US Attorney – Ten Arrested In Connection With Brooklyn Medical Fraud Mill

MICHAEL J. GARCIA, the United States Attorney for the
Southern District of New York, and MARK J. MERSHON, Assistant
Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau
of Investigation (“FBI”), announced that ten individuals
associated with a Brooklyn-based medical clinic — including the
clinic’s owners and several of its medical practitioners — were
arrested yesterday and today on charges of conspiracy to commit
health care and mail fraud. Three other individuals remain at
large, although one is expected to surrender later today. The
ten arrested defendants are expected to be presented in Manhattan
federal court later today. According to the three criminal
Complaints unsealed earlier today (the “Complaints”):

SAMUEL VILSHANETSKI, a/k/a “Dima,” SVIATOSLAV JADAN,
a/k/a “Slava,” and a third individual owned and operated a
medical clinic located at 3003 Avenue K in Brooklyn, New York
(the “Avenue K Clinic” or the “Clinic”). The Avenue K Clinic was
primarily engaged in the treatment of individuals who filed nofault
automobile insurance claims with insurance companies.
Under New York State Law, no-fault insurance enables the driver
and passengers of a vehicle registered and insured in New York to
obtain benefits of up to $50,000 per person for injuries
sustained in an automobile accident, regardless of fault.

The Avenue K Clinic was a medical fraud mill which
routinely billed automobile insurance companies under the nofault
program for medical “treatments” which were either (i)
never provided or (ii) unnecessary, because the person being
“treated” did not medically need the treatments. According to
the Complaints, the operators of the Avenue K Clinic paid
thousands of dollars to “runners” who would recruit patients who
were in car accidents — sometimes staged solely to commit
insurance fraud — but who often suffered little or no injury
from the accidents. These patients would undergo weeks or months
of unnecessary “treatments” — such as physical therapy,
chiropractory and acupuncture — at the Avenue K Clinic.

The Avenue K Clinic then billed automobile insurance companies under
the no-fault program for these unnecessary medical treatments.
In the first two years of its operation, the Avenue K Medical
Clinic billed insurance companies a total of approximately $3.6
million for no-fault medical services on behalf of more than 500
patients and, as of June 2008, had received approximately $1.2
million from these insurance companies.

VILSHANETSKI, JADAN, and the third individual owned and
operated the Avenue K Clinic – making the initial financial
investments and supervising the Clinic’s medial staff and
operations. The Owners of the Avenue K Clinic engaged so-called
“runners,” including defendants ROMAN SATLER, a/k/a “Roma,”
SHAMIL TAGIEV, a/k/a “Sammy,” EMMANUEL KELLY, a/k/a “Kevin,”
VLADIMIR DEUPONT, a/k/a “Vlad,” and FELIKS KHATSELA (the
“Runners”), to recruit patients for the Clinic for treatment.
According to the Complaints, the Owners paid the Runners an
average of approximately $2,000 per patient but paid them only
after the referred patients had received enough treatments for
the patient to be profitable. The recruited patients were
required to attend the Clinic for treatment regularly, sometimes
daily, and to agree to receive multiple MRIs. Even greater
payments were offered to the Runners when a patient was accepted
as a client at one of several law offices associated with the
Clinic because the law offices paid fees to the Clinic for each
patient signed up as a client.

The Owners relied on various means to obtain cash to
pay the Clinic Runners. For example, the Owners of the Avenue K
Clinic laundered money through defendant MARK POGORILER, a/k/a
“Lobster” by writing checks drawn on the accounts of clinic
medical practitioners to POGORILER’s medical transportation
companies. In fact, POGORILER provided no transportation
services to the Clinic and instead simply returned ninety percent
of the value of the checks as cash. The Owners also obtained
cash from kickbacks provided by outside medical suppliers and
practitioners in exchange for the referral of business. Medical
supply companies associated with RADION AMINOV, the defendant,
billed insurance companies for overpriced and often unnecessary
medical supplies provided to Avenue K Clinic patients, and in
return provided kickbacks to the Avenue K Clinic. GENNADY
BROYTMAN, a/k/a “Genna,” the defendant, operated an MRI clinic
that billed insurance companies for MRIs provided to Avenue K
Clinic patients and paid kickbacks to the Clinic Owners.
The Avenue K Clinic also hired doctors and medical
professionals to “treat” the patients recruited for the Clinic by
the Runners, even though the majority of such patients did not
need the medical treatments provided. These medical professionals
included defendants ROMILLA ANWAR (a physician), ANATOLIY SUNIK
(an acupuncturist) and ASNODIN DIANALAN, a/k/a “Dino” (a physical
therapist)(collectively the “Medical Staff.”) The Medical Staff
provided unnecessary medical treatments and supplies to clinic
patients, and also submitted bills to the insurance companies for
more medical services than were in fact provided.

VILSHANETSKI, SLAVA, SUNIK, SATLER, DEUPONT, POGORILER,
and AMINOV were arrested early this morning, and KHATSELA and
BROYTMAN were arrested last night. ANWAR surrendered early this
afternoon and TAGIEV is expected to surrender later today. All
of these defendants are scheduled to be presented before United
States Magistrate Judge GABRIEL W. GORENSTEIN later today.
Arrest warrants remain outstanding for DIANALAN and KELLY.
Mr. GARCIA praised the investigative work of the FBI
and stated that the investigation is ongoing. Mr. GARCIA also
extended his thanks to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, GEICO
and Liberty Mutual Insurance Company for their assistance in the
investigation.

Assistant United States Attorneys ARLO DEVLIN-BROWN,
ARIANNA R. BERG and KENNETH POLITE are in charge of the
prosecution.

The charges contained in the Complaint are merely
accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and
until proven guilty.
08-179 ###

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