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Doctor and Acupuncturist Sentenced in Manhattan Federal Court for Operating Medical Fraud Mill
PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the
Southern District of New York, announced that ROMILLA ANWAR and
ANATOLY SUNIK were sentenced on Friday, January 29, 2010, to 30
months and 12 months in prison, respectively, in Manhattan
federal court by United States District Judge LEWIS A. KAPLAN on
health care fraud charges. SUNIK and ANWAR each pleaded guilty
in April of 2009, stemming from their operation of a medical
fraud mill operating as the Avenue K Medical Clinic (the
"Clinic"). According to the Criminal complaint, Indictment,
guilty pleas and court filings:
From May 2006 to June 2008, the Clinic routinely
billed automobile insurance companies under the no-fault program
for medical "treatments" which were either never provided or
unnecessary, because the person being "treated" did not medically
need the treatments. 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 Clinic billed automobile insurance companies under
the no-fault program for unnecessary medical treatments that were
provided to patients who were in car accidents. In the first two
years of its operation, the 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.
ANWAR served as the Clinic's nominal owner and treating
physician, and, in that role, she performed perfunctory
examinations of patients and recommended treatments she knew to
be unnecessary. At her guilty plea, Anwar stated: "On many
occasions individuals were prescribed DME [Durable Medical Equipment] which were unnecessary because the individuals were
either slightly injured or not injured at all. I also ordered
MRIs which were unnecessary due to the fact that the individuals
were either slightly injured or not injured at all." SUNIK, the
Clinic's acupuncturist, routinely billed insurance companies for
30 minutes of acupuncture even though he often provided only a
few minutes treatment.
ANWAR, SUNIK and ten others associated with the Clinic
were arrested in July 2008, including two of the Clinic's owners,
SVIATOSLAV JADAN and SAMUEL VILSHANETSKI. JADAN was previously
sentenced to 30 months in prison and VILSHANETSKI is scheduled to
be sentenced on March 19, 2010.
In addition to the prison term, ANWAR, 48, of New
Providence, New Jersey, and SUNIK, 62, of Rego Park, New York,
were each sentenced to three years of supervised release and also
ordered to pay restitution in an amount to be set at a later
date.
Mr. BHARARA praised the investigative work of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mr. BHARARA also extended his
thanks to the National Insurance Crime Bureau for their
assistance in the investigation.
Assistant United States Attorneys ARLO DEVLIN-BROWN and
ARIANNA R. BERG are in charge of the prosecution.
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