1.   According to investigators, Tri-Con inflated fees that providers paid for its managerial services and threatened some plan administrators to approve the costs.

2.   Federal investigators are examining whether those fees were deliberately inflated to increase reimbursement.

3.   Frequent trades inflate fees, force managers to sell stocks to meet redemptions and can add to tax bills.

4.   Further, Blue Cross inflated the fees it charged the health plans and charged higher copayments than it should have, the Labor Department alleged in its suit.

5.   Ms. Carlson said that many funeral homes facing direct competition from retail stores were slashing coffin prices but were also inflating service fees to cover the difference.

6.   The basic management fee was also inflated, since it was based on the size of the budget, which itself was inflated, according to the suit.

7.   The complaint contends that the companies worked together to inflate fees for Curative services.

8.   But the protesters claim that the fee is inflated.