Grayslake Man Sentenced for Bilking Investors With Star Trek-Inspired 'Medical Tricorder'

A 60-year-old Grayslake man has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for tricking investors with a healthcare device, which he claimed worked like Dr. Leonard McCoy’s tricorder on Star Trek.

Howard Leventhal, 60, was sentenced in federal court in New York on Tuesday. Leventhal, the CEO and president Health Technologies Corp., formerly known as Neovision, marketed the device as “Heltheo’s McCoy Home Health Tablet,” according to a news release from U.S. Attorney’s Office.

In December 2013, Leventhal pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for defrauding and attempting to defraud individuals and businesses out of millions of dollars by falsely claiming that Neovision had a lucrative contract with Canada’s Department of Health, Health Canada. In the contract, he forged the signature of Glenda Yeates, Health Canada’s former Deputy Minister of Health.

Leventhal used the purported agreement with Health Canada to solicit more than $26 million from potential investors. One of those investors, Florida-based Paragon Financial Group, Inc., advanced Neovision $800,000 in exchange for Paragon’s right to collect a larger sum of money purportedly owed to Neovision by Health Canada, according to prosecutors.

“Stranger than fiction truly applies in this case with the subject using a popular sci-fi movie as the inspiration to scam millions of dollars from people,” said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney, Jr. “He also forged the signature of the Canadian deputy health minister, which not many people would question as legitimate.”

But, authorities did end up questioning the legitimacy of Leventhal’s “health tablet.” The Royal Canadian Mounted Police contacted authorities in the United States after learning about the scam, according to New York Daily News. Leventhal was charged after he used his forged contract to try and solicit an undercover agent who was posing potential investor, according to prosecutors.

Despite his run-ins with the law in recent years regarding his bogus Star Trek-inspired medical device, Leventhal still managed to drum up a sales pitch for the judge during his sentencing hearing on Tuesday. Qmed.com, a website medical device industry news, reported Leventhal made this plea to United States District Judge Brian M. Cogan as he argued for a more lenient sentence:

In a 40-minute presentation, Leventhal detailed his post-conviction plans to open a rehabilitation camp for ex-convicts called “Heroes @ The Gate.” His proposal included rehabilitating ex-convicts through flying lessons, wood and metal workshops, 3-D printing, and web coding seminars.
Leventhal assured the judge that the program would aim to prove to ex-cons that anything is possible — and the program would conclude with an awards ceremony featuring a medal in Judge Cogan’s name.

The judge did not buy it, sentencing him to the 60 months in prison as well as 3 years of supervised release. Leventhal was also ordered to pay $1,350,819.78 in forfeiture and restitution.

The tricorder, as used by Dr. McCoy on Star Trek, was used to examine patients and diagnose medical conditions in an instant. The New York Daily News reportedLeventhal's bogus device was purported to share patient data with physicians and healthcare providers and Leventhal claimed on his website that the “McCoy” was monitored “24/7/365 by the company’s nurse-staffed call center.”

“Leventhal used his considerable imagination, non-existent technology, and stolen identities to deceive a number of entities and individuals,” said United States Attorney Robert L Capers. “Fortunately for investors, his alternate reality, propped up by fabricated bank documents, unraveled and collapsed when he attempted to defraud an undercover FBI agent. Today’s sentence sends a strong message to those who use lies and deceit to defraud investors that they will be held accountable for their crimes.”