and we need the resources to fight back, 24/7.”

Thomas Kehoe of Kennedy Township, who also wrote a letter supporting Costa in 2007, said, “It's a shame that what happened happened, but (Costa) acknowledged it, paid the money back and moved on with his life ... (Costa) is a fine guy, (Carson) is one of the finest people I've ever been around. He would make a fine president. This doesn't sway me at all.”

The Associated Press contributed. Tom Fontaine is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7847 or tfontaine@tribweb.com.