Defendants allegedly billed Medicaid for non-existent expert services though marketing $500,000 worth of prescriptions for opioids and other managed substances.
A medical professional and place of work supervisor at a Brighton Beach healthcare clinic have been charged with grand larceny and healthcare fraud for allegedly defrauding Medicaid out of hundreds of thousands of pounds.
In whole, the defendants are alleged to have stolen additional than $700,000 around a four-calendar year time period. The two are accused of fraudulently billing Medicaid for non-existent companies and selling prescriptions for narcotics, opioids, and other controlled substances to people they had been not treating.
“As the opioid epidemic continues to claim the lives of countless numbers of New Yorkers every yr, it is unconscionable that these health-related pros allegedly endangered their patients’ wellbeing, trafficked in managed substances, and stole hundreds of 1000’s from Medicaid,” stated Brooklyn District Legal professional Eric Gonzalez.
“Anyone who contributes to the advancement of prescription drug abuse, imperils the health and security of Brooklyn citizens, or rips off the taxpayers will be held accountable.”
The District Attorney determined the defendants as Dr. Alexander Ivanov, 66, of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, and Svetlana Kozlovskaya, 64, of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.
They were being arraigned March 28, in advance of Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun on an indictment in which they are charged with 2nd- and third-diploma grand larceny and health care fraud.
The defendants had been introduced without the need of bail, they are ordered to return to court docket on May well 31, 2023.
According to the investigation, from close to 2017 to 2020, the defendants ran a psychiatry exercise and soreness administration clinic at 115 Brightwater Court in Brighton Seaside the place they allegedly billed Medicaid and other healthcare administrators for more than $200,000 worth of psychotherapy classes that had been hardly ever administered.
It is alleged that Dr. Ivanov wrote more than $500,000 worthy of of prescriptions for managed substances to patients in trade for funds, the prescriptions ended up subsequently loaded and paid out for by Medicaid and other healthcare administrators.
The managed substances bundled suboxone, alprazolam, amphetamine, clonazepam, diazepam, methadone, morphine, oxycodone, and tramadol.
According to the investigation, quite a few of the doctor’s individuals were compound abusers who had been not getting any form of treatment at the clinic, like any bloodwork or urinalysis done to check the patients’ drug intake ranges.
Division of Social Providers Performing Commissioner Molly Wasow Park explained, “The alleged conduct of these men and women is absolutely unacceptable and a very clear violation of their responsibilities as trustworthy health-related industry experts.”