New York Ambulette Company Owners Plead Guilty in More than $8.6 Million Health Care Kickback Scheme

Two New York ambulette company owners pleaded guilty today for their roles in a more than $8.6 million health care kickback scheme.  

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Richard P. Donoghue of the Eastern District of New York, Assistant Director in Charge William F. Sweeney Jr. of the FBI’s New York Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Scott J. Lampert of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General’s (HHS-OIG) Office of Investigations and Acting Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Larsen of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) New York made the announcement.

Igor Radinovskiy, 60, and Aleksandr Radinovskiy, 37, father and son, both of Brooklyn, New York, each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to offer and pay health care kickbacks and one count of conspiracy to defraud the lawful functions of the IRS before U.S. Magistrate Judge Steven M. Gold of the Eastern District of New York.  Sentencing has not yet been scheduled.

The defendants were the co-owners and officers of the ambulette company Sabe Ambulette Services Inc., which did business as Mobility Transportation.  According to court filings and admissions, Igor Radinovskiy and Aleksandr Radinovskiy participated in a conspiracy in which they paid more than $8.6 million in kickbacks to co-conspirator companies not enrolled in the Medicaid program, for the referral of beneficiaries recruited by those co-conspirators, so that Sabe Ambulette could falsely bill Medicaid as if Sabe had transported those beneficiaries to various clinics in Brooklyn and Queens.  The defendants then falsely reported to the IRS that the illegal kickback payments were legitimate business expenses, which caused relevant tax forms to falsely under-report business income and claim deductions.

The FBI, HHS-OIG and IRS-CI investigated the case, which was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, under the supervision by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.  Trial Attorney Andrew Estes of the Fraud Section is prosecuting the case.

The Fraud Section leads the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, which is part of a joint initiative between the Department of Justice and HHS to focus their efforts to prevent and deter fraud and enforce current anti-fraud laws around the country.  Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, which maintains 14 strike forces operating in 23 districts, has charged nearly 4,000 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $14 billion.  In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.