Monmouth County Man Sentenced To Three Years In Prison For Bribery Scheme

A Holmdel man was sentenced Wednesday to a little more three years in federal prison in connection with a bribery and money laundering scheme, authorities said.

Len Rubinstein, 44, of Holmdel was sentenced to 37 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler, sitting in Newark.

The judge also ordered Rubinstein to serve one year of supervised release after the completion of his prison term. He was also ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and forfeit $250,000.

Rubinstein, a salesman, had pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy to commit bribery and money laundering for his role in an elaborate scheme operated by Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services LLC (BLS), of Parsippany, its president and numerous associates, authorities said.

According to a news release from Paul J. Fishman, the U.S. Attorney in Newark, Rubinstein is one of 38 people who have pleaded guilty in connection with the bribery scheme. Twenty six of those defendants are doctors, authorities said.

The organizers of the scheme have admitted it involved millions of dollars in bribes and resulted in more than $100 million in payments to BLS from Medicare and various private insurance companies, authorities said.

So far, more than $11 million has been recovered through forfeiture proceedings.

According to documents filed in these cases and statements made in court:

Between May 2012 and April 2013, Rubinstein agreed with BLS president David Nicoll, 41, of Mountain Lakes, his brother, Scott Nicoll, 34, of Wayne, and others to pay doctors to refer patients to BLS for blood specimen testing.

Rubinstein paid the doctors with cash bribes.

He admitted he used Delta Consulting Group LLC – an entity he controlled – to hide the money he received from BLS and used to bribe the doctors.

Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, the IRS–Criminal Investigation, and inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for their work on the investigation.

Senior Litigation Counsel Andrew Leven; Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph N. Minish; Jacob T. Elberg, Chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Health Care and Government Fraud Unit in Newark; and Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Ward, Chief of the office’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Unit, are handling the case for the government.