Ho Yon Kim, 86, of Flushing, N.Y., was the president of URI Medical Service PC and Sarang Medical PC, both doing business in Flushing, and purportedly providing physical therapy and electric stimulation treatment. He was also a rendering physician at both clinics. Kim pleaded guilty in Brooklyn federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Marilyn D. Go to a superseding information charging him with conspiracy to commit health care fraud.
Defendants in the indictment Brooklyn, NY residents:
- Larisa Shelabadova, 34;
- Alexander Zaretser, 31;
- Anatoly Kraiter, 33;
- Vladimir Kornev, 52; and
- Yelena Galper, 38.
The five Defendants were charged for their roles in a scheme to launder the proceeds of Medicare fraud at three Brooklyn-area medical clinics:
- Bay Medical Care PC,
- SVS Wellcare Medical PLLC, and
- SZS Medical Care PLLC.
Allegedly, the named clinics paid kickbacks to Medicare beneficiaries and used the beneficiaries’ names to bill Medicare for approximately $71 million in services that were medically unnecessary and never provided.
False Claims
A second indictment alleges that:
- Ho Yon Kim, 85, of Flushing, NY;
- Hoi Yat Kam, 57, of Flushing, NY;
- Peter Lu, 36, of New York City, NY;
- John Knox, 54, of Bronx, NY;
- Elaine Kim, 50, of Bayside, NY; and
- Gilbert Kim, 59, of Bayside, NY
participated in a fraud scheme at URI Medical Center and Sarang Medical PC (two Flushing, NY medical clinics). Allegedly, these six Defendants submitted about $11.7 million in false claims to the Medicare program for physical therapy, electric stimulation treatments and other services. The indictment charges the Defendants with failing to provide medically necessary services; and, in reality,billing Medicare for a variety of non-medical spa services, such as massages and facials. Moreover, the Defendants allegedly recruited Medicare beneficiaries to their clinics by offering lunches and dancing classes.
In a third indictment, Defendant Emma Poroger, 56, of Staten Island, NY (a doctor of osteopathy) was charged with participating in a scheme to defraud Medicare of approximately $13 million. Allegedly, Poroger billed Medicare for a variety of services she purportedly provided, including vitamin infusion therapy, sleep studies, nerve conduction tests and duplex scans; however, the Indictment charges such services were medically unnecessary and never provided.
Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,480 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $4.8 billion. In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, is taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
