Family Of Fraudulent Chiropractor Gets Federal Prison

CHICAGO, IL — Three family members have been sentenced to federal prison terms ranging up to seven years for charges relating to a over-billing scheme involving faking medical records and offering deals to patients who participating in the scam. The north suburban trio, a doctor, his father and his brother, ran Gordin Medical Center, a chiropractic clinic in Wheeling. Earlier this year, all three pleaded to health care fraud that cost insurance carriers more than $10 million. They were sentenced Monday in Chicago.

Vladimir Gordin Jr., 46, of Northbrook, was sentenced to seven years. His father, Vladimir Gordin Sr., 70, of Riverwoods, was sentenced to two and a half years, while his brother Alexsander Gordin, 34, also of Northbrook, was sentenced to just two years.

“As a result of the scheme, the Gordins created a medical center whose focus, for both the chiropractors and the employees, was not patient care,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Heather K. McShain and Sarah E. Streicker argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “Rather, GMC was a front for false billing; patient care was an afterthought.”

The family business was used to falsely bill insurance carriers unnecessary and sometimes undelivered medial services. They then fabricated medical records in order to try to cover up the phony billing. Prosecutors said sometimes patients even knew about the overbilling, but they were offered payoffs from the proceeds of the scam or discounts to their medical bills by Gordin Jr. and Gordin Sr.

False bills totaling $28,775,000 were submitted by Gordin Medical Center and an ultrasound service that was part of the scheme between 2006 and 2012, which caused a loss to five insurance carriers of $10,847,000. Some of that loss includes medical claims administered on behalf of several union health and welfare funds in the Chicago area, according to prosecutors.

Two Vernon Hills residents convicted in the case were also sentenced this week, including the operator of that service, Vernon Hills-based Ultrasound Mobile Service. She pleaded guilty last year to health care fraud and was sentenced to nine months in prison Tuesday.

Michelle Kobran, 69, of Vernon Hills, said she had falsely billed insurance companies for ultrasounds after Gordin Jr. referred patients to her. She then paid a portion of her insurance proceeds back to the Gordins as kickbacks.

Alina Levit, 46, of Vernon Hills, was the Gordins' office manager. She was sentenced to 18 months probation, which included 90 dates of intermittent incarceration on weekends, according to the Department of Justice. Last year she pleaded guilty to misdemeanor embezzlement, admitting to creating fake sign in sheets to lie about the presence of patients and claim they had been getting services when no such treatment had been given.

» More: Local Chiropractor Indicted in Alleged Family Insurance Scheme

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