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Brooklyn, NY - Six Arrested In $47 Million Medicaid Scam |
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Over the past ten years, Alexander Levy, with the help of several accomplices, allegedly controlled a string of health care entities to illegally obtain payment for the treatment of Medicaid recipients and then launder the profits, authorities said.
According to the criminal charges filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court and a companion civil suit filed by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Levy was excluded from any participation in the Medicaid program by the New York State Department of Health in 1997 for submitting false claims to Medicaid for medically unnecessary services and for services that were never actually performed.
Despite that, he illegally continued to operate various health care facilities that billed the state for the treatment of Medicaid recipients, according to court papers.
"This individual is accused of cheating New York taxpayers out of tens of millions of dollars through an elaborate money laundering scheme," said Cuomo. "But as we have done before, we 'followed the money,' which led us to today's serious charges."
A Brooklyn grand jury indicted Levy and his accomplices on several counts, including grand larceny and healthcare fraud.
The following defendants are named in today’s indictment: Alexander Levy, 54, Staten Island NY;
Zona Castellano, 69, Brooklyn NY; Aaron Bethea, 53, Brooklyn, NY; Leonid Sklyar, 30, Brooklyn NY; Yelena Bogatyrov, 43, Brooklyn NY; and Arthur Gutman, Israel. They were all named in the civil complaint, in addition to Joseph Castellano, Oksana Levondovych, and Adam Blair.
In addition to these six individuals, seven corporations were also indicted: ANR Advanced Home Care Inc.; Ambulette P.R.N., Inc. d/b/a New York City Ambulette; Global Line Transportation, Inc.; Bath Medical, P.C.; Rainbow Medical, P.C.; Bath Management, Inc.; and Meridian Construction & Development, LLC.
The charges against the defendants are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
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Read Comments (7) — Post Yours »
1
Jul 16, 2009 at 07:15 PM FedMan Says:
When the State-Federal Medicaid fraud units get you- they have extensive paper trail documentation. It's plea time for these crooks. Don't give me the crooked government line, these are ganovim! No one has ever plead innocent and won in court on Medicaid fraud. The documentation is so extensive and self incriminating that it's a slam dunk.
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2
Jul 16, 2009 at 08:45 PM Anonymous Says:
I do not know if they are innocent or not but I would bet that they are guilty.
By the way I was accused of wrongdoing by NYS and investigated for this. In my case they had no case and stopped when they realized this. Extensive paper trails, xrays and such can help prove guilt or innocence. In the long run the system worked although at the time it was very scary. It might be too easy to cheat but big trouble when you get caught.
3
Jul 16, 2009 at 10:55 PM Anonymous Says:
I have seen many fraudulent claims to medicaid through my work as a professional medical coder. Lots of it is because of pure ignorance on the part of the doctor, but there are some doctors that do commit fraud thinking they will not get caught. If they are caught in addition to the jail time, the fines are tremendous. It is $5000.00 for every fraudulent claim. So just for example is a doctor submitted 100 fruadulent claims he will have to pay $500,000 in fines alone.
4
Jul 16, 2009 at 10:48 PM t s Says:
I was pleased to see the writer's last line "The charges against the defendants are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty"
5
Jul 18, 2009 at 10:08 PM Five Towns Resident Says:
Another day,another crime connecting Jews to money. Another Chilul Hashem. Ho hum.
When will we ever learn?
6
Jul 18, 2009 at 11:54 PM Anonymous Says:
i think that Attorney General Andrew Cuomo just needs this case to become the governer, these people are innocent and are being wrongfully accused
7
Jul 23, 2009 at 06:52 PM Anonymous Says:
“ i think that Attorney General Andrew Cuomo just needs this case to become the governer, these people are innocent and are being wrongfully accused ”
I think that in evey facility that they bill medicaid a medicaid representetive should be present, they will save a lot of money in the long run.