These Berkeley Area Doctors Involved In $11M Bribe-For-Blood Scheme: U.S. Attorney

Seventeen N.J. doctors from throughout the state have now been convicted or charged in a bribe-for-blood scheme that raked in $11 million, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

It is believed to be the largest number of medical professionals ever prosecuted in a bribery case, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The latest revelation involved a family doctor practicing in Bergen County who was charged Tuesday with accepting bribes in exchange for test referrals as part of a long-running and elaborate scheme operated by Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Greenspan, 78, of Saddlebrook was one of at least 27 doctors - 17 from New Jersey - and an additional 13 employees of the Parsippany company who were involved in the scam (see list and town where they practiced below).

To date, 39 people – 26 of them doctors – have pleaded guilty in connection with the bribery scheme, which its organizers have admitted involved millions of dollars in bribes and resulted in more than $100 million in payments to BLS from Medicare and various private insurance companies.

“This indictment is another reminder that kickbacks in connection with federal health care programs are illegal and unacceptable,” said Scott J. Lampert, special agent in charge, Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Taking such payments subverts the notion that patients should come before profits.”

Fishman noted that some of the doctors engaged in elaborate versions of the kickback scheme. Bret Bret Ostrage of Woodbury N.Y. allegedly took bribes that involved tickets to a New York Mets baseball game, a New York Knicks basketball game, a Katy Perry concert, a Justin Bieber concert and the Broadway show “Newsies.”

Another, Claudio Dicovsky of Paterson, admitted he agreed to accept bribes from BLS in exchange for his referral of blood specimens. To disguise those bribes, Dicovsky and BLS entered into a sham lease agreement and a sham service agreement in which the monthly bribe payments of more than $5,000 were characterized as “lease” and “service” payments, according to Fishman.

While the lease agreement purported to be for 1,000 square feet of space, little or no space was allocated to BLS in Dicovsky’s medical office in Paterson.

Here is the list of New Jersey doctors tied to the scheme:

• Bernard Greenspan, Saddle Brook
• Frank Santangelo, Wayne and Montville
• Gary Safier, Randolph
• Angelo Calabrese, North Arlington
• Dennis Aponte, West New York and Cedar Grove
• Dana Fortunato, Montclair
• Claudio Dicovsky, Paterson
• Paul Ostergaard, Pompton Plains
• Wayne Lajewski, Madison
• Glenn Leslie, Ramsey
• John Vitali, Howell and Wall
• Douglas Beinstock, Hawthorne
• Anthony DeLuca, Point Pleasant and Sea Girt
• Franz Goyzueta, Secaucus
• Eugene DeSimone, Secaucus
• Anthony Delpiano, South Brunswick and Jersey City
• Ralph Messo, Colts Neck