Doctors Involved In Morris-Based Bribery Operation Sentenced To Prison

Two doctors were sentenced to prison last week for accepting bribes in exchange for test referrals as part of a long-running and elaborate scheme operated by Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services LLC of Parsippany, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Eugene DeSimone, 60, of Eatontown,, who practiced in Secaucus, and Franz Goyzueta, 67, of New York, who practiced in New York, were each sentenced to 37 months in prison. DeSimone and Goyzueta previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler to separate information charging them each with one count of accepting bribes. Judge Chesler imposed both sentences today in Newark federal court, according to a release from Fishman’s office.

Including DeSimone and Goyzueta, 38 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. The investigation has so far recovered more than $10.5 million to date through forfeiture, according to the release.

According to documents filed in this and related cases and statements made in court, and reported in the release:

DeSimone accepted $1,500 in cash per month between August 2010 and March 2013 in return for referring patient blood specimens to BLS, for which BLS received $980,000. Goyzueta accepted as much as $3,000 per month from BLS between December 2013 and March 2013 in return for patient blood specimen referrals, for which BLS received approximately $713,249, according to the release.

In addition to the prison terms, Chesler sentenced both DeSimone and Goyzueta to serve one year of supervised release; he fined Goyzueta $75,000 and DeSimone $5,000. As part of their guilty pleas, DeSimone must forfeit $260,500 and Goyzueta must forfeit $72,000, according to the release.