Cash For Blood: Basking Ridge Man Sentenced For Paying $176K In Bribes For Referrals

Basking Ridge, NJ -- A Basking Ridge man and owner of a blood diagnostic company was sentenced today for paying a doctor more than $176,000 in cash bribes for patient lab work referrals, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Phillip Biondello, 49, of Basking Ridge previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo to an information charging him with violating the Anti-Kickback Statute.

The blood diagnostic company Biondello owned was located in Essex County.

Judge Arleo imposed the sentence of nine months in prison today in Newark federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From June 2011 through June 2013, Biondello paid a doctor cash bribes in return for patient blood sample referrals to Biondello’s company, including a $24,000 bribe paid to the doctor on May 7, 2013. The doctor’s referrals generated approximately $176,710.84 for Biondello’s company.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Arleo sentenced Biondello to three years of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Timothy Gallagher in Newark, and special agents of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Scott J. Lampert, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.