Two indictments recently unsealed charged 13 defendants, including physicians and other medical professionals, with a $100 million healthcare fraud, money laundering and bribery scheme, according to a Jan. 12 Justice Department news release.
The 13 defendants allegedly orchestrated one of the largest no-fault insurance frauds in history by allegedly bribing 911 operators, hospital employees and other parties for confidential vehicle accident victim information and fraudulently overbilling auto insurance companies.
The first indictment unsealed Jan. 12 charges eight individuals with a scheme to exploit these no-fault laws. The individuals alleged to orchestrate the scheme were Alexander Gulkarov, Roman Israilov, Peter Khaimov and Anthony Dipietro. These individuals allegedly owned and controlled more than a dozen medical professional corporations and paid licensed medical professionals, Rolando Chumaceiro and Marcelo Quiroga, to prescribe and perform unnecessary medical treatments.
The group reportedly billed insurance companies for $30 million between 2014 and 2021.
The second indictment charges five additional individuals with participating in a criminal scheme to exploit the no-fault laws. The defendants allegedly owned five medical services corporations, including medical clinics and an MRI center. The defendants allegedly defrauded auto insurance companies by billing them for unnecessary medical treatments, falsifying clinical injuries in reports and lying to insurance company representatives. The leader of the alleged scheme was Bradley Pierre, who is not a physician. Mr. Pierre allegedly worked with Marvin Moy, MD, who incorporated a medical practice as part of the scheme and conducted unnecessary electrodiagnostic testing on patients. William Weiner, DO, also is charged in the scheme for working with Mr. Pierre to falsify findings of clinical injuries on MRIs to boost patient referrals.
The conspirators allegedly billed insurance companies for more than $70 million for fraudulent medical treatments.
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