Long Branch Doctor Charged With Insurance Fraud

LONG BRANCH, NJ — A doctor who lives in Long Branch and practices in South Jersey was charged Monday with playing a role in a longstanding billing fraud scheme, said U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito.

Morris Antebi, 68, of Long Branch was charged with three counts of healthcare fraud, wire fraud, and mail fraud.

Antebi, a physician specializing in pain management and anesthesia, owned and operated a pain management clinic chain with locations throughout South Jersey, said the U.S. Attorney. Antebi was a participating provider in Medicare, Medicaid and several private insurance plans. Between approximately 2014 through 2020, he billed over $24.6 million for services he purportedly provided, including billing more than $15.3 million to Medicaid and more than $8 million to Medicare.

The investigation showed that Antebi engaged in various forms of billing fraud, said the federal attorneys. For example, Antebi frequently billed Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance companies on dates when travel records show he was overseas, including on trips to China, Israel, Turkey, the Dominican Republic and across Europe, or when he was otherwise outside the state of New Jersey, according to the complaint.

Antebi billed approximately $230,700 to Medicaid, Medicare, and private insurance plans between November 2015 and January 2020 for services he purportedly rendered while he was traveling and not in the office.

The investigation also showed that Antebi billed for excessive billings for one-day periods of time.

For example, Antebi billed insurance plans for more than 24 hours’ worth of services in a one-day period of time on more than 900 occasions between 2014 and 2020. Antebi also billed insurance companies for between 12 and 23.99 hours of purported services in a one-day period of time on more than 300 occasions.

On certain occasions, law enforcement conducted surveillance on Antebi on days when he left the clinics early, but nevertheless billed as though he saw many patients on those days, said Carpentino.

Despite these high billings, Antebi's patients were interviewed by federal agents, who said that Antebi saw them for only very brief periods of time, and he often did not perform any medical exams or evaluations during their visits.

Patients also said that there sometimes was no medical equipment or examination tables in the rooms at the clinics in which patients met with providers, and that patients sometimes met with providers on folding chairs in the hallway of the clinics.